Barend Jan (Baas) Terwiel (born 24 November 1941) is a Dutch-Australian anthropologist, historian and Thai studies scholar. He has written books on ethnology of

Tai peoples Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai, Thais, Isan, Tai Yai (Shan), Lao, Tai Ahom, a ...

and Ahom, the history and culture of Thailand as well as historical travel of Europeans to mainland Southeast Asia. He retired in 2007, although he still writes about Thailand, releasing a new edition of his book ''Thailand's Political History'' in 2010. He authored 11 articles over 47 years from 1972 to 2019 for

Journal of the Siam Society The ''Journal of the Siam Society'' (JSS) is a scholarly journal published by the Siam Society in Bangkok since 1904. History The ''Journal of the Siam Society'' is published by The Siam Society Under Royal Patronage in Bangkok, Thailand. At t ...

Education

Terwiel was born in Ginneken near Breda in the Netherlands. After his military service in

Netherlands New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingd ...

, Terwiel had to spend a few days in Bangkok due to a lack of transport capacity, which aroused his interest for Thailand. He completed his studies at the

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

with a '' candidaats'' degree in Cultural Anthropology in 1965 and a '' doctorandus'' degree in Anthropology, Pali and the History of Buddhism in 1967. For his doctoral studies, he moved to the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

where he graduated with a Ph.D. in 1972. For his dissertation project, he had himself ordained as a Buddhist monk and lived for a year in a village monastery in central Thailand to explore ceremonies and religious practice of Thai Buddhism from an inner perspective.

Career

From 1972 to 1974 Terwiel worked as a coordinator training volunteers at the Dutch

Royal Tropical Institute The Royal Tropical Institute (Dutch: Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, KIT) is an applied knowledge institute located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is an independent centre of expertise, education, intercultural cooperation and hospitality de ...

, Amsterdam. Then, he became a lecturer at the Faculty of Asian Studies of the Australian National University in Canberra, where he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1982 and Reader in Asian History in 1991. In the same year, he was appointed Professor at the Institute of Ethnology of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. In 1992, Terwiel moved to the Asia and Africa Institute of the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vo ...

where he held the Chair of Languages and Cultures of Thailand and Laos until his retirement in 2007.

References

Dutch anthropologists Australian anthropologists Thai studies scholars Historians of Thailand Academic staff of the University of Hamburg Australian National University faculty Australian National University alumni 1941 births Living people {{Australia-anthropologist-stub