Professor Michael J.G. Parnwell

Can you tell us about your research, work and expertise in Southeast Asia?

From completing my PhD research on return migration in North-East Thailand, my career followed a winding path through regional development, rural industrialisation, grassroots development, neolocalism, sustainable development, tourism and, finally, intangible cultural heritage. My research has involved local-level field-work in rural and peripheral areas of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Viet Nam, and also China.

Any anecdote you would like to share?

After forty years focusing on deprived and marginal peoples and places in various parts of South-East Asia, I now contribute to a programme on luxury management at Goldsmiths, University of London, and have published a book and an article on this subject!