Mary L. Grow
Selected Short Stories and Ethnographies
STONES OF THE BOSC (Short Story)
Rosebud (Winter 2013-14)
Let's call it a rude awakening; the paleolithic in my garden—layers of unrelenting rock that bent my shovel every time I tried to plant my future with a lilac, a peony, or a rose.
DANCING WITH SHADOW PLAY (Short Story)
The Dalhousie Review (Spring/Summer 2012)
The evening was steamy and scented with jasmine that floated along a rambling trellis into the temple courtyard. The abbot's receiving room was dimly lit with a neon tube, just like all the electric light in the countryside.
FIELDNOTES OF A COLUMN RAISING CEREMONY: REVITALIZINGTHE WOODEN HOUSE IN CAMBODIA (Ethnography)
Material Culture Review/Revue de la culture matérielle (Spring 2011)
Many architects working in countries recovering from the devastation of civil war or international conflict are dedicated to the revitalizing the built environment. Efforts in new construction, as well as historic preservation, attempt to provide communities with shelter and a sense of place that is connected to cultural identity, local knowledge, and historical memory.
Photo 1: Workmen raising the column
Photo by Mary L. Grow
CELEBRATING DIVINE WRATH: THE SPIRIT CULT OF LUANG PHAY PHRA CAO SUA, THE TIGER KING (Ethnography)
Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
(Volume 16, No. 1, 2002)
The Buddhist altar before me was more intriguing than others I'd seen while living in Thailand. The devotional objects cluttering the shelves not only included numerous statues of Lord Buddha, but also an array of Hindu deities, photographs and paintings of revered monks, dancing dolls, spangled mandalas, colored lights and crouching tigers.
Photo: Tiger King Spirit Medium. Phetchaburi Province, Thailand
Photo by Mary L. Grow
DUEN PEN: JOKER PERFORMANCE IN THE NIGHTCLUBS
OF BANGKOK (Ethnography)
Asian Theatre Journal (Fall 1995)
Like traveling Thai poets of a bygone era, comedians of the joker performance (kansadaeng talok) stalk the streets of Bangkok in search of an audience. Speeding along boulevards and winding back alleys in cars crammed full of costumes, make-up, props, and musical instruments, they drive to coffeehouses and massage parlors where they negotiate with owners for a performance slot.
Photo of Duen Pen in Parking Lot of Gold Sweet Café, Bangkok, Thailand
Photo by Mary L. Grow
TARNISHING THE GOLDEN ERA: AESTHETICS, HUMOR,
AND POLITICS IN LAKHON CHATRI DANCE-DRAMA
State Power and Culture in Thailand (Ed. Paul Durrenberger)
Monograph 44. Yale University Southeast Asian Studies, 1994.
Lakhon chatri is one of Thailand's oldest extant forms of dance-drama. Historical documents, as well as temple mural paintings, suggest the genre dates back to the early years of the Ayuthaya era (1351-1776). Invocations transmitted from dance-drama masters to aspiring performers bear testimony that lakhon chatri was presented originally as a spirit offering by patrons wishing to placate the beneficial and protective powers of the spirit world.
Photo of Lakhon Chatri Dancers. Phetchaburi Province, Thailand
Photo by Mary L. Grow
DANCING THE PAST & PRESENT: LAKHON CHATRI PERFORMERS FROM PHETCHABURI PROVINCE
Smithsonian Institution.
1994 Festival of American Folklife (Summer 1994)
Lakhon chatri performers, particularly jokers, represent themes and images that have a long history in Thai society, such as Thai kingship. But they also incorporate newly defined desires, social attributes, and commercial forms currently popular with their contemporary audiences. These might include an imitation Rolex watch taking on the powers formerly attributed to a magic crystal, or an epic warrior wooing his beloved with a ballad from the latest pop charts in Thailand.