Catherine Scheer

Lecturer

Aire(s) géographique(s)

Southeast Asia, Cambodia

Discipline(s)

Anthropology, Ethnology

Contact by email

Date d'entrée à l'EFEO

03/2019

Liens externes

HAL Resume

Catherine Scheer

Lecturer

Aire(s) géographique(s)

Southeast Asia, Cambodia

Discipline(s)

Anthropology, Ethnology

Thèmes de recherche

Political and Religious Anthropology of the Highlands of Southeast Asia

Axes de recherche EFEO

Religions, representations, and powers
Territories, resources, identities

Research in progress

Ethnographic research conducted since 2008 in a commune in the highlands of Cambodia, where indigenous inhabitants have faced the transformation of their land into industrial plantations, forms the basis of a book project. The Bunong villagers have not only sought to defend their living space by resorting to national and international law, but have also implemented rituals to repair and heal their relationships, which have been disrupted by the ongoing changes. These rituals will be the focus of the book, as a mode of action in a tense and uncertain context.

As part of an ANR project entitled “Alternative life projects in rural South & Southeast Asia: Reflecting on post-development through a study of diverse emplaced collectives,” C. Scheer will conduct research with an indigenous association in northeastern Cambodia and a Catholic organization working with mountain minorities in northern Thailand. She coordinates the work package dealing with (cosmo)political imaginaries and shifting subjectivities.

C. Scheer is collaborating with the Bunong Indigenous Peoples Association (BIPA) on a geographical and audiovisual documentation of the forest cemeteries and spirit domains that constitute the Bunong ancestral lands in Mondulkiri province, Cambodia. This involves reflection on the concept of “cultural landscape” and, more generally, on heritage preservation as potential tools for protecting powerful places.

Ethno-historical research is continuing with Bunong witnesses in Cambodia, both on the involvement of mountain minorities in the Khmer Republic army and on the interactions between inhabitants of the highlands of Vietnam and Cambodia after the reunification of Vietnam and the seizure of power by the Khmer Rouge in 1975C.

Études et formation

  • 2005, DEUG (two-year university diploma) in History, Paris 7-Denis Diderot University
  • 2006, Bachelor’s degree in Ethnology, Paris 10-Nanterre University
  • 2006, Certificate in Khmer Language, INALCO
  • 2007, Master’s degree in ethnology, Paris 10 University – Nanterre
  • 2007, Practical Khmer diploma, INALCO
  • 2008, Master’s degree in social anthropology and ethnology, EHESS
  • 2014, Doctorate in social anthropology and ethnology, EHESS

Parcours professionnel à l’EFEO

  • Lecturer, since 2019
  • Co-head of the Civilization Centers Construction Unit, from 2021 to 2025

Parcours professionnel en dehors de l’EFEO

  • Statutory member of the Southeast Asia Center (CNRS, EHESS, INALCO), since 2019
  • Contract lecturer, University of Heidelberg (2017-2019)
  • Postdoctoral researcher at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore (2015-2017)

Encadrement doctoral

  • Sarah Kerboas, Lost in translation: an ethnography of translation in the humanitarian field in Cambodia, thesis supervised by Jérôme Courduriès and Catherine Scheer. Doctorate from the University of Toulouse, LISST-CAS, started in 2022.
  • Thuix Chazal, Ethnohistory of an indigenous Sedang village (1930-2025), thesis supervised by Vanina Bouté and Catherine Scheer. Doctorate from EHESS, preparatory year started in 2025.

Translated with DeepL.com

Bibliographie (HAL)

Ouvrages

Catherine Scheer, Philip Fountain, Michael Feener (Dir.). The Mission of Development: Religion and Techno-Politics in Asia. Brill, 2018, 978-90-04-35908-6. ⟨halshs-02559559⟩

Catherine Scheer, Philip Fountain, Michael Feener (Dir.). The Mission of Development: Religion and Techno-Politics in Asia. Brill, 2018, 9004359087. ⟨halshs-02161300⟩

Chapitres d‘ouvrage

Catherine Scheer. Christian NGOs: From Marginal Liberation Theologists to Regional Policy-Shapers. Gabriel Facel; Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux; Astrid Norén-Nilsson. The Palgrave Handbook of Political Norms in Southeast Asia, Palgrave, pp.103 - 119, 2024, 978-981-99-9654-4. ⟨10.1007/978-981-99-9655-1_6⟩. ⟨hal-04717677⟩

Gabriel Facal, Catherine Scheer, Sarah Anaïs Andrieu, Joel Mark Baysa-Barredo, Giuseppe Bolotta, et al.. Cross-sectoral dialogues with social movements in Southeast Asia: translating values, affects, and practices in a polymorphic region. Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp.102-114, 2024, ⟨10.4337/9781803922027.00014⟩. ⟨hal-04408655⟩

Michael Feener, Catherine Scheer. Development’s Missions. Catherine Scheer; Philip Fountain; Michael Feener. The Mission of Development: Religion and Techno-Politics in Asia, Brill, 2018. ⟨halshs-02165658⟩

Catherine Scheer. New Life in an expanding market economy : Moral issues among Cambodia’s highland Protestants. Gwenaël Njoto-Feillard; Juliette Koning. New Religiosities, Modern Capitalism and Moral Complexities in Southeast Asia, 2017. ⟨halshs-02165646⟩

Catherine Scheer. New Life in an expanding market economy : Moral issues among Cambodia's highland Protestants. New Religiosities, Modern Capitalism, and Moral Complexities in Southeast Asia, Palgrave MacMillan, pp.65-88, 2017. ⟨halshs-02559582⟩

Articles dans une revue

Catherine Scheer, Sina Emde. Encountering Universals in Cambodia and Indonesia—Translations Across Historical Multiplicity. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 2025, 26 (2), pp.73-85. ⟨10.1080/14442213.2025.2478993⟩. ⟨hal-05250998⟩

Catherine Scheer. Cambodia, a Model of Multilingual Education? Past and Present Perspectives on Teaching Indigenous Minority Languages in a Khmer Nation. Moussons : recherches en sciences humaines sur l'Asie du Sud-Est, 2025, 45, pp.27-60. ⟨10.4000/147jn⟩. ⟨hal-05253390⟩

Catherine Scheer. Compte rendu de Astrid Norén-Nilsson, Amalinda Savirani & Anders Uhlin, éd., Civil Society Elites: Field Studies from Cambodia and Indonesia. Moussons : recherches en sciences humaines sur l'Asie du Sud-Est, 2024, 44, pp.235-238. ⟨10.4000/134xc⟩. ⟨hal-04912258⟩

Catherine Scheer. Subaltern soldiers: Overshadowed Bunong highlandersin the Khmer Republic's army, 1970-75. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 2022. ⟨halshs-03790929⟩

Catherine Scheer. Guardians of the forest or evil spirits? Unsettling politicized ontologies in the Cambodian highlands. American Ethnologist, 2021, 48 (4), pp.489-503. ⟨10.1111/amet.13034⟩. ⟨halshs-03627921⟩

Catherine Scheer. [compte-rendu] Ian G. Baird, Rise of the Brao : Ethnic Minorities in Northeastern Cambodia during Vietnamese Occupation. Moussons : recherches en sciences humaines sur l'Asie du Sud-Est, 2021, 38, pp.Moussons, 38, 253-256. ⟨10.4000/moussons.8455⟩. ⟨halshs-03627929⟩

Catherine Scheer. Compte rendu de Jonathan Padwe Disturbed Forests, Fragmented Memories : Jarai and Other Lives in the Cambodian Highlands (Washington : University of Washington Press, 2020), 256 p. Péninsule, 2020, n°80, pp. 195-200.. Péninsule : Etudes Interdisciplinaires sur l’Asie du Sud- Est Péninsulaire, 2020. ⟨halshs-03133235⟩

Giuseppe Bolotta, Catherine Scheer, Michael Feener. Translating religion and development: Emerging perspectives from critical ethnographies of Faith-Based Organisations. Progress in Development Studies, 2019. ⟨halshs-02165639⟩

Catherine Scheer. Compte rendu de Chrétiens évangéliques d’Asie du Sud-Est. Expériences locales d’une ferveur conquérante, édité par Pascal Bourdeaux and Jérémy Jammes. 2016. Rennes : Presses Universitaires de Rennes. 391 p.. Social sciences and missions/Sciences sociales et missions, 2017. ⟨halshs-03133247⟩

Catherine Scheer. Retour de terrain: Les Bunong protestants de Bu Sra, commune pluri-religieuse des hautes terres du Cambodge. La lettre de l'AFRASE, 2012, 79-80, pp.29-31. ⟨halshs-02559616⟩

Catherine Scheer. Khmers et autochtones : Des études orientalistes aux idéologies ethno-nationalistes. Péninsule : Etudes Interdisciplinaires sur l’Asie du Sud- Est Péninsulaire, 2012, 64, pp.95-121. ⟨halshs-02165631⟩

Catherine Scheer. When the spirits are angry, God gains in popularity: Exploring the emergence of Bunong Protestantism in the Highlands of Cambodia. Aséanie, Sciences humaines en Asie du Sud-Est, 2011, 28. ⟨halshs-02165624⟩

N° spéciaux de revue

Sina Emde, Catherine Scheer. Encountering Universals in Cambodia and Indonesia--Translations Across Historical Multiplicity. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 26 (2), 2025. ⟨hal-05250991⟩

Sina Emde, Catherine Scheer. Encountering Universals in Cambodia and Indonesia—Translations Across Historical Multiplicity. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 26 (2), 2025. ⟨hal-05487643⟩

Gabriel Facal, Catherine Scheer. Engaged Research in Contemporary Southeast Asia: Scholar-Activist Reflections on a Fraught Practice. 13 (2), 2025. ⟨hal-05487651⟩

Communications dans un colloque

Catherine Scheer. Conserving Indigenous Lands through Heritage-Making: Reflections from an ongoing experiment. Conservation and Indigenous Land Titling in Conversation, Esther Leemann; Cari Tusing, Jun 2025, Zürich, Switzerland. ⟨hal-05253440⟩

Catherine Scheer. Rallying the spirits and other more-than-humans: Reflections from Cambodia on the study of indigenous rights movements. Positioning Southeast Asia in Global Social Movements Studies, Tuwanont Phattharathanasut; Claudia Derichs, Jul 2025, Berlin, Germany. ⟨hal-05253443⟩

Catherine Scheer. Fuir les Khmers Rouges et les bombes américaines (1969-75) : Itinéraires de guerre d’habitants des hauts plateaux du Centre à la lumière du témoignage de Jean Moriceau. Les mobilités en Asie au prisme des sources des MEP (XIXe-XXIe siècles), IRFA; EFEO, Mar 2025, Paris, France. ⟨hal-05253428⟩

Catherine Scheer. From burned bulldozers to the court of Nanterre: Bunong indigenous peasants from Cambodia on a quest for justice. Demands for justice and responses to socio-spatial and environmental injustice in the global South, William's Daré; Stephen Huard; Philippe Lavigne Delville; Eric Léonard; Tania Murray Li, Apr 2024, Montpellier, France. ⟨hal-05253423⟩

Catherine Scheer. Les Âmes du riz sous pression: Réflexions de paysans bunongs face à l’expansion d’une agriculture commerciale sur les hautes terres du Cambodge. Conférences de Siem Reap, Jan 2024, EFEO Siem Reap, Cambodge. ⟨hal-04476135⟩

Catherine Scheer. From murderer to hero: Memory politics in the Cambodian highlands. Seminar Series on History and Memory in East Asia, Pierre Petit; Lisa Richaud, Apr 2024, Bruxelles, Belgium. ⟨hal-05253445⟩

Catherine Scheer. Remaining indigenous, becoming global: Activist trajectories and challenges on Cambodia’s margins. Biennial EASA Conference, University of Barcelona, Jul 2024, Barcelona, Spain. ⟨hal-05253425⟩

Catherine Scheer. Capturing the ‘hill tribes’: Missionary depictions of Northern Thailand’s highland inhabitants (1950s-1980s). Future Visions of the Past: Documenting, managing, and studying early sources in the digital era, Jan 2023, Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Bangkok, Thailand. ⟨hal-04476158⟩

Catherine Scheer. Contested spirit relations: Cambodian highland Protestants at the crossroads of indigenous activism and Christian reform. Séminaire New Animisms, Rosalie Stolz, May 2023, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. ⟨hal-04476150⟩

Catherine Scheer. Les Âmes du riz sous pression: Réflexions de paysans bunongs face à l’expansion d’une agriculture commerciale sur les hautes terres du Cambodge. Journée d’étude “Les relations humains/non-humains à la mesure de l’expansion des pratiques agricoles productivistes en Inde et en Asie du Sud-Est”, Jun 2023, EFEO Paris, France. ⟨hal-04476146⟩

Catherine Scheer. Red soil, rubber and indigenous rights: Land conflicts in the Cambodian highlands. Séminaire Geopolitics of Southeast Asia, Giuseppe Bolotta, Apr 2022, Departement of Asian and North African Studies, Ca’Foscari University Venice, Italy. ⟨hal-04476170⟩

Catherine Scheer. Des relations au monde controversées : Une minorité ethnique du Cambodge entre politiques autochtones et enseignements missionnaires. Rencontre des Écoles Françaises de l’Étranger, May 2022, Institut français d’archéologie orientale, Le Caire, Égypte. ⟨hal-04476168⟩

Catherine Scheer. Les dieux-esprits en débat: Articuler réforme protestante et activisme autochtone sur les hautes terres du Cambodge. Séminaire d’anthropologie générale, Feb 2022, Université Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, France. ⟨hal-04476173⟩

Catherine Scheer. Indigéniser le protestantisme bunong : Les habitants des hauts plateaux du Cambodge entre rupture et continuité. Séminaire Études Asiatiques, Stephen Huard, May 2022, EHESS-EPHE-EFEO, Paris, France. ⟨hal-04476166⟩

Catherine Scheer. Of rights and spirits: Cambodian Highland Protestants at the crossroads of indigenous activism and Christian reform. Lecture Series Social Anthropology, Nov 2022, InstitutfürSozialanthropologie und EmpirischeKulturwissenschaft, Universität Zürich, Switzerland. ⟨hal-04476163⟩

Catherine Scheer. Als andere den Wald von Bu Cheeng assen. Séminaire Anna Tsing: Leben auf einembeschädigtenPlaneten, Moritz Gansen, Feb 2022, InstitutfürKulturwissenschaft der Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany. ⟨hal-04476175⟩

Catherine Scheer. Allying across difference to defend the land: Challenges in the struggle for indigenous rights in and beyond Cambodia. Séminaire Standards of Decision-making across cultures, Dominik Müller et Alexander Horstmann, Nov 2021, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. ⟨hal-04476177⟩

Catherine Scheer. Red soil, rubber and indigenous rights: Land conflicts in the Cambodian highlands. Séminaire Geopolitics of Southeast Asia, Giuseppe Bolotta, Mar 2021, Departement of Asian and North African Studies, Ca’Foscari University Venice, Italy. ⟨hal-04476180⟩

Catherine Scheer. Soldats subalternes : Le combat méconnu de montagnards bunongs sous la République Khmère. Séminaire Études Asiatiques, Arthur Cessou, Nov 2020, EHESS-EPHE-EFEO, Paris, France. ⟨hal-04476183⟩

Catherine Scheer. Dire l’histoire : Exemples sud-est asiatiques. Séminaire Études Asiatiques, Arthur Cessou, Nov 2020, EHESS-EPHE-EFEO, Paris, France. ⟨hal-04476185⟩

Catherine Scheer. Quand il ne reste plus assez de forêt à manger : Les Bunongs face au défi de règlementation du défrichement sur les hauts plateaux du Cambodge. Séminaire Langue, histoire et sources textuelles du Cambodge ancien et moderne, Eric Bourdonneau, Grégory Mikaelian et Joseph Thach, Jun 2019, EHESS/INALCO, Paris, France. ⟨hal-04476190⟩

Catherine Scheer. How to speak about Indigenous Movements (as a Non-Indigenous Anthropologist)? Between engaged reification and distant critique. Being Anthropologists in the time of disruption, Oct 2018, Frankfurt, Germany. ⟨halshs-02914309⟩

Catherine Scheer. Contested Ontologies: Navigating indigenous rights and reformist sermons in Cambodia’s highlands. Colloquium Institute fürEthnologie, Jan 2018, Universität Heidelberg, Germany. ⟨hal-04476195⟩

Catherine Scheer. Revendications autochtones, représentations savantes : L’influence d’études orientalistes et anthropologiques au sein d’une minorité du Cambodge en quête de droits. Séminaire Études Asiatiques, Amandine Dabat, Nov 2018, EHESS-EPHE-EFEO, Paris, France. ⟨hal-04476192⟩

Catherine Scheer. Missionaries of multilingual education: Christian experts, UNESCO guidelines and Cambodian policies. Religion in the age of development, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Jun 2018, Singapour, Singapore. ⟨halshs-02914314⟩

Catherine Scheer. Christian policy-shapers at the UN : Building networks through multi-lingual education in Southeast Asia. Charitable Faiths : NGOs and Religion in Asia (Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs), May 2017, Boston, United States. ⟨halshs-03133260⟩

Catherine Scheer. Quand la “vie nouvelle” devient problématique: les Bunong protestants confrontés à l’expansion de l’économie de marché sur les hautes terres cambodgiennes. Séminaire du CASE Anciennes et nouvelles élites en Asie du Sud-Est, Vanina Bouté, Rémy Madinier et Jérôme Samuel, Apr 2017, EHESS (Paris), France. ⟨hal-04476203⟩

Catherine Scheer. An anthropological perspective on spheres of ideologies in relation to indigenous languages in Cambodia & Southeast Asia. Socio-Linguistics of Endangered Languages: Profiles, Post-Vernacularity and Revitalization, Apr 2017, Lyon, France. ⟨halshs-03133262⟩

Catherine Scheer. Dynamiques de christianisation chez les Bunongs du Cambodge. Séminaire Ethnologie de l’Asie du Sud-Est, Lucie Labbé, Sep 2017, Manusastra – Université Royaledes Beaux-Arts, Phnom Penh, Cambodge. ⟨hal-04476198⟩

Autres publications scientifiques

Gabriel Facal, Catherine Scheer. Special Section Introduction: Engaged Research in Contemporary Southeast Asia: Scholar-Activist Reflections on a Fraught Practice. 2025. ⟨hal-05487655⟩

Catherine Scheer. Surprising Testimonies. Retracing the trajectories of highland minority refugee-soldiers under the Khmer Republic. 2025. ⟨hal-05487657⟩

Catherine Scheer, Sopheaktra Suon. តូចតាច៖ កូ នទាហានពូនង នៃ កងទ័ព សាធារណរដ្ឋ ខ្មែរ (១៩៧០ -១៩៧៥)ខដល គេ គមីល រំលង. 2023. ⟨hal-05253419⟩

Catherine Scheer. Christian NGOs and ‘indigenous cultures’ : on the morphing of missionary work among a Cambodian highland minority. 2018. ⟨halshs-03133251⟩

Articles sur blogs scientifiques

Catherine Scheer. Christian NGOs and 'indigenous cultures': On the morphing of missionary work among a Cambodian highland minority. 2018. ⟨hal-03888176⟩

Vidéos

Catherine Scheer, Sarah Gimenez, Kexin Zhang. L'intersection d'entreprises de christianisation et de développement dans les régions montagneuses de l'Asie du Sud-Est, entretien avec Catherine Scheer (EFEO)
. 2022. ⟨hal-04122662⟩