Singapore, Thailand, and Angkor Wat

Sandra Cate

Sandra Cate, anthropologist and folklorist, explores the material and expressive culture of Southeast Asia, in such diverse manifestations as Buddhist temple murals and long painted scrolls, Mien/Yao needlework, and traffic jams in Bangkok. Sandra has taught a broad range of cultural anthropology classes, with specific interests in global processes, art in cultural context, religion and ritual, consumption and exchange, gender and sexuality, tourism, and concepts of heritage. She has also written on the contemporary Asian art market and the changing conditions shaping festival and textile production. While a Fulbright scholar in Thailand, she collected T'ai textiles for the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology.

Sandra’s publications include Making Merit, Making Art: A Thai Temple in Wimbledon (2003), Buddhist Storytelling in Thailand and Laos: The Vessantara Jataka Scroll at the Asian Civilisations Museum (2013), and numerous book chapters and book reviews.

Now retired, she trained at the University of California, Berkeley, and taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz and San José State University in Silicon Valley.

Paula Swart

Paula Swart is an art historian with expertise in Asian art, culture, and history, and has spent most of her professional life as a curator of Asian Studies. She is a lecturer in the Continuing Education Departments of the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria where she has taught a series of courses related to UNESCO World Heritage. Paula holds degrees in Sinology, Asian art history, Chinese history, and archaeology, having spent two years studying in China. She speaks five languages, including Mandarin, and has published several books and numerous articles on the art and architecture of Asian cultures. One of her recent articles “The Legacy of Cham Royal worship: The Danang Museum of Cham sculpture” published in the 2018 November-December issue of Arts of Asia, discusses the Cham culture of Central Vietnam.

Paula has enjoyed introducing visitors to Asian culture and history for more than 30 years, having participated in well over 70 expeditions by train, ship or private jet.