Volker Grabowsky

Volker Grabowsky (born March 24, 1959 in Bad Schwartau ) is a German historian and Southeast Asian scholar , especially a Thaiist . Since 2009 he has been professor for the language and culture of Thailand and head of the department for languages ​​and cultures of Southeast Asia at the Asia-Africa Institute at the University of Hamburg .

life and work

After studying history and mathematics at the University of Kiel (graduation in 1983) as well as middle and modern history, Grabowsky graduated in 1986 with a doctorate on the " reunification problem in Korea and Germany". From 1987 to 1990 followed a stay in Thailand and a one-year study visit to the history of Northern Thailand (Lan Nas) at the University of Chiang Mai.

After studying abroad in Thailand , Grabowsky completed his habilitation in 1996 in the history and cultures of Southeast Asia at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Hamburg with a study of the population and state development by Lan Na .

Between 1996 and 1999, Grabowsky was a lecturer in traditional Laos literature at the National University of Laos in Vientiane on behalf of the DAAD , where he helped set up the research staff and a specialist library. In 1999 he was appointed professor for the history of Southeast Asia at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster . In the 2003/2004 winter semester, he also represented the chair for Thai and Lao studies at the University of Hamburg from Barend Jan Terwiel . A call to the University of Hamburg led him in the summer of 2009 as a professor (W2) for Thai studies. His numerous publications are widely cited.

Publications (selection)

• 1987 Two Nations Doctrine or Reunification? The attitude of the Party of Labor of Korea and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany to the national question of their countries since the Second World War. A comparison . Dissertation, Bochum: Studienverlag Dr. N. Brockmeyer.
• 1993 An Early Thai Census: Translation and Analysis . (Data Paper of the Institute of Population Studies), Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University.
• 2003 The Gold and Silver Road of Trade and Friendship: the Richardson and McLeod missions to Tai states in 1837 (with Andrew Turton). Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.
• 2003 Prince Phetsarat and the emergence of modern Laos: translation and commentary on the works 'A Biography of Cao Maha Uparat Phetsarat' and 'The Story of October 12, 1945' by Maha Sila Viravong . Münster: Lit.
• 2004 Population and State in Lan Na: A Contribution to the Population History of South East Asia . Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3447051118
• 2008 Chronicles of Chiang Khaeng: A Tai Lü Principality of the Upper Mekong (together with Renoo Wichasin). Honolulu: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawaii.
• 2008 Lan Na in Chinese Historiography: Sino-Tai relations as reflected in the Yuan and Ming sources (13th to 17th centuries) (together with Foo Ming Liew-Herres and Aroonrut Wichienkeeo). Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. ISBN 978-974-224-417-0 .
• 2010. A Brief History of Thailand . Munich: Beck. ISBN 978-3-406-60129-3 .
• 2012. Chronicle of Sipsòng Panna: History and Society of a Tai Lü Kingdom, Twelfth to Twentieth Century . Chiang Mai: Mekong Press. ISBN 978-616-90053-3-9 .
• 2015. (Ed. On behalf of the Royal Thai Embassy) “Germany and Thailand: 150 years of diplomacy and friendship between peoples”. Segnitz: Zenos Verlag. ISBN 978-3-931018-40-5 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Volker Grabowsky in the catalog of the German National Library
• Prof. Dr. Volker Grabowsky