Erik Seidenfaden (ethnologist)

Erik Seidenfaden
Erik Seidenfaden in Siam
Born1881 (1881)
Copenhagen, Denmark
Died1958 (aged 76–77)
OccupationEthnologist

Major Erik Seidenfaden (Thai: อีริค ไซเดนฟาเดน; 1881–1958)[1] was a Danish Captain of The Royal Siamese Gendarmerie who lived in Thailand from 1906 to 1947.[2][3][4] He served as part of the Provincial Gendarmerie where his role was to assist with the modernization of the Siamese military. He played an active role in the Siam Society as an amateur ethnologist who authored books and articles on the history, culture and languages of the Thai peoples. Anthropologist Herbert Phillips of the University of California, Berkeley, claimed that Seidenfaden "probably had more first-hand knowledge of the culture and history of the Thai and related peoples than did any other European of this century," whose ethnological interpretations nonetheless amounted to "informed prejudice."[3]

Seidenfaden in Siam, c. 1911[5]: 4 
  1. ^ "Seidenfaden, Erik 1881-1958". Worldcat.org. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  2. ^ Nielsen, Flemming Winther (9 June 2012). "Erik Seidenfaden: Exodus". Scandasia. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  3. ^ a b Phillips, Herbert P. (1 August 1960). "Seidenfaden, The Thai Peoples, Book I (Book Review)". Journal of Asian Studies. 19 (4): 467–468. doi:10.2307/2943607. JSTOR 2943607. S2CID 163806504. ProQuest 1290519250.
  4. ^ Suwannakij, Sing; Ivarsson, Søren (September 2020). "Inscribing Siam: The state of documentary and spatial practices". Modern Asian Studies. 54 (5): 1596–1630. doi:10.1017/S0026749X18000112. S2CID 210542228.
  5. ^ Ivarsson, Søren; Suwannakij, Sing (2022). "Erik Seidenfaden and his Quest for Knowledge: Gendarmerie Officer, Amateur Scholar and the Siam Society". Journal of the Siam Society. 110 (2): 1–24.