Newsletter

Bringing together around thirty speakers, an online study day is being organised by the Centre for Khmer Studies (CKS) and the EFEO Centre in Siem Reap, entitled “Khmer Objects in Motion: Provenance, Dispersal, and Repatriation?”.

The initiative for this event came from Nicolas Revire, an associate researcher at the EFEO’s Bangkok Centre, currently a visiting scholar at the Siem Reap Centre and a Senior Fellow at the CKS, who will deliver an introductory paper entitled “New Perspectives on Khmer Art and Provenance Research in Southeast Asia”.

On behalf of the EFEO:

• Brice Vincent will present a paper entitled “Reassessing an Angkorian Bronze Masterpiece from Northeast Thailand”.
• Sophie Biard will present a paper entitled “Tracing Looting at the Conservation d’Angkor through the Archives”.
• Éric Bourdonneau will present a paper entitled “’Mission Civilisatrice’, ‘Philanthropy’, ‘Cultural Diplomacy’: Pleasant Words, Biased Words on ‘Khmer Art in Motion’”.

As part of the ‘Rencontres du Pavillon’ series and the celebrations marking the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and Korea, the French Embassy in the Republic of Korea is hosting a symposium organised by the EFEO Centre in Seoul, in collaboration with the Monclar Centre at Kookmin University and the Korea University Institute for the Study of History, entitled: “Le Bataillon français de Corée. Histoire, mémoire et transmission” [The French Battalion in Korea: History, Memory and Transmission].

Five papers will be presented:

• Élisabeth Chabanol, EFEO (Corée), “Introduction à la notion de mémoire, présentation des cartes des sites des batailles dans la Péninsule coréenne puis en Indochine”;
• Laurent Quisefit, BULAC, “Histoire, mémoire, transmission : expériences et perspectives”;
• Alain Nass, université Kookmin, Centre Monclar, “France et Corée, une Fraternité d’arme et de mémoire”;
• Min Kyoung Hyun, Korea University, Institute for the Study of History, et Yoon Ilyoung, Général de division (2S), “La bataille de Chip’yŏng-ri par les cartes”;
• Édouard George, Le Souvenir français, “Le Bataillon français : l’après Corée, octobre 1953-mai 1954”.

The Centre is hosting:

– Catherine Baron, a lecturer at LEREPS/Sciences Po Toulouse and head of the Master’s programme in “Development and International Solidarity”, who will be based at the Centre from 5 to 25 October. Currently on secondment to the CNRS and affiliated with IRASEC, she is collaborating with Ajarn Chayan Vaddhanaphuti and Malee Sitthikriengkrai at the Centre for Ethnic Studies and Development (CESD), which is part of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Chiang Mai University.

– Alice Vittrant, lecturer in the Department of Language Sciences at the University of Lyon 2 – “Language Dynamics” (CNRS DDL – UMR 5596), and on secondment to the EFEO, in residence at the Centre from 6 to 18 October.

– Richard Pak, photographer and videographer, winner of the 2026 “La Route des Résidences” programme dedicated to photography, will be in Chiang Mai from 25 October to 22 November. During his stay, he will explore the city and its surroundings to develop a photographic project centred on natural landscapes. A presentation of the results of the residency will be organised at the Alliance Française in Chiang Mai at the end of his stay, in the presence of the artist. This residency programme is co-organised with the French Embassy in Thailand and the Alliance Française in Chiang Mai.

– Armelle Ninnin, recipient of a postdoctoral mobility grant from the FMSH and IRASEC, until 15 November.

Centre Activities:

From October 1 until the end of the year, the Chiang Mai Centre library is hosting an exhibition entitled ‘Louis Gabaude: Collector of Knowledge’. This exhibition of books pays tribute to Louis Gabaude, a fellow scholar, book lover and major contributor to the Centre’s library.

The Centre is supporting the symposium “Dialogue with Angkorian civilisation: pursuing the dream of François Xavier”, organised by the Sophia Asia Centre for Research and Human Development in Tokyo on Saturday October 24, from 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm.

Centre Activities:

Saranya Sethuraman, librarian/archivist at the EFEO’s Pondicherry Centre, is travelling to Paris from 5 to 9 of October to take part in a training course at the EFEO’s Paris Centre, focusing in particular on library management, archival practices and digital resources. She will also have the opportunity to meet her colleagues at the Paris Centre, explore the bibliographic and archival collections, and discuss practices and experiences relating to the development and management of the Pondicherry Centre’s library and archives.

As part of the EFEO Centre in Seoul’s research programmes, “Archaeological, Historical and Art-Historical Study of the Kaesong Site” and “Memories of Seoul III”, Laurent Quisefit (BULAC, PhD in Asian Studies at Paris-Diderot University) is undertaking a research visit to the Centre from October 19 to November 2. His stay will include participation in the Centre’s academic activities, notably the symposium organised on October 21 at the French Embassy in Korea, as well as chairing the Seoul Colloquium on October 28.

From October 24 to November 1st, Christophe Pottier (EFEO Chiang Mai) is on a study visit to the Seoul Centre, where he is joining Élisabeth Chabanol, head of the Archaeological Mission in Kaesong, to take part in post-excavation work and continue the synthesis of the cartographic surveys of the fortifications of the ancient capital of Koryŏ, with a view to writing an article for the Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie.

From October 9 to 29, the Centre is hosting Stéphanie Leroy, a research fellow at the CNRS (UMR 7065, IRAMAT), to continue the collaborative work undertaken in the field of iron archaeometallurgy under the agreement signed between the EFEO and IRAMAT.

From October 12 to 18, Johannes Kurz (University of Heidelberg) is on a visit to Taiwan at the invitation of the EFEO Centre in Taipei to give three lectures.

Alain Arrault, invited by the Centre for Religious Studies at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, will deliver four lectures in Chinese:

• October 27: Context and Retrospective: French Sinology and Field Studies on Local Religions;
• October 29: A Study of Domestic Statuettes from Hunan;
• November 3: Presentation of the three volumes of field research: Local Society and Religions in Hunan Province;
• November 5: Field research on local religions: comparison and future prospects, with Li Fung-mao (Academia Sinica), David Palmer (University of Hong Kong) and Tan Wailun (The Chinese University of Hong Kong).

He is taking advantage of this visit to give a lecture on October 30 at the Centre for Studies in ‘Materiality and History’ at Fengjia University (Taizhong), at the invitation of Professor Lee Chianwei, and to present a paper at the symposium on ‘divinatory culture’ (A Comparative Perspective on Medieval Calendars in Europe and China, on November 10 and 11, at the University of Political Science).

Luca Gabbiani is travelling to China from October 24 to 31. He will be in Beijing from October 24 to 27 to take part in the workshop entitled “Urban Communities: Comparing Chinese and European Cities in the Longue Durée”, which he is organising jointly with Professor Ju Xi (Beijing Normal University, BNU). This workshop will take place on October 26 and 27 at Beijing Normal University. On this occasion, he will present a paper entitled “The urban building stock as an object of historical inquiry: the examples of Beijing and Macao under the Qing dynasty”. At the invitation of Luca Gabbiani, Yann Rivière and Pierre Monnet (both directors of studies at EHESS) will also speak at this workshop. The titles of their respective papers are “Urban topography and places of incarceration: from archaic Rome to the Christian Empire” and “Cities and Empire, cities in the Empire: the urban network of the Holy Roman Empire (1250–1500)”. This workshop is being held as part of the joint activities platform between Beijing Normal University and the EFEO, with the support of the Capital Academy (Jingshi shuyuan).

From October 28 to 31, Luca Gabbiani will be in Shanghai. With the support of Costantino Moretti (EFEO-Fudan Centre for the Humanities, Shanghai) and Professor Wang Zhongxiao (Department of History, Fudan University), he is organising two lectures to be delivered by Yann Rivière and Pierre Monnet respectively at the Department of History, Fudan University. Yann Rivière will speak on the topic “The Threat to the Borders of the Empire, the Birth of New Imperial Residences, and the Fall of Rome, 3rd–5th century CE”, and Pierre Monnet will speak on the topic “Schedel’s ‘Cronica Cronicarum’ (Nuremberg, 1493): The Last Universal Chronicle of the Middle Ages or the First Modern Global History in the West?”.

Christine Hawixbrock is at the EFEO Centre in Vientiane until October 11 to study the archaeological material unearthed at Vat Sang’O 5 and Vat Sang’O 3 (in the Vat Phu region, Champassak province) during the excavation campaigns carried out by the French Archaeological Mission in Southern Laos (MAFSL), which she heads.

From October 17 to 24, Gregory Kourilsky is in Vientiane (Laos) as part of an audiovisual project focusing on the Buddhist ‘Bun Pha Vet’ ceremony, which commemorates the Bodhisattva’s final life as recounted in the Vessantara-jātaka. This project, which forms part of the CHAMPA EFEO/AFD programme, is being carried out in collaboration with David Wharton (associate researcher at the EFEO) and the videographer and photographer Frédéric Hai Bovey.

Christophe Pottier will be visiting the EFEO Centre in Seoul from October 23 to November 1 to take part in post-excavation studies and the preparation of a publication by the archaeological mission in Kaesong led by Élisabeth Chabanol.

On October 21, Catherine Scheer will give a presentation entitled “‘Entrer dans la croyance’ dans la cordillère annamitique : Réflexion sur le phénomène de conversion à partir de sources ethnographiques”, as part of the AAEF symposium “Se convertir au catholicisme : histoire, réalités et témoignages (XIXe -XXe siècles)”, 78A rue de Sèvres, 75007 Paris.

Catherine Scheer gave an interview to RFI Cambodia in which she discussed her research into the history of the Bunong people during the civil war.

Manivong Phengkhouane, the new AFD coordinator in Vientiane, who has taken over from Xaymoungkhoune Khonesavanh, will visit the CHAMPA project sites at Vat Phu in Champasak and in Savannakhet from October 12 to 16. David Bazin will brief her on the various projects in which the EFEO is involved on October 12 and 13 in Champasak.

Olga Nowicka is presenting a paper entitled “Devī Worship in the Śaṅkaran Monastic Tradition of Thrissur: A Study of Palm-Leaf Manuscript B-0059 from the Vaṭakke Maṭham Brahmasvam Collection” at the international conference The Cult of Knowledge: Goddess Mookambika, organised by the Kattamath Trust, Vadakkara, to mark the Navaratri festival on October 11 and 12. The conference is being held at the temple of the goddess Mookambika in Kollur, Karnataka.

E.S. Vishnu (DiPiKA project) is taking part in the symposium “The Pāṭṭŭ Culture of Kerala Tradition”, which is being held on October 8 at the Sopanam School in Panchavadyam, Edappal, Kerala. He will be presenting a paper entitled “The Pāṭṭŭ Tradition and Its Ritual Culture in Kerala”. The seminar is being organised as part of the digitisation project “The Pāna Pāṭṭŭ Digitisation Project of the Sopanam Institute”, carried out in collaboration with the South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur.

EHESS seminar as part of the Master’s in Asian Studies, Histoire culturelle de la Chine impériale tardive : textes techniques et prescriptions du quotidien.

Every Friday from October 23, from 1.30 pm to 4.30 pm, at EHESS, 2 cours des Humanités, 93300 Aubervilliers, with Frédéric Obringer (CNRS).

Joint Master’s 1 & 2 seminar at INALCO: ‘The Object in Context: Research in Asian Art History and Archaeology’.

Thursdays from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm, room LO.04, 2 rue de Lille, Paris 75007, with Lia Wei (INALCO) as coordinator, alongside Estelle Bauer (Guimet Museum), Kunsang Namgyal-Lama (INALCO) and Pauline Sebillaud (CNRS).

– Inalco PhD Seminar: The Pioneering Age of Sinology: Classical Authors and Disciplinary Issues, L’âge pionnier de la sinologie : auteurs classiques et questions disciplinaires in collaboration with Ji Zhe.

– EHESS seminar as part of the Master’s in Asian Studies: Forms and Figures of the Individual in Modern China, Formes et figures de l’individu dans la Chine moderne
The seminar essentially consists of a reading programme covering classical and recent works—whether or not they relate to Chinese studies—linked to the question of individualism considered from the perspective of historical anthropology.
On Fridays, from November 6, from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm, at EHESS, 2 cours des humanités, 93300 Aubervilliers, with Pablo Blitstein (EHESS).

– At the ENS, he also teaches courses on Chinese history from 900 to 1800 as part of the “East Asia” programme.

EPHE seminar as part of the Master’s in Asian Studies, Histoire et archéologie de l’Inde pré-coloniale : enjeux et sources.Villes, institutions, territoires.

Every Tuesday, from October 15, from 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm, at the EFEO, 22 avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris, with Saarthak Singh (University of Ghent).

Master’s Year 1 seminar, Japanese Architecture.

Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies, Columbia University (NY) / Dōshisha University (Kyoto), Mondays from 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm.

EHESS seminar as part of the Master’s in Asian Studies, La révolution chinoise de 1911 au Tibet.

Every Tuesday from October 20, from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm, at EHESS, 2 cours des humanités, 93300 Aubervilliers.

Joint EFEO & Sorbonne University Master’s Seminar, Actualités et pratiques de l’archéologie en Extrême-Orient
Tuesdays, from September 16 to December 16 and then from January 27 to May 11, from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm, at the EFEO.

Joint EFEO & Sorbonne University Master’s Seminar, Arts asiatiques : découverte, étude et valorisation
Tuesdays, from September 16 to December 15 and then from January 27 to May 11, from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm, at the EFEO.

EHESS seminar as part of the Master’s in Asian Studies, Faire de la recherche sur le terrain : contraintes, contournements, engagements en Asie du Sud-Est.

On Tuesdays, from October 15, from 10.30 am to 12.30 pm, at EHESS, 2 cours des humanités, 93300 Aubervilliers, with Vanina Bouté (EHESS) and Marie Aberdam (EHESS).

On October 15, Junko Yano (Aichi Prefectural University) will present “My Journey to Becoming a Researcher on Laos: A View from Japan”.
On October 29, Mao Sithbunnawath (CASE) will present “The Paths of Money: Challenges and Obstacles in an Ethnographic Study in an Urban Setting”.

All EFEO publications are available on the publications website.

The book will be presented as part of the “Les Voix de l’histoire de l’art”, series at the National Institute of Art History in Paris on December 17 at 6.30 pm.

Luca Gabbiani, 17 entries, including 5 in collaboration with Zhang Gong (Ater, University of Paris Nanterre), in Dictionnaire de la Chine impériale, Ming et Qing, 1368-1911, François Gipouloux (dir.), Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2026, 800 pages.

Fabienne Jagou, “The Fate of the Kanjurwa Khutugtu’s Body : The Rebirth of a Buddhist Image”, in Solomon George Fitzherbert & al. (dir.), Yungdrung: A Ramble in Tibetan Studies, Kathmandou, Vajra, 2026, pages 187–201.

Fabienne Jagou, notice “Tibetan Buddhism”, in H. M. Hsiao (dir.), Encyclopedia of Taiwan Studies Online, Leyde, Brill, 2026.

Bérénice Bellina & Frank Muyard, dir., “Asia-Pacific Indigenous Archaeology: Emergence and Perspectives” special issue, Asian Perspectives, vol. 65 (1), 2026.

Bérénice Bellina & Frank Muyard, “Introduction: Indigenous Archaeology in Asia and the Pacific: Regional Specificities and Colonial Legacies”, Asian Perspectives 65 (1), 2026, pages 1-18.

The EFEO is inviting applications for its fieldwork grants for research stays in Asia during the first half of 2027. These grants are open to Master’s 2 students and PhD candidates in the humanities and social sciences working on the civilisations of South, South-East and East Asia.

Eligibility criteria, application procedures and operating rules are set out in detail on the Field Grants page of the EFEO website. The deadline for submitting applications is October 15 at 23:59 (Paris time) for a research stay scheduled to begin between January 1 and June 30 2027.

The EFEO also offers the “David Ruegg” fieldwork grants, intended for students enrolled on a Master’s 2 programme or a PhD in Buddhist studies.

This scheme is subject to the same conditions and procedures as the EFEO’s fieldwork grants, as set out on the Fieldwork Grants page of the EFEO website. Applications must be submitted by 15 October 2026 at 11.59 pm (Paris time) for a fieldwork period due to commence between 1 January and 30 June 2027.

– Thuix Chazal is based at the Ho Chi Minh City Centre to carry out a study entitled “A Century Among the Xoơteă of Dak Ha: Ethnography and Ethnohistory of an Indigenous Village in the Highlands of Central Vietnam”;

– Dewa Ayu Carma Citrawati is based at the Jakarta Centre to explore the topic “Developing a Knowledge Organisation System for Balinese Lontar Manuscripts through Metadata Research”;

– Marina Valente is based at the Seoul Centre to explore the topic “Korean health practices between 1821 and 1920: a historical study of cholera and the evolution of anti-epidemic strategies”;

– Marie Vaudorne is affiliated with the Kyoto Centre to work on the topic “The evolution of the role of guilds of funeral rites specialists during imperial funerals in Japan, from the 7th to the 8th century”.

As part of their support for international mobility, the CNRS Humanities & Social Sciences and the EFEO are offering researchers, lecturer-researchers and research engineers from research units under the supervision or joint supervision of the CNRS financial support for research stays. The purpose of this funding is to help finance research stays lasting between 3 and 9 months during the 2027 calendar year.

The call for applications is open until 15 October 2026, midnight (Paris time).

From October 18 to November 13, the Director, Nicolas Fiévé, will be on a business trip to Japan. He will then travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia, from November 13 to 18, to prepare for the forthcoming presidential visit during the 20th Summit of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, which will take place on November 15 and 16.

We would like to welcome Chantha Sok. On 21 September 2026, Chantha joined the EFEO Centre in Siem Reap as a library assistant. A graduate of the Institute of Foreign Languages at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, where she studied French literature and the teaching of French as a foreign language, she has been teaching French since 2022. Her career also includes experience co-translating a book from French into Khmer, as well as an internship at the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, within the Department of International Cooperation and ASEAN Affairs. There, she notably helped organise Francophone meetings and events and managed social media communications. At the EFEO, she mainly carries out her duties at the library of the Siem Reap Centre. She also contributes to communications and, more occasionally, to the organisation of events and the promotion of the Centre’s publications and collections.

We would like to welcome Chinh Tran. He will be joining the EFEO’s Paris headquarters on October 1 as the accounting officer’s authorised representative. A specialist in public accounting, he has a wealth of experience gained in various accounting departments, notably at the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Versailles and the Grande Chancellerie de la Légion d’honneur. He will contribute his expertise in the areas of expenditure, revenue, payroll, oversight of cost centres and internal control.

Alya Zahra Fauzy and Saranya Sethuraman, the librarians at the EFEO centres in Jakarta and Pondicherry, are attending a training course in Paris during the week of October 5, giving them the opportunity to explore the EFEO’s library in Paris and meet their colleagues.

As part of the exhibition Imprimer, éditer, illustrer : la modernité typographique et graphique au Vietnam (1860-1945), which is being held at BULAC from 16 July to 31 October 2026, the Paris Library has loaned several items from its collections.

Consult the catalogues and digital tools :
– Catalogue of books and periodicals
– Catalogue of Archives and Manuscripts
– Digital heritage library

Check the EFEO’s Facebook page and Bluesky account regularly for any updates on the terms and conditions of the public reception service.

With this video dedicated to François Bizot, a specialist in the Buddhism of the Indochinese Peninsula, the EFEO launches a series of interviews with its former researchers.

In 1965, François Bizot arrived at the Angkor Conservation Department to take charge of the restoration workshop and undertake the topographical survey of temples.

Alongside this work, he was commissioned by Jean Filliozat (director of the EFEO from 1946 to 1977) to study Khmer Buddhism whilst immersing himself in the local culture. During his fieldwork, he discovered a significant body of previously unpublished texts in vernacular languages, directly linked to the ritual practices for which they served as a basis. His connections with local scholars enabled him to translate the first texts from this esoteric literature.

In 1976, he was appointed as a research fellow at the EFEO. Following the arrival of the Khmer Rouge, he was posted to Thailand and established the EFEO’s first centre in that country, in Chiang Mai.

Through his research, he demonstrated the profound religious and doctrinal unity between Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Thailand.

Former Director of Ancient and Medieval Studies at the Casa de Velázquez, Gwladys Bernard is a senior lecturer in ancient history at the University of Paris 8, seconded to the ResEFE. She is working towards a Habilitation to Supervise Research (HDR) on the Roman auxiliary army in the Mauretanian provinces, and is involved in a collaborative research project on Antiquity in cinema (PEPLVM programme, EHEHI 2025–2027). On October 15 and 16, she is co-organising, alongside Zheira Kasdi (University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne) and Sarah Rey (University of Valenciennes), an international conference at the ENS-Paris entitled La Résistance africaine à la romanisation, cinquante ans après, dedicated to Marcel Bénabou’s eponymous book published in 1976.

From September 23 to 25, the French School in Rome – whose director, Brigitte Marin, chairs ResEFE – hosted the annual seminar of the Network of French Schools Abroad. The 2026 edition of the annual seminar was dedicated to the history of the arts in French schools abroad. These three days spent at the École française de Rome and the Jean Bérard Centre in Naples enabled the schools’ management teams and around ten specialist speakers to discuss a subject taught at each of the five schools, with a view to highlighting both its history and its current prospects. The next annual seminar will be hosted in spring 2027 by the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology.

From October 7 to 11, nearly eighty researchers from the five French Schools Abroad will be attending the 29th edition of the Rendez-vous de l’Histoire in Blois, which is dedicated to merchants. Managers and staff from the publishing departments of the Network of French Schools Abroad will welcome researchers and the public at the Book Fair, at stand 124–125, which will feature nearly 200 titles for sale.

The ResEFE will present a special session entitled “Selling the Bear’s Skin: The Trade in Living Beings, Animals and Goods (from Antiquity to the Present Day)” on Sunday 11 October at 11.15 am, in Lecture Theatre 1 at the IUT de la Chocolaterie campus.