Dr. Penchan Phoborisut is an Associate Professor and teaches digital reporting and communications technologies. Her research examines the visualization of social movements and activism in the digital era, particularly in networked communication. She engages Deleuze and Guattari’s posthumanist concepts to explain modern-day acts of defiance in the case of Thailand’s pro-democratic movements that have unfolded in rhizomatic manners with self-initiated protests and ever-changing configurations of political expressions.

Her recent research projects examine the perpetuation of “foreign bodies” in the cases of Asians and Asian Americans who have been targets of hate incidents in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her work problematizes the constructed narrative of the Asians.

Along with conferences in communication, she was a guest speaker at “New Media, Activism and Social Movements in Asia” at Harvard University in 2015 and Weatherhead’s East Asian Institute at Columbia University in 2016-2019, University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies in 2020, and Johns Hopkins University Press’ SAIS Review of International Affairs 40.2 Issue Launch: The Revolution Will Be Televised in 2021.

Prior to academia, she was a news reporter and a news producer for local and international broadcasters in Thailand and Japan.

Publications

Phoborisut, P. (2021, May 11). “Thai youth’s struggle for democracy may fizzle but political contention continues.” East Asia Forum Quarterly, Australian National University.

Phoborisut, P. (2020). "Reimagining Dissent in Thailand’s 2020 Uprising.” SAIS Review of International Affairs, vol. 40 no. 2, 2020, p. 43-55. Project MUSE.

Phoborisut, P. (2020). “The 2020 Student Uprising in Thailand: A Dynamic Network of Dissent.” ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute’s Perspective, 129. Phoborisut, P. (2019). “Contesting Big Brother: Joshua Wong, Protests, and the Student Network of Resistance in Thailand.” International Journal of Communication, 13, 3270-3292.

Select Conference Presentations

Phoborisut, P. (2017, June). Re-configuring conversations in politics with the Facebook-native political cartoon. To be presented at the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) in Asia Conference, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.

Phoborisut, P. (2017, May). Public Performances as Assemblages: Contesting the Narrative of Thailand’s 2010 Crackdown. To be presented at the International Communication Association (ICA) Conference, Political Communication Division, San Diego, CA.

Phoborisut, P. (2017, February). The Violence of “Returning Happiness”: The case of Thailand’ ruling junta’s attempts to bring happiness and peace to its people. Presented at the Western States Communication Association (WSCA) Conference, Salt Lake City, UT.

Phoborisut, P. (2015, November). Mockingjay, mocking the junta: The anti-coup activism in Thailand. Presented at the National Communication Association, Visual Communication Division, Las Vegas, NV.

Phoborisut, P. & Sun, Y. (2015, November). The news frames in communicating natural disaster: A study on the 2011 floods in Thailand. To be presented at the National Communication Association, Asian and Pacific American Caucus, Las Vegas, NV.

Phoborisut, P. (2014, November). Memes as political participation: A case study on Thailand. Presented at the National Communication Association, Visual Communication Division, Chicago, IL.

Phoborisut, P. (2014, November). The discursive kitsch at protest sites: Thai grassroots protesters “talk back” during the 2010 crackdown. Presented at the National Communication Association, Asian and Pacific American Caucus, Chicago, IL.

Phoborisut, P. (2014, October). Anti-dam activism in the digital age and the absence of marginalized voices. Presented at the Council on Thai Studies Conference, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.

Phoborisut, P. (2014, February). The metaphors of natural disasters. Presented at the Western States Communication Association, Environmental Communication Division, Anaheim, CA.