Katherine Bowie was born May 21, 1950 in London, England. She attended Stanford University where she majored in Anthropology and minored in Religious Studies. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Stanford, she spent a few years working in Thailand and learning the Thai language which she writes and speaks fluently. At the University of Chicago she continued her study of anthropology and earned a master’s degree in 1981 and a doctorate in 1988. For four decades Dr. Bowie has worked as a cultural anthropologist in Southeast Asia, specifically Thailand. Her research covers a wide spectrum of topics, but her main fields of study have been in political anthropology, historical anthropology, and Theravada Buddhism. She is currently studying the life of a famous Thai monk named Khruubaa Srivichai who lived between the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Dr. Bowie employs various research methods to obtain relevant data such as evaluating pertinent historical documents and oral histories, conducting interviews, and …show more content…
Bowie has amassed an impressive catalog of published works. She has contributed peer reviewed articles and papers to scientific journals and magazines such as The Journal of Asian Studies and American Ethnologist, and written several books. Her latest book that is soon to be published is The Politics of Humor: The Vicissitudes of the Vessantara Jakata in Thailand. She has been invited to review over a dozen of her colleagues’ scientific submissions and is the senior editor for the Southeast Asian Series produced by the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Bowie is highly sought after by academic institutions and professional organizations as a lecturer and speaker. Although Dr. Bowie does not appear to have a website or blog, a full list of all her publications, accomplishments, and further details regarding her current research projects and extensive career can be found at