Wisdom, Knowledge, and the Postcolonial University in Thailand

Book excerpt: This book examines Thai knowledge and wisdom from the perspective of postmodern, postcolonial globalization. Ma Rhea explores the ways in which the Thai university system attempts to balance old knowledge traditions, Buddhist and rural, with new Thai and imported knowledge. It traces the development of Thai university partnerships with outsiders, focusing on the seventy year relationship between Thailand and Australia. In comparison, it analyses the old Thai Buddhist wisdom tradition and in the final chapters proposes its worthiness as a pedagogical pathway for universities globally.