Erik Seidenfaden and his Quest for Knowledge
Gendarmerie Officer, Amateur Scholar and the Siam Society
Abstract
This article explores Erik Seidenfaden’s life and scholarly career in Thailand. Seidenfaden arrived in the country in 1906 to take up a position as officer in the provincial gendarmerie and resided there until he returned to Denmark in 1946. During his forty years’ residence, Seidenfaden became an influential amateur scholar in the fields of ethnography and archaeology. He was an active member of the Siam Society, a prolific contributor to the JSS and, for a short period, the Society’s president. The aim of this article is to present a broader assessment of Seidenfaden and his scholarly work. In doing so, we will present new knowledge on his life history and how he refashioned himself as an amateur scholar, and contributed to turning Siam into a knowable object.
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