Friday Forum: Tamara Loos — Speculating on Sexuality: Gender, Sexuality and Subversion in Cold War Thai Studies

Tamara Loos
Chair and Professor of History, Cornell University

Studies of the cold war in Thailand have focused on the political, economic, and military realms (for good reasons), but have neglected cultural, gender, and sexual aspects of the period. This talk on sexuality, particularly the sexuality of “experts” on Thai culture and politics, offers a granular history of the period through personal correspondence, biographical materials, and speculations about sexuality. Accusations of aberrant sexuality were linked to political subversion in the US context, which had an impact on the careers of some American experts on Thailand.  Less clear is the relationship between political subversion and sexuality in the Thai context, where gender played a more critical role. I explore fragmented evidence to build an intimate history of the early cold war in Thailand.

Professional profile: https://history.cornell.edu/tamara-loos