<p>The seminal <em>Imagined Communities</em> by Benedict Anderson is one of those works which joins up dots you had never before thought were even on the same page.&nbsp; And hence the insights.&nbsp; It appears on graduate reading lists for all manner of degrees.</p> <p>But it is a dense text.&nbsp; And should a successful product of the Thai education system, a student accepted for a graduate programme overseas, be asked to read it, the result is unlikely to be satisfactory.&nbsp; Thai students don’t do dense texts.</p>

<p>Video clip of panel discussion on the lese majeste law held on 7 June in Bangkok with speakers including Benedict Anderson,&nbsp; Pravit Rojanaphruk, Andrew MacGregor Marshall (via Skype), and Sulak Sivaraksa, moderated by Lisa Gardner.</p>

<p>Benedict Anderson, professor at Cornell University and author of <em>Imagined Communities</em>, offered his view on Thai politics at a forum organized by the Midnight University and the Faculty of Humanities of Chiang Mai University on 26 Jan 2011.</p>

<p>Holding on to narrow nationalism means Thais have no recognition of how &quot;terrorising Thailand were to Cambodia&quot; over the centuries, said noted historian Benedict Anderson, a renowned expert of Southeast Asian history, just hours before the two kingdoms found themselves in a deadly military clash again on Friday.</p>