Neeranooch Malangpoo

Neeranooch Malangpoo is a fourth-year graduate student pursuing a PhD in Cultural Anthropology. Originally trained as a folklorist while pursuing her MA in Thai in Thailand, her previous research focuses on rewards and punishments in Thai folktales that channel Thai cultural views of social class and Buddhism. Her current research traces the re-imagination of Thai national identities through the activities of the Thai Buddhist tourist pilgrimage in Myanmar, which is the neighboring country depicted as Thailand’s archenemy in Thai normative national history. Malangpoo’s research also examines how Buddhism transcends national boundaries in the current politico-economic climates of Thailand and Myanmar. Through the support of the Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowship, she will conduct research in Kinpun and Yangon, the destinations where Thai tourists’ favorite attractions are located. By conducting interviews and participating in the tourist pilgrimage, she will explore how Thai national ideology is reinterpreted in everyday practice in the context of religious tourism along with how the interaction between tourists, hosts, entrepreneurs, and places reshapes the Thai perception of Burmese people.