The Concept 'Praxis' And The Practice Of Anthropologists

Abstract

I was in northern Thailand for two years from late 1968. I had almost no contact with Chiang Mai University, except briefly with Professor Suthep Sunthornpasatch. In Bangkok I had also met Professor Pataya Saihoo, who gave me advice. In 1976, when I returned to the North, it was very different. Chiang Mai was a very lively place. This time I met many scholars, anthropologists, historians and others. Outstanding, even in so talented a milieu, was Anan Ganjanapan. He has engaged fruitfully at local, national, trans-national regional and international levels. Others have written about his published work and his overall achievements. I am not therefore going to speak directly of Anan Ganjanapan himself. I hope, nonetheless, that some of what I have to say, in this article, may provide some means of helping to assess Anan's achievements. I discuss a set of terms to reflect on the work of an anthropologist: anthropology, intellectual, practice and the key word in my title, praxis.