My Personal Statement for Master Degree
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Personal Statement
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.” (My Emphasis)
- Albert Einstein
I am curious, always curious. However, as everybody is, my curiosity has been framed, constricted and homogenized due to the norm and culture of the society, especially where I have been living in, Thailand. Due to strict and irrational Lese Majeste law in Thailand and its political culture that create the unusual norm, via society itself; (self-censored)media; and educational system, that do not allow any criticism on the ‘holy realm’, such as Monarchic Institution, Buddhism, and so on. Thus, it is understandable why the curiosity of the Thai has been homogenized and dulled, including mine. Therefore, instead of having wider and more broadening skill of questioning, I moved backwards.
Nevertheless, after a long period of moving backwards, since I have put my path on the field of political science seriously, as the student of faculty of Political Science; Chulalongkorn University, I am able to doubt again. I keep questioning both within my inner mind and express it out in spoken language. I seriously question things and I feel like I am on the right track to moving forwards again. Soon after I have attended in classes; faced with the real political crisis in Thailand (especially after the 19th September Coup d’état); read some sophisticated thoughts from some critical philosophers, such as Roland Barthes, Noam Chomsky, Benedict Anderson, Anthony D. Smith, Cynthia Weber, Giorgio Agamben, Claude Levi-Strauss, Michel Foucault, Jacques Ranciere, etc.; and participated in some social movements, I do not see things as they were before.
For me, sports are not the entertaining games anymore; but they have become the representative of the modern warfare. For me, eating food is not just an action to taste deliciousness of food or fulfill the starving stomach anymore; but it has become the digestive process of culture and sign. For me, the United States of America is not the world protector that keeps us away from brutal terrorists anymore; but she has become the truly global ruthless terrorist. For me, globalization is not the modern socio-economic innovation anymore; but it has become the normal phenomenon since the ancient era. For me, Anthony D. Smith and Benedict Anderson’s arguments are not standing on different grounds anymore; but they have become the arguments that sturdily support each other.
Furthermore, since my major is international relations, I lay great interest on the global issues and politics especially on the grand theory that dominates this field, such as; national identity, globalization and empire, culture and mythology, terrorism and selective memories, and so on. My interest is not only laying on theoretical knowledge but I also interested in empirical subject which is the reason that I choose history as my minor field. After I have graduated I do certain that these two fields, political science (international relations) and history, utterly support each other. The science of understanding the past (history) does link with politics just like George Orwell’s quote from 1984 (Nineteen Eighty-Four); “He who controls the past controls the future, and he who controls the present controls the past.”
Moreover, apart from attending to undergraduate course in Chulalongkorn University, I have experienced a lot of political movements and activities both individually and as the spokesperson of a small student group, namely Pra-cha-tip-pa-tai-mai-chai-kae-kik[1], who has tried to react to the political crisis in Thailand while most of students deny expressing their thoughts. I also do an internship in The Office of Commerce, Royal Thai Embassy in Brussels and participate in the international university activity called World Model United Nations (WorldMUN); the theme of this activity is to stimulate the conference in United Nations by representing the countries. I have gained a lot of negotiation skill and the experience of dealing with unexpected problems. These circumstances give me inestimable practical experiences.
After the 4-year undergraduate course and experiencing many occurrences, my paradigm has changed (or at least that’s what I think). However the narrow-minded academic atmosphere in Thailand that has the nature of lessening rather than widening thought could not support and allow my curiosity to exist securely. I passionately want to attend to your graduate course to keep succor my own curiosity. I eagerly want to keep moving forwards and I am certain that your master degree programme will be perfectly fitted. So please allow me to move on, allow my curiosity to exist. The existence of my curiosity does depend on you.
[1] It means ‘democracy is not just a part-time lover’.
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