Roxanna M. Brown

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Roxanna Maude Brown (born May 2, 1946 in Illinois , USA ; † May 14, 2008 in SeaTac , USA) was an American and Thai art historian and former journalist . Until her death, she was director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum at the University of Bangkok in Pathum Thani , Thailand , and a globally recognized authority on the study of Southeast Asian ceramics .

Live and act

Roxanna Brown was born on a farm in Illinois. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University in New York in 1968 . From 1969 she then worked as a freelance journalist in South Vietnam and Cambodia , where her brother Fred Leo Brown did his military service during the Vietnam War and, at just 22/23 years of age, was one of the youngest accredited war correspondents . Due to her growing interest in Southeast Asian ceramics in the region, she continued her studies at the National University of Singapore from 1972 and graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London with a Master of Arts in 1973 .

In 1977 she published the first edition of her basic work The Ceramics of South-East Asia. Their Dating and Identification , which over the years and editions was to develop into the “Bible” of their subject and is still an indispensable standard work today. In 1980 she married a Thai man, took Thai citizenship alongside the US and moved to Bangkok . In the early 1980s she suffered a near-fatal traffic accident that resulted in the amputation of a leg. In 2000 her publication Turiang , which was published together with Sten Sjostrand and which revolutionized the history of ceramics in Southeast Asia, appeared . A Fourteenth-Century Shipwreck in Southeast Asian Waters . In 2004 she received her doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a thesis on the so-called "Ming Gap", a period of around 300 years caused by the lack of Chinese ceramics in Southeast Asia as a result of the emperors' isolationist trade policy of the Ming Dynasty and the consequent boom in regional ceramics. Once again, Brown's analyzes - according to reviews from her colleagues - revolutionized the understanding of trade structures in the region.

Arrest and death

On May 9, 2008, she traveled to the United States to give a talk at a symposium on Southeast Asian ceramics at the University of Washington . On the same day she was arrested at her hotel by federal agents who were investigating her on the basis of a relatively minor tax offense that could have been linked to the smuggling of Asian cultural goods for the benefit of US museums. Since she was a citizen of the United States and Thailand, the authorities made her a risk of escape and detained her in federal prison in SeaTac .

Roxanna Maude Brown died in her cell on the night of May 13-14 , 2008 of peritonitis caused by a perforation of a stomach ulcer after she was denied medical attention . The case - both her arrest and the bizarre circumstances surrounding her death - shocked the professional world and attracted media attention. The Los Angeles Times devoted a three-part series of articles to her life, work and death. The case has been criticized in other media as a prominent example of the brutalization of American society in general, as well as the dehumanization of the American judiciary through the abolition of human rights as a result of the Patriot Act in particular. The family filed a lawsuit against the US authorities, which ended in a settlement in the summer of 2009 for a payment of USD 880,000 in compensation for pain and suffering.

Publications

Monographs

  • Ceramic excavations in the Philippines . Southeast Asian Ceramic Society, Singapore 1972.
  • The legacy of Phra Ruang. An exhibition of Thai ceramics and of ancient pottery from Ban Chieng . Bluett & Sons, London 1974.
  • The history of ceramic finds in Sulawesi . Southeast Asian Ceramic Society, Singapore 1974.
  • ao: A Khmer kiln site, Surin province . Siam Society, Bangkok 1974.
  • Legend and reality. Early ceramics from Southeast Asia. Exhibition by the Museum for East Asian Art, Cologne, from March 2 to April 17, 1977 . Museums of the City of Cologne, Cologne 1977.
  • Legend and reality. Early ceramics from South-East Asia . Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, New York 1977.
  • The Ceramics of South-East Asia. Their Dating and Identification. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, New York 1977.
  • with Adrian M. Joseph : South-East Asian and Chinese trade pottery. An exhibition catalog . Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 1979.
  • The Ceramics of South-East Asia. Their Dating and Identification. 2nd edition. Art Media Resources, Chicago 1987, 2000, ISBN 1-878529-70-6 .
  • including: Chinese and Southeast Asian whiteware found in the Philippines . Oxford University Press, Singapore 1993, ISBN 0-19-588615-1 .
  • Guangdong ceramics from Butuan and other Philippine sites. An exhibition catalog presented by the Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines jointly with the National Museum October 3-19, 1988 . Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines, Manila 1989, ISBN 0-19-588948-7 .
  • with Sten Sjostrand : Turiang. A Fourteenth-Century Shipwreck in Southeast Asian Waters . Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena 2000, ISBN 1-877921-17-3 .
  • with Sten Sjostrand: Maritime Archeology and Shipwreck Ceramics in Malaysia . Dept. of Museums & Antiquities, Kuala Lumpur 2001, ISBN 967-9935-16-7 .
  • with TK Sabapathy ao: Past, present, beyond. Re-nascence of an art collection . National University of Singapore, Singapore 2002, ISBN 981-04-5775-8 .
  • The Ming gap and shipwreck ceramics in Southeast Asia. Towards a chronology of Thai trade ware . Siam Society, Bangkok 2009, ISBN 978-974-9863-77-0 .
  • Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum, Bangkok University . Bangkok University Press, Bangkok 2009, ISBN 978-974-219-215-0 .

Articles (selection)

  • Last Shipments from the Thai Sawankhalok Kilns. In: Robert L Brown (Ed.): Art from Thailand . Marg Publications, Mumbai 1999, ISBN 81-85026-46-7 , pp. 93-103.
  • Sangkhalok and Asia. In: Charnvit Kasetsiri (ed.): Sangkhalok-Sukhothai-Ayutthaya and Asia . Toyota Thailand Foundation and The Foundation for the Promotion of Social Science and Humanities Textbooks Project, Bangkok 2002, ISBN 974-90817-7-3 , pp. 74-92.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roxanna M. Brown: The Ceramics of South-East Asia. Their Dating and Identification. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, New York 1977.
  2. ^ Roxanna M. Brown: The Ceramics of South-East Asia. Their Dating and Identification. 2nd edition. Art Media Resources, Chicago 1987, 2000, ISBN 1-878529-70-6 .
  3. ^ Roxanna M. Brown, Sten Sjostrand: Turiang. A Fourteenth-Century Shipwreck in Southeast Asian Waters . Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena 2000, ISBN 1-877921-17-3 .
  4. ^ Roxanna M. Brown: The Ming gap and shipwreck ceramics in Southeast Asia. Towards a chronology of Thai trade ware . Siam Society, Bangkok 2009, ISBN 978-974-9863-77-0 .
  5. ↑ a b Jason Felch: Her career revived, scholar turns tipster . In: Los Angeles Times. dated September 12, 2008, accessed December 31, 2014.
  6. ↑ Seattle Times staff: Bangkok museum director arrested during Seattle trip . Seattle Times, May 13, 2008, accessed December 31, 2014.
  7. ↑ Mike Carter: Museum director in antiquities probes dies in federal custody . Seattle Times, May 14, 2008, accessed December 31, 2014; Martha Ann Overland: Scholar of Asian Art Is Found Dead in US Detention Center . The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 14, 2008, accessed December 31, 2014.
  8. ↑ Jason Felch: A passion for art, a perilous pursuit . Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2008, accessed December 31, 2014.
  9. ↑ Jason Felch: Once an aid in a federal probe, antiquities scholar becomes a key target . Los Angeles Times, September 13, 2008, accessed December 31, 2014.
  10. ↑ Mort Rosenblum: Roxanna Brown: How Can This Happen in America? . Huffington Post, July 7, 2008, accessed December 31, 2014; Tim King: Why Did the FBI Let Roxanna M. Brown Die? . Salem News dated June 10, 2008, accessed January 1, 2015.
  11. ↑ Mike Carter: US pays $ 880,000 in death of detained antiquities expert . Seattle Times, July 7, 2009, accessed December 31, 2014; Martha Ann Overland: US Government Settles Case Stemming From Death of Antiquities Scholar . The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 7, 2009, accessed December 31, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Roxanna M. Brown
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roxanna Maude Brown (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American and Thai art historian and former journalist
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Illinois , USA
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 2008
Place of death SeaTac , USA