My research has generally focused around Thai Buddhism through literature, especially of the nineteenth century. I am currently working on an article about the epic nineteenth century Phra Aphaimani as an anti-colonial work of literature. I am also working towards a book that looks at Thai literature of the twentieth century through the lens of Buddhism, about how Buddhist concepts and language were employed to contest or make sense of the changes wrought by modernity and the Cold War.
Below is a list of some of my (mostly forthcoming) publications:
“Temples and the ruins of time in Sunthorn Phu’s Nirat to Golden Mountain Temple.” History of Religions 62 no.3 (February 2023).
“Born into a palace of circling desires: Utsana Phloengtham’s The Story of Jan Dara as a Buddhist modernist erotic novel.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 54 no.1 (March 2023).
“Enlightenment is happening everywhere: the murals of Krua In Khong.” Journal of the Siam Society vol.2 (Nov-Dec 2022). You can view this from the Siam Society website here.
You can read my dissertation here: McBain, Paul Lewis, “A Drunken Bee: Sunthorn Phu and the Buddhist Landscapes of Early Bangkok” (2020).