The missions of the EFEO
Transversal Projects and New Technology
The EFEO's innovative research project is not only based on its scholars' fields of expertise but also on their skill to conduct transversal projects, such as The Development of Buddhism from India to Japan and The epigraphy of the Khmer World (CIK). Both of these bring together experts from EFEO centres in Asia and Southeast Asia
The use of recent new technologies in the service of Asian studies is also a key concern for the EFEO and its Asian partners. The School's electronic resources, including online journals, a digital network for all its libraries' catalogues are now available for the most part. Also Geographical Information Systems and other new tools developed in the physical and biological sciences are leading to the improvement in methods of analysis and dating, especially in archaeology.
The Spread of Knowledge
Scholarly research is the key aim of the School, yet the EFEO's academic staff are also committed to training scholars in Asian studies. This demands a high degree of specialisation and often requires unique expertise gained in field studies. The supervision and training of scholars is coordinated in France, under the guidance of various doctoral programmes and in cooperation with universities and schools (EPHE and EHESS), and in the EFEO's Asian centres, thanks to internships and scholarships awarded to doctoral candidates. The EFEO headquarters are located at the Maison de l'Asie (Asia House) in Paris, which houses its central library, and is also a dynamic platform for scholarly activity (research, courses, lectures, colloquia, books launches, etc.).
On June 29, as part of the Annual EFEO-Faculty of Archaeology Seminar on "Inscriptions, manuscrits et archéologie en Asie du Sud-Est [Inscriptions, manuscripts, and archaeology in Southeast Asia]," at Silpakorn University in Bangkok, the following spoke for the EFEO:
- Gregory Kourilsky gives a talk entitled "Relative Dating of a Code of Law from Luang Prabang (Laos)"
- Christophe Pottier gives a talk entitled "Archaeology beyond monumentality: some recent works in Cambodia"
- Dominique Soutif gives a talk entitled "Continuing the K. Number inventory"
From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., the EFEO Centres in Tokyo and in Kyoto are co-organising with the French Institute for Research on Japan (UMIFRE 19 MEAE-CNRS), at the Maison franco-japonaise in Tokyo, a lecture-debate on the topic "Vingt-deux ans à la tête du musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac" [Twenty-two years at the head of the musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac], with Stéphane Martin (former president of the musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac) and Ozawa Kei (University of Tokyo), moderated by François Lachaud (EFEO).
Friday 23 June 2023 at 10.30 a.m., in the Grand Salon of the Maison de l'Asie
Maria Chauveau, EFEO post-doctoral fellow, is organizing a study day on Les relations humains/non-humains à la mesure de l'expansion des pratiques agricoles productivistes en Inde et en Asie de Sud-Est [Human/non-human relations in the context of the expansion of productivist agricultural practices in India and Southeast Asia].
From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Grand Salon of the Maison de l'Asie.
As part of the "Kyoto lectures", Antonio Manieri (University of Naples "L’Orientale") gives a lecture on "“Everyday Uncertainties”: Sharing and Learning Terminologies in Eighth-century Japan".
At 6pm (Japan time), online on the Zoom platform: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82464622137
