Education

Ph.D. Women’s and Gender Studies

September 2004—March 2009: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

M.A. Women’s and Gender Studies

September 2002—August 2004: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

B.A. English

May 1994—March 1998: Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand (Honors)

Areas of Interest

• Transnationalism and gender 
• Transnationalism and globalization in Asian contexts 
• Food Culture
• Gender and feminism in Thailand
• Cultural diversity and multiculturalism in Thailand

Teaching

2009 - 2012 MA program in Culture and Development, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand

• LCCU 541 Gender, Sexuality and Gendered Identity
• LCCU 575 Cross-Border Culture
• LCCC 578 Concepts of Power

Fall 2012 PhD Program in Multicultural Studies

• LCMC 603 Seminar on Current Issues in Multicultural Studies
• LCMC 610 Multiculturalism in Postcolonial Southeast Asia

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journal

• Sunanta, S and Angeles L. Forthcoming 2012. “From Rural Life to Transnational Wife: Agrarian Transition, Gender Mobility and Intimate Globalization in Transnational Marriages in Northeast Thailand” Gender, Place and Culture
• Angeles, L and S Sunanta. 2009. “Demanding Daughter Duty:  Gender, Community, Village Transformation and Transnational Marriages in Northeast Thailand.” Critical Asian Studies 40 (4): 549-574.
• Angeles, L and S Sunanta. 2007. “ ‘Exotic Love at Your Fingertips’: Intermarriage Websites, Gender Representation, and the Transnational Migration of Filipino and Thai women” Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies 22 (1) : 3-31.

Book Chapter

• Sunanta, S. Forthcoming 2012. “Gendered Nation and Classed Modernity: Perceptions of Mia Farang (Foreigners’ Wives) in Thailand” In T. Bunnell, D. Parthasarathy and E.C.Thompson (Eds.) Cleavage, Connection and Conflict: Rural, Urban in Contemporary Asia. ARI-Springer Series.
• Sunanta, S. Forthcoming. “Decentering Hegemony: Diversity and Local Cultures in Thailand” in C. Barry and D. Streckfuss (Eds.) Contesting Rights to Culture: Heritage, Community and Livelihood in Thailand. Chiangmai: Silkworm.

Working Paper

• Sunanta, S. 2003. “Exotic Love at Your Fingertips: Representation of Thai Women on International Marriage Websites” Women’s Studies and Gender Relations Graduate Student Conference Proceedings, Ampersand Working Papers. Pp. 36-43.
• Sunanta, S. 2005. “The Globalization of Thai Cuisine” CCSEAS Working Papers

Work in Progress

•  “Learning from the West?: The State of the Multicultural Debate in Thailand” funded by Thailand Research Fund

Selected Conference and Workshop Presentations

• “Towards Cosmopolitanism? Diversity and Community Culture Projects in Thailand” ISEAC Cosmopolitan Conference 2012, Canberra, Australia, February 16-18, 2012.
• “Learning from the West?: The State of the Multicultural Debate in Thailand” 11th International Conference on Thai Studies: Visions of the Future, Bangkok, Thailand, July 26-28, 2011.
• “Gendered Nation and Classed Modernity: The Perceptions of Mia Farang (Foreigners’ Wives) in Thai Society” Rural-Urban Networks and Transitions in Asia: Re-Spatializing Cultural and Political Imaginaries, National University of Singapore, Singapore, February 25-26, 2010. 
• “Decentering Hegemony? The Trend towards Multiculturalism in Thailand” The Canadian Council for Southeast Asian Studies Conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada October 15-17, 2009.
• “Global Wife, Local Daughter: Transnational Marriages, Gender, Family, and Community in Transforming Rural Life in Northeast Thailand” 2008 Wall Summer Institute Graduate Student Symposium: Urban Hegemony, Agrarian Societies, and Governance in the Global South. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, June 28, 2008. 
• “Phua Farang (Foreign Husband) Phenomenon: Transnational Marriages and the Transformation of Rural Life in Thailand’s Northeastern Villages” Pacific Worlds in Motion: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Asian Migrations, Green College and St. John’s College, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, March 14-15, 2008. 
• “Love and Marriage in “International Villages”: Cross-Border Marriages between Northeastern Thai Women and Foreign Men” The 10th International Conference on Thai Studies, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand, January 9 – 11, 2008.

Grants/Awards/Scholarships

• April 2010- September 2012: Culture and Rights in Thailand Project funded by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre.
• June 2010 – June 2011: TRF Research Grant for Junior Faculty Members “Multiculturalism in Thailand: A Feminist Perspective”
• October 2009: Mahidol University Faculty Travel Grant
• January 2009 – March 2009: Partial Tuition Scholarship, University of British Columbia
• August 2002— December 2008: Thai Government Scholarship (through the Office of Civil Service Commission) to pursue M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Women’s and Gender Studies.

Consulting

• May 2009, United Nations Development Fund For Women (grant application screening)

Journals Reviewed

• Global Networks: A Journal of Transnational Affairs
• Language and Culture

Invited Lectures

• “Gender, Family and Kinship in Thailand’s Rural Transformation” MA Program in Thai Studies, Chulalongkorn University, 2 July, 201, 21 March 2012
• “Feminism and Postmodernism” PhD Program in Development Education, Srinakarintarawirot University, 8 September 2010, 1 December 2010
• “Gender Issues in Southeast Asia” Southeast Asian Studies Program, Chulalongkorn University, 21 October 2010
• “Multiculturalism” PhD Program in Development Education, Srinakarintarawirot University, 15 December 2010

Graduate Students Supervised

• Somkanok Yimsanit, MA Program in Culture and Development “Thai Puppet Show under Cultural Tourism: A Case Study of Aksara Hoon Lakhon Lex” 2009 to present
• Sudapim Yiangyong, MA Program in Culture and Development “Women and Contemporary Thai Classical Music: A Case Study of Kamlai Band” 2009 to present
• Wanida Jiamram, MA Program in Culture and Development “Living in Diaspora: Lao Soldier Refugees and their Families in Ubon Ratchathani” 2010 to present
• Arthit Moonsarn, MA Program in Culture and Development “Nation and Art: Case Study of Molum Nation Artists” September 2011 to present
• Pornpan Kanjanathiwat. MA Program in Culture and Development “Weaving Solidarity: Displaced Ethnic Women’s Textile Handicrafts and the Transnational Women’s Movement on the Thai-Burma Border” 2011 to present  

Administrative Duties

• Chair, PhD Program in Multicultural Studies, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, April 2012 to present
• Secretariat Chair, the 11th International Conference on Thai Studies: Visions of the Future, 2010-2011