In the late thirteenth century, Theravada Buddhism became the state religion of Siam, the historic kingdom that would become present-day Thailand, dominating though not disappearing older spiritual traditions. Instead, animist beliefs and local cosmologies continued to evolve alongside Buddhism, becoming deeply embedded within the rhythms of agrarian life in northern Thailand.

Today, these beliefs face a different kind of erasure. As industrial corn production increasingly replaces traditional rice cultivation, entire systems of knowledge and relations emerging from ecological rituals are beginning to disappear alongside the landscapes that sustained them. In northern Thailand, there is a saying: when the rice disappears, the spirits leave with it, never to return.

Through myths, oral histories, religious narratives, and field research, Sirithorn traces these fragile and often-overlooked cosmologies, exploring how relationships between humans, spirits, land, and ancestors persist in the face of ecological industrialization. Her lecture asks what forms of knowledge are lost when a way of life disappears, and what it means to map a world that is already slipping away.

Sirithorn Siriwan is a GPS Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at NYU Shanghai. She received her Ph.D. in Asian Literature, Religion, and Culture from Cornell University in 2024. She conducted her doctoral research into contemporary performance and ritual practice in northern Thai rice culture, focusing on gender inequality, religious coloniality, the agency of humans and nonhumans, and socio-cultural transformation.

Beyond research, she worked closely with the Bangkok-based theater group Crescent Moon Theater, whose works focus on femininity, migration, and inequality in contemporary Thailand. She will be joining Trinity College Dublin as an Assistant Professor of Southeast Asian Studies in Fall 2026.