BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Kennon Breazeale Born 1944; educated at Yale University and the University of Hawaii; currently completing a Master's degree in history based upon research conducted in Thailand in 1969-70 under the sponsorship of the East-West Center in Hawaii. Jane Bunnag M.A. Cambridge, Ph.D. London; London-Cornell Project for South and Southeast Asia Scholar in Thailand 1966-67; Research Fellow and then Assistant Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the London School of Oriental and African Studies, 1967-69; since 1969 with United Nations agencies in Bangkok. David P. Chandler Born 1933, New York; B.A. Harvard, M.A. Yafe, Ph.D. candidate, University of Michigan; he lived two years in Cambodia as a Foreign Service Officer, and is currently dividing his time between Bangkok, Phnom-Penh and Paris doing research on 18th and 19th century Cambo­ dian political history. He is one of the co-authors of In Search of Southeast Asia ed. Steinberg (Praeger, New York and London) 1971. Chetana Nagavajara Born 1937, Bangkok; B.A. Cambridge, Ph.D. Ttibingen; formerly with the Educational Planning Office and SEAMES and now Assistant Professor of German, Silapakorn University, Nakorn Pathom. Achille Clarac Born 1903, Nantes; Licence-en-Droit and Diplome d'Etudes Supe­ rieures in Law, Paris. He entered the French Diplomatic Service in 1930 and served successively in Washington, Teheran, Tetuan, Algiers, Lisbon Chungking, Baghdad, and Munich, with occasional spells in Paris. He was appointed Ambassador to Syria in 1955 and was Ambassador to Thailand from 1959 to 1968 when he retired to divide his time between his Thai house in Prapadeng and his wine-producing estate at Oudon, near Nantes. Il!Ol:IIAI'HICAL NOTES ON CONTIIIIlUTOLIS 299 Debhanom Muangman B.A. (Chemistry and Biology) Grinnell College, M.D. Jefferson Medical College, M.P.H., Dr. P. H. Harvard; currently teaches in the Department of Public Health at Mahidol University and is one of the leaders of the medical Volunteer Camps project. Adele Epstein B.A. in history, New York, 1968; M.A. in history, Michigan, 1970; presently Research Fellow at Chulalongkorn University under the auspices of the Thailand National Committee for UNESCO, studying the role of the Page Corps in the Fifth Reign. Robert Exell Born 1933, London; D. Phil. Oxford in Physics, former chairman and founder member of the Oxford University Buddhist Society; lecturer in mathematics, Chulalongkorn University, since 1962; publications include an article in the Proceedings of the Royal Society on low temperature magnetism and several articles on Buddhism mostly published in Thailand. Alexander B. Griswold Born 1907, Baltimore, studied at Princeton; President, Breezewood Foundation, partner of Alex Brown and Sons, Bankers, and Visiting Professor, Cornell University; publications include Dated Buddha Images of Northern Siam, King Mangkut ~f Siam, and Towards a History of Sukhodaya Art. Yoneo Ishii Born 1929, Tokyo; studied at Waseda University, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and Chulalongkorn University, 1949-58. Japanese Foreign Service, 1955-65; currently Professor, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. Professor Ishii's specials fields of interest are Thai history and Theravada Buddhism. 300 BIOGUI\PHICAL NOTES ON CONTI!IIlUTOUS James H. Jensen Born 1906; B.Sc. M.A. Nebraska, Ph.D. Wisconsin; after working as a plant pathologist in Cuba and Puerto Rico, was professor in the subject first at Nebraska and then at North Carolina State Universities from 1937-1953; Provost, Iowa State University 1953-61, President, Oregon State University 1961-69; now Vice-Rector for Planning and Development, Kasetsart University and Agricultural Project Leader for Thailand, Rockefeller Foundation. Pbra Kantipalo Became a Buddhist monk in London and studied in India; he has lived in Thailand for the past 8 years; author of Buddhism Explained, editor of The Wisdom gone Beyond etc. Kobkua Suwannatbat Born 1944; B.A. Hans. in History. London, 1968; M.A. thesis on Thai-American Relations, London School of Economics, 1970; at present she is a lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities, Chiengmai University. Diana Lancaster Born 1939 in Kent, England; worked as a journalist before entering the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, in 1965 to study Thai language and literature and social anthropology; since 1970 has been engaged on research for a Ph.D. thesis on "Village Level Drama and Festival Behaviour" in Thailand. Helder de Mendonca e Cunha LL. D. Lisbon; began his diplomatic career in Paris in 1952 and subsequently served in Cairo and Madrid; he was Portuguese Ambassador in Bangkok from 1966-70 and is now Deputy Director-General of Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lisbon. He has published two volumes of poetry. Napa Bhongbhibbat Read English at Bedford College for Women, University of London, and works in the Division of Educational Information, Ministry of Education, which she joined upon her return to Thailand in 1956. BIOGHAP!I!CAL NOTES ON CONTHIDUTORS 301 Peter Oblas B.A. City College of New York, M.A. Wisconsin; at present a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan studying Siamese foreign policy on treaty revision 1909-1925. His research in Thailand, Europe and the United States was undertaken with a grant from the John F. Kennedy Foundation of Thailand, with assistance from the Fulbright Foundation. Norman G. Owen Graduated from Occidental College, Los Angeles, in 1964 and then studied Southeast Asian History at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University; after two years of military service, he is now a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan, doing research on 19th century agriculture and economics in the Philippines. Hans Penth Studied at Frankfurt a.M., Paris, and Lisbon; since 1964 working in Thailand on the early and middle history and culture of the Lana Thai; now Assistant Director, Lanna Thai Social Science Research Centre; Head, Cultural Anthropology Branch, Faculty of Social Science, Chieng­ mai University, published a volume on Hilwjat Atjeh in 1969. Prasert na Nagara Born 1919, Prae; Ph.D. Cornell in statistics; Vice-Rector, Kasetsart University and currently Acting Secretary General, National Education Council; publications include Handbook for Niras Haribhrmjaya, The Linguistics of Northern Thai Dialects, Sukhothai History from Inscriptions, and Notes of Sukhothai Inscriptions. Herbert C. Purnell, Jr. was born in 1934 and lived in Chicngrai Province from 1960 to 1964 as a missionary-linguist with the Overseas Missionary Fellowship. He wrote his M.A. thesis (Hartford Seminary Foundation) and Ph.D. dissertation (Cornell University) on the Yao Language. He has compiled a short Northern Thai-English dictionary and, with E.R. Hope, a short Northern Thai study course. He has also edited several works on Yao and is currently a research associate with the Cornell Yao Project and linguistic consultant for the Overseas Missionary Fellowship in northern Thailand. 302 BIO!:!lAPHICAI. NOTES ON CONTI\IHUTORS Michael Smithies M.A. Oxford, M.A. California, F.R.A.S.; with British Council 1960-67 (Education Officer, Thailand, 1960-64, Regional Director, Cam­ bodia, 1964-65); since 1967 with the University of Pittsburgh Thailand English Project and currently English language adviser, Kasetsart University, Bangkok. Laurence D. Stifel Is a visiting professor at the Faculty of Economics, Thammasart University, a staff member of the Rockefeller Foundation and currently on sabbatical leave at the Economic Growth Center, Yale University; he has been a Fulbright scholar at the University of the Philippines, a program economist for USAID in Burma, and economic adviser to the NEDB Thailand. Leonard Unger Born 1917, San Diego, California; B.A. Harvard 1936; joined the Department of State in 1941; Deputy Chief of Mission, Thailand, 1958- 62; United States Ambassador to Laos 1962-65; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 1965-67; United States Ambassador to Thailand since 1967. Walter F. Vella Born San Francisco, 1924; M.A., Ph.D. California (Berkeley); Professor of History, University of Hawaii, since 1962; publications include Siam under Rama Ill, The Impact of the West on Government in Thailand, and Thailand Aspects of Landscape and Life. Gehan Wijeyewardene B.A. Ceylon, M.A., Ph.D. Cambridge; currently Senior Research Fellow, Australian National University, Canberra, and previously Lecturer in Social Studies, University of Singapore. Hiram W. Woodward, Jr. A.B. Harvard, M.A. Yale; presently studying Thai art of the 13th century; formerly a lecturer at Silapakorn University, Bangkok. Yongyuth Yuthavong Born 1944, Bangkok; B.Sc. London, 1966, D.Phil. Oxford 1969; a former editor and president of Samaggi Samagom in Britain; now a lecturer in biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University. .