Thailand Study Tour

This course satisfies the cultural literacy requirement. This is an upper division Philosophy course, which is cross-listed with Asian Studies, WGSX,  and ENST.  This course also counts toward the 44 upper division (300 or 400) credits that are required for graduation requirements.

The Thailand Summer Study Tour (INTL360) will be led by Professors John Schroeder and Bradley Park from the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and includes 5 pre-departure course meetings on Buddhist philosophy, Thai culture, Thai language, and social norms in Thailand. A detailed itinerary will be distributed to students during our pre-departure meetings in March, but here’s a prelude of our adventures:

We’ll begin in Bangkok, spending two days exploring and learning about the vibrant hub  of SE Asia. We will then travel to Nakhom Pathom to visit with the first fully ordained woman monastic in Thai Buddhism (Dhammananda) and participate in a series of seminars and workshops on women and gender in Buddhism. After our brief monastic experience, we will travel by train to Northern Thailand and spend time in Chiang Mai meeting with Burmese monks, visiting refugee camps, meeting with professors and students from Chiang Mai University, participating in a day-long retreat, and going on an elephant trek. After our time in Chiang Mai, we will travel South to Pattaya–a town renowned for its sex tourism–to meet with organizations that work with sex-workers, HIV, and LGBTI life in Thailand.

We’ll spend the final days of our time in Thailand on the beautiful island of Ko Samet–an ideal place for reflection and critical discussion as we play in the Gulf of Siam.

The class will explore traditional and contemporary Buddhist views on the relationships between Buddhist wisdom and social justice. An important goal of the course is to connect the intellectual and scholarly knowledge that you will learn about Buddhism with the concrete experience of being in a Buddhist culture, meeting important Buddhist leaders, and learning first-hand what Engaged Buddhism and Thailand is all about. Thus, you will not only learn about the philosophical and historical roots of Buddhism–as you would in any academic course on Buddhism–but you will have the opportunity to step outside the classroom and see how Buddhism is actually lived and incorporated into the everyday lives of people throughout Thailand.

Learning about Engaged Buddhism in Thailand is invaluable because we’ll learn from people who apply Buddhist teachings in their efforts to solve pressing issues relating to poverty, environmental destruction, prostitution, war, and violence on local and global scales. We will have the opportunity to meet with a number of leaders of the Engaged Buddhist movement in Thailand and learn first-hand how they apply traditional Buddhist principles to contemporary problems.

Learning about Engaged Buddhism in Thailand is invaluable because we’ll learn from people who apply Buddhist teachings in their efforts to solve pressing issues relating to poverty, environmental destruction, prostitution, war, and violence on local and global scales. We will have the opportunity to meet with a number of leaders of the Engaged Buddhist movement in Thailand and learn first-hand how they apply traditional Buddhist principles to contemporary problems.