Rasmi Shoocongdej is a Thai anthropologist and archaeologist (Figure 1). Growing up in Bangkok, Thailand, she witnessed some of the turmoil of the 1970s, including the 1976 Thammasat University 6th of October event – when dozens of student protestors were killed – that led her to a future in which she was determined to serve society. She originally planned to pursue a career in journalism but was not admitted due to limited university seats available at that time. This led her to the Department of Archaeology at Silpakorn University, Bangkok, where she studied and received her BA in archaeology in 1983.
After graduating with her archaeology degree, Rasmi Shoocongdej worked as a research assistant in the Thailand Fine Arts Department between 1983-1984. In 1984, she started her graduate program in anthropology (with a focus on archaeology) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA studying under Professors Karl Hutterer and John D. Speth. In 1986, she received her MA from the University of Michigan and accepted a lectureship position in the Department of Anthropology, Silpakorn University. She taught at Silpakorn University while finishing her dissertation, which she completed in 1996, earning a PhD in anthropology from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Shoocongdej is now a Professor of Archaeology at Silpakorn University. During her career so far, she has held prestigious positions and received several honors: She is or has been 1) the first female archaeologist to be the president of the IndoPacific Prehistory Association at the 22nd Indo-Pacific Congress in 2022 at Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2) a senior representative for the Southeast Asian and Pacific Region in the World Archaeological Congress Council, 3) an executive member of the Southeast Asian Prehistorian Association, 4) an expert member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), 5) a co-founder (with Dr. Elisabeth Bacus) of the Southeast Asian Archaeology International Newsletter, 6) on the editorial and/or advisory boards of the Journal of Indo-Pacific Archaeology, Archaeologies, Asian Perspectives, World Archaeology, Asian Archaeology, the SPAFA Journal, Thammasat Review and the Silpakorn University Journal. She was awarded the British Academy and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Centenary Fellowship to conduct research at the University College London and SOAS University of London, and she also received funding from the USA Fulbright Scholar Program. She has received numerous Thailand Research Fund grants and national awards, for example, an outstanding research and researcher award. These supported her development of what is, so far, the only long-term multi-disciplinary archaeological research project carried out by Thai scholars in Thailand, a project that helped launch several other scholars’ multi-disciplinary careers. She has an extensive record of student mentor and advisership and has served as a committee chair or external examiner on over a dozen graduate committees. Dr. Shoocongdej has chaired the Department of Archaeology and has directed the Graduate Studies Program at Silpakorn University. She continues to teach, conduct research, and outreach, both in Thailand and worldwide.
Major Accomplishments
Rasmi Shoocongdej’s research, teaching, mentorship, public service and engagement has revolutionized anthropological archaeology in Thailand and greater mainland Southeast Asia. She is an expert and leader in the field. Dr. Shoocongdej’s career in archaeology began shortly after an era of archaeological exploration in Thailand that saw the discovery and investigation of major sites and questions by Thai archaeologists, particularly Pisit Charoenwongsa and Surin Pookajorn, who often worked alongside (typically) Western colleagues and collaborators, including Chester Gorman, William Solheim II, Per Sørensen. This period in Thai archaeological scholarship established a baseline of anthropological and archaeological knowledge and practice that was emulated throughout the region. However, it also established a male-dominated field focused on later periods of prehistory including the origins of metallurgy, complex societies and animal and plant domestication. In contrast, Dr. Shoocongdej’s work focused on earlier periods and applied a holistic, systematic theoretical approach that included public engagement with local communities. Through her work, Dr. Shoocongdej has helped decolonize and diversify Thailand’s anthropological and archaeological scholarship by researching the history of Southeast Asian archaeology (2017), challenging its colonial structures, and promoting a wide diversity of fundamental questions and issues in Thai prehistory. Furthermore, she did all of this while teaching and mentoring a generation of female students, collaborators and colleagues. Thai, and mainland Southeast Asian, archaeology is fundamentally better today because of Dr. Shoocongdej’s tremendous work ethic and dedication to her field. Thai archaeologists now lead Thai archaeology, due largely to her influence and dedication.
A major focal point and accomplishment of Dr. Shoocongdej’s career is the revitalization of hunter-gatherer research within Thailand (1996a). In her dissertation research in Muang, Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand at the prehistoric site of Lang Kamnan Cave, she applied ideas from Optimal Foraging Theory to examine aspects of seasonality, mobility and subsistence over approximately 20,000 years of human occupation (Shoocongdej 1996b). Dr. Shoocongdej helped reinforce fundamental aspects of ‘Hoabinhian’ archaeology – the stone tool techno-complex common throughout late Pleistocene and Holoceneaged sites in Thailand and greater mainland Southeast Asia – by identifying and understanding the environmental context and the multifaceted role and agency of the hunter-gatherers who used these tools. Dr. Shoocongdej’s use of integrated theory and systematic analysis to study the seasonal (wet and dry) use of Lang Kamnan Cave in western Thailand also advanced understandings of Hoabinhian archaeology (Shoocongdej 2000, 2010).
After completing her groundbreaking dissertation research in western Thailand, Dr. Shoocongdej began a comprehensive anthropological-archaeological, multidisciplinary research project in highland, Pang Mapha, Mae Hong Son Province, northwest Thailand. Her research at two prominent sites, Tham Lod Rockshelter and Ban Rai Rockshelter, define another period of major accomplishments in her career. Her collaboratively led excavations and research at these sites extended understandings of hunter-gatherer activities in northwest Thailand into the Pleistocene, over 30,000 years ago (Shoocongdej 2006).
This world-class research by Professor Rasmi, is showcased at the new Cultural Center at Thum Lod Cave Reception Thum.
In many ways, Dr. Shoocongdej once again revitalized archaeological research, as work in Mae Hong Son had lapsed for several decades prior to her work. That is, after significant discoveries in the late-1960s and early 1970s at sites such as Tham Phi Man (or Sprit Cave in the Shan language) and elsewhere in northwest Thailand, archaeological research shifted towards later periods of prehistory in northeast Thailand. Dr. Shoocongdej identified the importance of northwest Thailand as part of a highland cultural network that includes southern China. She has spent the past two decades working towards a more comprehensive understanding of this region, and her students and colleagues are continuing this research program at Long Long Rak, a log coffin site in northwest Thailand (Figure 2).
One of Professor Shoocongdej’s less well known but significant impacts on archaeology is her commitment to working with local communities and engaging the public in her research and work (Shoocongdej 2008; 2011). For example, she has been continuously working with local communities in highland Pang Mapha to protect archaeological sites and raise the sense of belonging among communities. She has developed an integrated approach of oral history, science, humanities and arts in the heritage management field in Thailand. We believe this is, and will continue to be, an enduring legacy of her work. Dr. Shoocongdej’s approach engages local community members and leaders to understand the potential impacts, consequences, and legacy of her work. This has led to exhibitions, tours, and outreach that provides local communities with a prominent voice (Figure 3). Dr. Shoocongdej has figuratively, and literally, provided a view of the past for local communities – her recent research re-constructed the facial appearance of a late Pleistocene woman from Tham Lod Rockshelter (Hayes et al. 2017). She has also developed collaborations with local communities in the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. Through her strong community engagement and bottomup approach over the last twenty years of research in Mae Hong Son, Dr. Shoocongdej has become a leading scholar within sustainable heritage management and heritage tourism in Thailand.