THE SMALL MAN’S CONTRIBUTION TO THAI-GERMAN RELATIONS

Abstract

To mark the 160 th anniversary of Thai-German relations, the author proposes to depart from the role of high diplomacy in order to examine the contribution made at the level of
“the small man” in sustaining and enriching those relations. By way of what he calls “imaginary dialogues”, which may not happen in real life but are constructed by third parties, he demonstrates by analyzing concrete examples as to how the common people and professionals are able to engage in fruitful exchanges, covering a wide range of experiences and activities in such areas as Buddhism, philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, the arts, language, education, and last but not least, food. Temporal and spatial divides are obliterated in this dialogic dynamism, as ideas travel far and wide, as exemplified by one telling phenomenon, German Romanticism. The author concludes by citing his personal experience as a mediator between the two cultures that culminates in his ardent effort to turn his German legacy of scholarly conscientiousness into moral rectitude once back in his Buddhist homeland.