About this website and me
The aim of this website is to bring together online resources about Tai & Thai manuscript traditions, including
digital
collections of Tai & Thai manuscripts which are freely accessible online. These include paper and palm leaf manuscripts
from the Central Thai, Northern Thai or Lanna, Lao, Shan and Tai Ahom traditions.
My own interest in Tai & Thai manuscripts goes back to the early 1980s, when I first started studying Lao language
with students from Laos in Eastern Germany.
After graduating from Humboldt University Berlin with a Master's degree in Southeast Asian History and
Comparative Education in 1996, I worked in various research and cataloguing projects at Humboldt University Berlin,
Westfälische Wilhems-University Münster, SEACOM southeast asia communication centre Berlin, ARIC e.V.
Library, Berlin etc.
In 2003 I gradutated with a Master's degree in Library and Information Science from Humboldt University Berlin and went
on to specialise in the study of Tai & Thai manuscripts. Major projects that I was involved with were the
cataloguing of Thai and Lao language material at the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz Berlin;
cataloguing of juvenile literature in Thai language for the Internationale Jugendbibliothek Munich; the
digitisation of Central Thai manuscripts at the British Library, London; cataloguing and digitisation of Northern
Thai and Lao manuscripts at the British Library; support with the cataloguing of Thai manuscripts at the Wellcome Trust
and the Royal Asiatic Society, London, as well as the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin.
I was lead curator of a major exhibition on 'Buddhism' at the British Library (2019-20) and I co-curated various
small exhibition projects at the British Library, London, and on behalf of SEACOM southeast asia
communication centre Berlin at various locations, including the University of Hamburg, URANIA e.V. Berlin, and
Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat.
As a result of my research interests and involvement with various projects and organisations, I have published
articles and book chapters in print and online
publications.
I am currently researching illuminated Buddhist manuscripts held in the British Library collections.
I have been a member of the editorial board of Tai Culture - Interdisciplinary Tai Studies Series since 1996,
and editor of the
SEALG Newsletter since 2008.
I am a member of SEALG (Southeast Asia Library Group), ASEAS (Association of Southeast Asian Studies, and EUROSEAS
(European Association of Southeast Asian Studies).
Jana Igunma M.A., M.A. (LIS)
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