Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät - Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

The “IAAW-Buriram_Project@HU-Berlin” was initiated by Benjamin Baumann (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Naree Inram (Buriram Technical College). The MoU between the Institute of Asian and African Studies and Buriram’s Technical College grew out of Benjamin’s anthropological fieldwork in Buriram Province. Every summer semester break, the project offers up to six of our students who are learning Thai the chance to do an internship in Thailand. For a period of two months (from mid-July to mid-September) our BA and MA students work at Buriram’s Technical College and assist Thai English teachers with their English classes, engage in extra-curricular activities, and most importantly experience local Thai culture. The students live as a group in their own house on the College campus and will develop their own teaching projects prior to their departure. The project aims at enhancing our students' Thai and inter-cultural communication skills. The partnership of our seminar with a Technical College in Thailand is thought of as a complement to Humboldt's other MoUs with Thai universities.

Until recently, Buriram, located in Thailand’s lower Northeast, was one of the nation’s poorest and least developed provinces and thus remains rather rural in its outlook. However, one should not be misled by this rural image and keep in mind that societal transformations are ocurring in this province at an accelerated pace. The project thus offers a unique opportunity to experience local Thai culture and society beyond touristic tracks. The project is coordinated by Benjamin Baumann and Martin Schalbruch in Berlin as well as Naree Inram in Buriram.

The first batch of IAAW students (August–October 2014)

Naree Inram and Benjamin Baumann explain the program to the students of Buriram's Technical College (June 2014)

Group picture with Martin Schalbruch and the first batch of IAAW students after inaugurating the project (September 2014)

Teaching experiences

Local culture

Having fun