Episode 135: Ian Baird, Professor of Geography and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison

In this episode, host Namfon Narumol Choochan interviews Ian Baird, Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Together, they discuss how his travels across southern Laos, northeastern Thailand, and northern Cambodia inspired his study of the House of Champassak. This interview uncovers how and why the Champassak royalty maintained its influence even after the dissolution of  Champassak as an independent polity in 1778. Baird's lecture, named after his book, Champassak Royalty and Sovereignty: Within and Between Nation States in Mainland Southeast Asia, challenges the conventional concept of sovereignty tied to territory. Through the example of the House of Champassak, he argues that sovereignty is contingent and constantly in flux. He examines how the royal family endeavors to exert its form of sovereignty through symbols, rituals, and other practices over a span of three hundred years. He also underscores the importance of oral histories in recovering marginalized voices, especially those who live in the borderlands between nation-states.   Lightning round: 3:11  Research and Lecture Summary:  7:20 Advice for researchers and recommendations: 57:045 Ian Baird 's top recommendations: Forsaken Causes: Liberal Democracy and Anticommunism in Cold War Laos (2024) by Ryan Wolfson-Ford  The music on the podcast is from "14 Strings!", a Filipino style Rondalla group established in Cornell University. Check them out here.    Produced by Neen Yada Tangcharoenmonkong, Adam Farihin, and Cecilia Liu