My current postdoctoral research project at CSEAS explores the relationship between emodiment and sovereign power in contemporary Buddhist Thailand through an ethnographic investigation of the recent boom of health-related practices in Bangkok. My primary tool for data collection is participant observation, conducted with sports and clean-food fanatics at fitness centers that opened in Bangkok during the period of interregnum. The project investigates why a marked interest in the body of the citizen should have boomed at such a pivotal time in Thai history. It assesses whether theories that were developed in the context of Christian Europe may be applicable to present-day Buddhist Thailand. These theories posit that the passing of the last monarchs in Europe resulted in a new interest in the bodies of the citizens, who underwent new regimes of fitness and healthy eating in order to become the physical bearers of the principle of sovereignty.

I have been adapting my PhD thesis into a book manuscript, which explores ethnographically the world of divination in Bangkok.

• http://www-archive.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/www/2021-en/cseas-postdoctoral-fellowship-2020/#testimonials