Engendering Sedition: Ethel Rosenberg, Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul and the Courage of Refusal
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Abstract
This article examines the cases of two women tried who bravely and seditiously challenged their respective countries’ laws and social and cultural norms. At first glance there are few obvious similarities between the lives of political activists the American Ethel Rosenberg and from Thailand Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul. Separated by decades, by national legal systems and by geography, the history of these women’s acts of sedition might seem noteworthy for what makes them each distinct. Yet Haberkorn draws them together in such a compelling way we are provoked to think again. Notably, in both cases there was a “disjuncture among the alleged crimes, the paucity of the evidence presented, and the severity of the punishment” (p. 621). Haberkorn argues that both Ethel and Daranee were on trial for “far more than the charges listed in their indictments: they were on trial for disloyalty to the nation” (pp. 621-622).
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References
Haberkorn, T. (2016). Engendering sedition: Ethel Rosenberg, Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul and the courage of refusal. Positions24 (3), pp. 621-652. doi 10.1215/10679847-3618188
Reynolds, C. (2006).Seditious Histories: Contesting Thai and Southeast Asian Pasts. Seattle: University of Washington Press.