Campus Digest

Distinguished Scholar reflects on virtue and cruelty of history through perspective of 1976 Bangkok massacre

08 Oct 2018

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Professor Thongchai Winichakul shares his insights on the 1976 massacre in Bangkok
The Ruby Lecture attracts a full-house audience

 The Department of History presented the Ruby Lecture on 3 October. Professor Thongchai Winichakul, Professor Emeritus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Chief Senior Researcher of the Institute of Developing Economies, USA, delivered a lecture entitled “The Virtue and Cruelty of History: The Unforgetting of the 1976 Massacre in Bangkok”. The lecture attracted a full house of 150 attendees.
 
Professor Winichakul discussed how various factors, including the state’s suppression and censorship, shame and historical ideology, contributed to the limited discourse on the massacre at Thammasat University in Bangkok on 6 October 1976. Although, in his viewpoint, history is cruel and hurtful, studying history is also a virtue, allowing him to analyse the complexity of the incident and develop a sense of morality towards different situations.