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Back to Roster |
| Name | James R Chamberlain |
| Prefers | Jim |
| Alt. Name | n/a |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Spouse | Khammphai |
| Grad. Date | June 1961 |
| Occupation | Consultant on Social Assessment and Policy |
| Address | P.O. Box 9598 Vientiane, Lao PDR |
| [email protected] [email protected] |
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| Telephone | (856-20) 551-3727 |
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Biographical InformationAfter graduation I went to MSU and did a BA in Comparative Literature. After finishing in 1965, and being reluctant to be drafted and sent to Vietnam, I joined one of the two draft deferrable organizations, IVS (International Voluntary Services) � the other was Peace Corps. At that time I had actually planned on going to Africa as I had studied Hausa at MSU, but the Biafran war was in full swing there, and the projects in Algeria were closing so they asked me whether I would like to go to Cambodia, Vietnam or Laos. I opted for Cambodia as I knew something of Angkor Wat from an art history class, but then Sihanouk kicked all the Americans out in 1964. Not wanting to go to Vietnam because of the war, I ended up in Laos.I worked in Laos for two years, returned to the US in 1967 to do an MA in Linguistics also at MSU in 1969, taught there for a year and then moved back to SEA, this time teaching at a University in northeastern Thailand as a Fulbright lecturer. Finally in 1972 I moved back to Laos to work for the Asia Foundation, this was a very interesting position where I was able to get a fair amount of experience in assorted international development endeavors. Unfortunately with the fall of Vietnam in 1975, Laos soon followed, and it was quite uncomfortable so, unable to find other interesting work in the region, I returned to the US, finishing my PhD at U of M in Ann Arbor in 1977; this time in linguistics and cognitive anthropology, specializing of course in Southeast Asia. During this time we lived in Jackson where my grandmother had left a house. I remember meeting up there with Terry Westfall quite a bit. On rare occasions I would call Jim Baril. I believe the last time I spoke with him was in 1988 when I was back for a brief trip. I worked for two years for the State of Michigan Governor�s office, in the Indochinese refugee program setting up special programs in community colleges around the state. Our main office was in Detroit, but I still worked out of Jackson. During this time I also served on the State Board of Education, Bilingual Education Council. Then in early 1980 I went back to Thailand. Together with some friends we had formed a company and managed to get a sizeable contract with the UN. I also did some work for various other consulting companies in Thailand and stayed there working as a private consultant. Our company essentially collapsed after completion of the UN contract, and, I confess, I shall never be a businessman. With the collapse of the Soviet Union Laos started to open up more, and after brief trips beginning in 1990, I moved back in 1995. And this is where I have lived until now. I am still a consultant on various development projects, specializing mainly in social research. The bulk of my clients are donor agencies, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN, ILO, and bilaterals like Sweden, Switzerland, etc. I was married to a Lao woman for many years, and we had a son, Shay, who studied anthropology at MSU and is married and living in Battle Creek. His wife is the head of research at Post cereals there. My wife passed away in 1992 from severe diabetes and I remarried in 1997, also a Lao woman. And, believe it or not, in my old age, we have a daughter, Vivie Geneva, who is 3 and a half. We were all on a trip recently (I was involved in a series of international consultations in Bangkok, Tokyo, Paris and Washington) but only managed to spend three days visiting in Battle Creek, and a couple more in Victoria BC where my 92 year old mother lives. My brother Richard is also there (LEHS class of 1964), he is an acupuncturist . | |