Pierre Lefèvre-Pontalis was an explorer and diplomat and his journey to southern Thailand and Burma in 1912 gave a unique insight into the colonial mindset of the time. Olivier Évrard is an ethnologist and research director at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), assigned to the PALOC joint research unit (IRD-MNHN-CNRS). He is also an associate researcher at the Southeast Asia Center of the EHESS in Paris and at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Chiang Mai University. He works mainly on the history of interethnic relations in Thailand and Laos, countries in which he has carried out extensive field research. Aurore Candier is a historian, director of the Center for Burmese Studies, and a lecturer in the Department of History at Northern Illinois University at Delkalb, USA. She has conducted research in Burma for more than twenty years in the fields of conceptual, political and cultural history.

• Note on editorial choices 7Foreword 9Introduction 15Transcription of Pierre Lefèvre-Pontalis’ 37travel journal in South Siam and BurmaAcknowledgements 235Glossary 236Biographies of personalities 250Index 255

Pierre Lefèvre-Pontalis was an explorer and diplomat and his journey to southern Thailand and Burma in 1912 gave a unique insight into the colonial mindset of the time. Olivier Évrard is an ethnologist and research director at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), assigned to the PALOC joint research unit (IRD-MNHN-CNRS). He is also an associate researcher at the Southeast Asia Center of the EHESS in Paris and at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Chiang Mai University. He works mainly on the history of interethnic relations in Thailand and Laos, countries in which he has carried out extensive field research. Aurore Candier is a historian, director of the Center for Burmese Studies, and a lecturer in the Department of History at Northern Illinois University at Delkalb, USA. She has conducted research in Burma for more than twenty years in the fields of conceptual, political and cultural history.

• Note on editorial choices 7Foreword 9Introduction 15Transcription of Pierre Lefèvre-Pontalis’ 37travel journal in South Siam and BurmaAcknowledgements 235Glossary 236Biographies of personalities 250Index 255

Pierre Lefèvre-Pontalis was an explorer and diplomat and his journey to southern Thailand and Burma in 1912 gave a unique insight into the colonial mindset of the time. Olivier Évrard is an ethnologist and research director at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), assigned to the PALOC joint research unit (IRD-MNHN-CNRS). He is also an associate researcher at the Southeast Asia Center of the EHESS in Paris and at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Chiang Mai University. He works mainly on the history of interethnic relations in Thailand and Laos, countries in which he has carried out extensive field research. Aurore Candier is a historian, director of the Center for Burmese Studies, and a lecturer in the Department of History at Northern Illinois University at Delkalb, USA. She has conducted research in Burma for more than twenty years in the fields of conceptual, political and cultural history.

• Note on editorial choices 7Foreword 9Introduction 15Transcription of Pierre Lefèvre-Pontalis’ 37travel journal in South Siam and BurmaAcknowledgements 235Glossary 236Biographies of personalities 250Index 255