Ploykamol Suwantawit

Ploykamol Suwantawit

From Political Fans to Young Protesters: The Case of Anti-government Hashtag Activism in Thailand

Names of Supervisors and affiliated institutions: Dr Rosalynd Southern (Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool); Dr Emily Harmer (Department of Communication and Media, University of Liverpool) 

Email address: P.Suwantawit@liverpool.ac.uk  

Research topic: 

The mainstreaming of social media for political communication and the rise of celebrity politics have impacted political participation, especially among young people (Loader et al., 2015; Vromen et al., 2015). Despite this, there are few studies that have focused on online political fandoms ad objects of study in and of themselves, as in-depth case studies. During the 2020-2021 anti-government protests, Thai youth became key figures in the demonstrations, aided by their excellent use of social media and strong online networks. Their online community developed around the political fandoms of a prominent political newcomer and social-media star: Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. Despite their non-hierarchical organisation structure, the protests were well-organised and tactically accomplished regarding information dissemination and protest management, making them an ideal case study to assess the interplay between political fandom, social media and youth political movements. Through 18 semi-structured interviews using the trace interview method (Dubois and Ford, 2015), my study aims to present evidence for how groups of political fans who publicly engage with politics on social media and participate in large-scale offline protests. 

Research areas: Celebrity politics; political fandom; youth political movements; hashtag activism; social media 

Academic achievements: 

Conferences 

  • Suwantawit, P. (2023) “The Strongest Minister of All Lands”: Uncovering Memes of the Historic Landslide-won Chadchart Sittipunt. Paper Presented at the PSA ECN Annual Conference ‘Political Worlds’, 3-7 July. 
  • Suwantawit, P. (2023) From Political Fans to Young Protester: The Case of Anti-government Hashtag Activism in Thailand. Paper presented at the Political Studies Association International Annual Conference, University of Liverpool, 3-5 April. 
  • Suwantawit, P. (2022) From Political Fans to Young Protester: The Case of Anti-government Hashtag Activism in Thailand. Paper presented at the Political Studies Association Media and Politics Group Annual Conference, University of Liverpool, 10-11 November. 
  • Suwantawit, P. (2022) From Political Fans to Young Protester: The Case of Anti-government Hashtag Activism in Thailand. Paper presented at the PSA ECN Annual Conference #TheTimeIsNow22, 4-8 July. 

Awards 

  • July 2023: The PSA ECN Annual Conference: Best Paper in Political Science 
  • July 2022: The PSA ECN Annual Conference: Best Overall Paper  

Media Engagement 

  • Sirisawatwattana, S. โดนตกจนเป็นติ่ง! : สำรวจความรักและวัฒนธรรม ‘แฟนด้อม’ นักการเมืองไทย (Political Fandom in Thai Politics), The101Worlds (02 November 2023). 
  • Suwantawit, P. From Military Rule to Democracy? The High Stakes of Thailand’s Upcoming Election, PSA (09 May 2023). 
  • Suwantawit, P. ‘Political Fandom’ ปรากฏการณ์แฟนด้อมและความมีส่วนร่วมในการเมืองสมัยใหม่ (Political Fandom: A new form of Political Participation in Modern Politics), The MATTER (05 May 2023). 
  • CU Radio Plus: radio interview for the role of political memes in Thailand (07 April 2021). 
  • BBC Thai: แฟลชม็อบนักเรียน-นักศึกษา ประกายไฟในกระทะ หรือ เพลิงลามทุ่ง (28 February 2020). 

Academic Engagement 

  • November 2023: Key Speaker for the webinar ‘Celebrity Politics and Political Fandom in Thai Politics’, Direk Jayanama Research Center, Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University.  

Teaching experience: 

  • Invited Lectures: Media and Campaigning (UG), University of Liverpool (2023-24) 
  • Invited Lectures: Methods in Media & Politics Research (MA), University of Liverpool (2023-24)