Betraying my heritage: the riddles of Chinese and Lao
What does is mean to be championing the revindication of Lao ethnicity when one is not in fact Lao, asks Peera Songkünnatham in this personal essay on identity and belonging.
The parable of the poisoned arrow: Thailand 4.0 edition
The junta's "Thailand 4.0" policy might turn out to be a poisoned arrow for the people in the Northeast.
The tired trope of Isaan women as domestic servants, now on Drag Race Thailand
The age-old trope of Isaan women as domestic servants in Thai media has not gone away just yet.
Top 5 Moments when Isaan music made the news in 2017
From the prime minister's warning to molam listeners to UNESCO's praise of khaen music.
Esania Sector 9: Climate change fosters new Isaan writing
Esania Sector 9 The Lost City is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction online novel imagining Isaan after total ecological collapse.
Book Review: Thai Art – Currencies of the Contemporary by David Teh
A new book on Thai art seeks to historicize contemporary art in the transition from modernity to contemporaneity.
Bonnie Brereton: finding democracy in Buddhist murals
Art historian Dr. Bonnie Brereton talks about Buddhist murals as a “democratic vision of society,” and a growing recognition of the shared culture in a region stretching from central Isaan to Laos.
In the wake of Yingluck’s departure: poetry as food for thought
In the wake of Yingluck Shinawatra's departure from Thailand, Peera Songkünnatham explores the failure of political poetry to conceive of a future beyond the current political gridlock.
What’s so special about Isaan people writing in English? A review of Pira Sudham’s stories
Peera Songkünnatham reviews the short stories of Isaan-born author Pira Sudham.
A Tale of Two Dictionaries: An Elegy for Preecha Phinthong
Preecha Phinthong's "Isan-Thai-English Dictionary" is like a very long love letter to the Isaan literature and language. But almost 30 years after its first publication, it is time for a more modern version, writes Peera Songkünnatham.
“Pop Aye” film review: it’s not about the elephant: homecoming and flagship species
Pop Aye is about a middle-aged man facing a midlife crisis. It is a road movie about coming to terms with living and dying. It isn’t really about elephants, yet everywhere you look around here, there’s an elephant.
My farang husband likes Isaan food, will he get cancer?
Peera Songkünnatham explores perceptions of Isaan cuisine as "unclean" and foreigners' food preferences through a dialogue with their significant other, interspersed with public health posters in a cancer hospital.