Dr. Taylor Easum

Dr. Taylor Easum
Assistant Professor
History, Department of
Arts and Sciences, College of
Stalker Hall 314
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Education

  • Ph.D. - History Ph.D., University of Wisconsin - 2012

Licensures and Certifications

Teaching Interests

  • Asian history; Southeast Asia; Comparative Colonialism; Urban history; Spatial history

Intellectual Contributions

  • A City in the Colonial Margins: Chiang Mai between Empire and Nation - Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam - 2023
  • From Buffer State to Multi-Imperial Cities: Competitive and Cooperative Colonialism and the shape of Northern Thai Urbanism - Australian Society for Asian Humanities, Sydney
  • Networks beyond the nation: Urban histories of northern Thailand and beyond - Routledge, London - 2018
  • World Heritage, National Politics, and Local Identity in Chiang Mai - Kyoto University, Kyoto - 2020

Presentations

  • Presidential Roundtable: Urban History, Asian Studies, and the Possible Future(s) of the Asian City. Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA), 2023.
  • Len Prawatisat: Games and Gaming in/of Thai History and Politics. Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference, 2024.
  • Myanmar Protests in Context: The Future of Democracy in Asia. International Studies Speaker Series 2021, 2021.

Contract, Fellowship, Grant or Sponsored Research

  • Grant: Asian Studies Council of Conferences Outreach Grant - Association for Asian Studies - 2020. Funded - $1,300

Research Interests

  • Urban space in Southeast Asia; World Heritage and Historical Preservation in Asia; Regionalism and Local Identity in modern Asia

University Service

  • Role: Secretary - Foundational Studies Council 2023

Professional Service

  • Role: Officer, President/Elect/Past - Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA) 2022 - 2024
  • Role: Chairperson - Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA) 2020 - 2020
  • Role: Chairperson - Council on Thai Studies (COTS) 2018 - 2019

Dr. Taylor M. Easum joined the History Department at Indiana State University in 2019. His interest in Asian history was sparked as an undergraduate at UCLA during a semester abroad in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He completed his dissertation in Southeast Asian History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012, and is currently completing his manuscript on the spatial history of Chiang Mai. Dr. Easum has also published articles on historical memory and identity, urban history, and religious movements in northern Thailand. His research interests include Asian urban history, World Heritage, sacred space, local and regional historiography, and comparative colonialism.

HIST 213: China's Empire, Then & Now
HIST 356: Modern Asia

B.A. with Honors, UCLA
M.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison

“Urban networks beyond the nation: Urban histories of northern Thailand and beyond,” chapter in Rita Padawangi (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Urbanism, 2018.

"Sculpting and Casting Memory and History in a Northern Thai City," Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia, Issue 20, September 2016.

Imagining the ‘Laos Mission’? On the usage of ‘Lao’ in Northern Siam and Beyond,” Journal of Lao Studies, Special Issue 1, March 2015.

A Thorn in Bangkok's Side: Khruba Sriwichai and the Sacred Space of the Chiang Mai State,” South East Asia Research, June 2013.

Co-editor, with M.R. Rujaya Abhakorn. Proceedings of the International Meeting on Microform Preservation and Conservation Practices in Southeast Asia: Assessing Current Needs and Evaluating Past Projects. Chiang Mai, Thailand, Chiang Mai University, February 2000.​

Dr. Easum writes and present frequently on urban history, sacred space, and heritage studies in Southeast Asia, with a focus on northern Thailand and the city of Chiang Mai. He is also an active member or several scholarly organizations, including the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA), the American Historical Association (AHA), the Urban History Association (UHA), and the Global Urban History Project (GUHP).