A. Thomas Kirsch

Anthony Thomas Kirsch [A. Thomas Kirsch] (1930, Syracuse, NY, USA — 17 March 1999, Ithaca, NY, USA) was an American anthropologist specializing in Southeast Asia, Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Cornell University, and a pioneer in Thailand ethnic minorities studies.

After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he entered Harvard University and obtained his Doctorate in Anthropology, studying Phu Thai religious syncretism in Northeastern Thailand. In 1966, he moved to Princeton University, and joined Cornell’s Department of Anthropology and Southeast Asia Program in 1970, where he became Acting Chair of the Department of Asian Studies.

Married to fellow anthropologist Yohko Tsuji since 1984, he taught the historiography of anthropological research, and explored in particular the connection between Buddhism, gender, and economics in the uplands of mainland Southeast Asia.

A. Thomas Kirsch Award for Southeast Asia Studies is a research grant established by the American Anthropological Association.

Through his academic career, Kirsch’s publications remained relatively scarce — apart from numerous book reviews -, and some of his working papers at Cornell University remain unpublished to the date (2025), in particular his “Cosmological factors in the ‘collapse’ of the Khmer and the ‘rise’ of the Thai in Southeast Asian history: an interpretation.”

Publications

“Cosmological factors in the ‘collapse’ of the Khmer and the ‘rise’ of the Thai in Southeast Asian history: an interpretation” [unpublished manuscript].
“Development and Mobility among the Phu Thai of Northeast Thailand”, Asian Survey 6 – 7, Jul. 1966, pp. 370 – 378.
Feasting and Social Oscillation. Religion and Society in Upland Southeast Asia, Data Paper 92, Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program, 1973.
[editor with G. William Skinner] Change And Persistence In Thai Society: Essays in Honor of Lauriston Sharp Change and Persistence in Thai Society: Essays in Honor of Lauriston Sharp, Ithaca/London, Cormell University Press, 1975, 386 p. ISBN 9780801408601.
“Kinship, Geneological Claims, and Societal Integration in Ancient Khmer Society: An Interpretation,” in Southeast Asian History and Historiography, ed. C. D. Cowan and O. W. Wolters. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1976.
[editor with C.D. Cowan] Southeast Asian History and Historiography, ed. C. D. Cowan and O. W. Wolters. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1976, 436 p.
“Introduction to the Symposium “Religion and Society in Thailand”, The Journal of Asian Studies, 36 – 2, Feb. 1977, pp. 239 – 240.
“Complexity in the Thai Religious System: An Interpretation.” Journal of Asian Studies 36 – 2, 1977, pp. 241 – 266.
“Buddhism, Sex Roles, and the Thai Economy,” in Women of Southeast Asia, ed. Penny Van Esterik. De Kalb, IL: Northwestern Illinois University Center of Southeast Asian Studies, 1982, 282 p.
“Cosmology and Ecology as Factors in Interpreting Early Thai Social Organization,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 15- 2, 1984, p 253 – 265.
“Text and Context: Buddhist Sex Roles. Cultures of Gender Revisited”, American Ethnologist,12−2, May 1985: 302 – 320.
“The Quest for Tai in Tai Context: Forethoughts and Afterthoughts,” Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
5 – 1, Special Thai Issue (2), 1990, pp. 69 – 79.
“Homage to Jane and Lucien Hanks,” Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 7 – 1, 1992, pp. 12 – 17.
“Communism, peasants and Buddhism : the failure of peasant revolutions in Thailand and Cambodia,” in Anthropology and community in Cambodia, reflections on the work of May Ebihara, John A. Marston ed., Monash papers on Southeast Asia 70, Caulfield Monash University Press 2011, 249 p. ISBN: 9781876924744 1876924748.
“The Modern Anthropology of South-East Asia: An Introduction”, in Victor King & William D. Wilder, The Modern Anthropology of Southeast Asia (15 books), Routledge, 2002. ISBN13 978 – 0415297516.