PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Balancing New and Old
PART II: INVESTIGATING WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE IN THE UNIVERSITY
2. Wisdom and Knowledge
3. The University
PART III: KNOWLEDGE, "OUTSIDERS," AND THE MARKET
4. Old and New Exchange: Transitioning to a Modernity and Beyond
5. The Impact of Global Education Services Markets
6. The Influence of "Outsider" Knowledge on Thai Knowledge
7. Balancing Knowledge, Holding Wisdom
PART IV: CONCLUSION
8. The Art of Adaptive Balancing
This book examines Thai knowledge and wisdom from the perspective of postmodern, postcolonial globalization. Ma Rhea explores the ways in which the Thai university system attempts to balance old knowledge traditions, Buddhist and rural, with new Thai and imported knowledge. It traces the development of Thai university partnerships with outsiders, focusing on the seventy year relationship between Thailand and Australia. In comparison, it analyses the old Thai Buddhist wisdom tradition and in the final chapters proposes its worthiness as a pedagogical pathway for universities globally.
Zane Ma Rhea is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia. She specializes in indigenous and Buddhist education and her research spans holistic education, wisdom studies in higher education, leadership development, and teacher professional development.