Chang Noi ( th, ช้างน้อย, 'little elephant') is a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

jointly used by the British, but Thailand-based, historian Chris Baker and his wife, the Thai economist

Pasuk Phongpaichit Pasuk Phongpaichit ( th, ผาสุก พงษ์ไพจิตร, , born 11 February 1946) is a Thai economist. A professor at Chulalongkorn University, she is the author of several books on corruption in Thailand. Pasuk earned BA and MA ...

. Since 1996 they have published a

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

under this name in the English-language newspaper ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'', writing about current political and social developments and events in Thailand. The series was launched during the final phase of the country's economic boom. The subsequent framework was determined by the enactment of the 1997 Constitution, the Asian financial and economic crisis, the rise and fall of

Thaksin Shinawatra Thaksin Shinawatra ( th, ทักษิณ ชินวัตร; ; ; Chinese: 丘達新; cnr, Taksin Šinavatra; born 26 July 1949), is a Thai businessman, politician and visiting professor. He served in the Thai Police from 1973 to 1987, a ...

, the 2006 coup d'état, and the new constitution of 2007. "Chang Noi" have mostly covered not the major headline topics, but rather their backgrounds and impacts on everyday life. The authors have addressed little noticed, but in their opinion significant, indications of changes in Thai society and self-view. Their topics include criminal and political activities of so-called "godfathers", dam projects and environment, corruption and fraud cases, superstitious and spiritualistic beliefs and practice of important actors, the rise of nationalistic resentments after the crisis, hypocritical reactions towards the purported moral decline, political murder, extrajudicial killings during the "War on Drugs", obstruction of the work of activists and

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

and other examples of authoritarian, suppressive and exclusionary tendencies in Thai politics. According to the authors' concept, the "little elephant" "stomp(s) around" the "jungle" of Thai politics, "kicking up leaves, overturning rotten wood, and trumpeting in distress". Despite their serious topics, "Chang Noi" have in many of their articles chosen an ironical and humorous tone and

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...

s. They have rarely conveyed their own views directly, but preferred to cite other critics or put opinions into the mouth of fictitious discussants. As a background for the understanding of current events, "Chang Noi" have also provided retrospectives of the modern Thai history, going back as far as to the end of absolute monarchy in Siam 1932. A collection of 64 articles selected from nearly 400 written between 1996 and 2008 was published under the title ''Jungle Book'' in 2009.

References

{{authority control 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers Collective pseudonyms English-language writers Thai columnists