''Mutelu' and the Heritage of Modern Magic in Thailand'
Dr Alisa Santikarn (University Assistant, Post-Doc, Global Conservation Project, GloCo, University of Vienna)
Thursday 6 March, 2025
- This is a hybrid Event, held at the Seminar Room, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Downing Site and online
- To join online, please use the following link: https://rb.gy/94uzt1.
What does an Indonesian horror movie from 1979 have to do with contemporary manifestations of magic in Thailand? This talk presents the recent phenomenon of 'mutelu' (มูเตลู) - a word taken from the Indonesian film, Penangkal Ilmu Teluh ('Antidote for Witchcraft') that has recently gained popularity as a broad term for faith and superstition in Thai culture. The talk will trace the roots of mutelu in Thai tradition and examine its modern expressions through amulet culture, fortune-telling, and sacred sites. Based on recent fieldwork in Thailand and Cambodia supported by the Gibbs Travelling Research Fellowship and Evans Fellowship, this talk will explore how magic in Thailand has been impacted by issues of digitisation and commercialisation, considering how these elements have shaped a heritage of faith and questioning how mutelu of the present aligns with and diverges from the traditions of the past.
Alisa Santikarn is a University Assistant (Post-Doc) at the University of Vienna for the Global Conservation: Histories and Theories (GloCo) project funded by the European Research Council. She is also a Gibbs Travelling Research Fellow and Evans Fellow at the University of Cambridge, where she holds a PhD in Archaeology (Heritage Studies) and also completed an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her first book, Indigenous Heritage and Identity of the Last Elephant Catchers in Northeast Thailand (2025), was recently published open access with Amsterdam University Press.