Boğazici University The Department of History and The Asian Studies Center cordially invites you to a talk  by Professor Natanaree Posrithong
Mahidol University International College, Thailand.

''The Imperial Harem of Siam: Life inside the Inner Court of King Chulalongkorn 1868-1910"

Western criticisms of the inferior status of Siamese women became the monarch'sconcern by the late nineteenth century. Many of these foreign accounts criticised the practiceof polygamy of Siamese men as well as the brutal punishments that were carried out onwomen inside, what was known as, the imperial harem of Siam. This presentation argues thatthe life inside the inner court was, in reality, contrast to the foreign accounts. It will explorethe roles of palace women (including the queen consorts, concubines, ladies-in-waiting, andgeneral female labourers) that emerged in the reign of King Chulalongkorn. The active rolesof women, who had moved beyond the confined boundary of the inner court to the previouslymale-dominated sphere, such as the King's office and other administrative offices of thepalace will be discussed. At the end of the presentation, the speaker hopes to draw acomparison on the status of women between the inner courts of Siam and the OttomanEmpire in the nineteenth century.