EFEO Paris Seminar

Guillaume Dutournier (EFEO) speaks on: "Logiques d'inventaire. Réflexions sur la trajectoire patrimoniale chinoise de l'antiquarianisme lettré à l'effervescence folkloriste actuelle" [Logics of Inventory. Reflections on the Chinese heritage trajectory from literate antiquarianism to the today's folklorist effervescence].

From 10.30am to 12pm. The conference will take place online upon prior registration. Once registered you will receive the elements to log in (seminar link and password).

Indissociable from the emergence of the modern State, and today universally active as a relationship between societies and themselves, the heritage phenomenon has come to take on a late importance in China (compared to the precocity of its institutionalisation in Europe), but it is significant and certainly original. The way in which, since the 2000s, a variety of non-exclusive state actors have taken up the theme of "feiyi" - an acronym for intangible cultural heritage - thus prolonging the conservatory dynamic initiated by the Chinese state for more than a century through various tangible heritage projects, while at the same time directing it along an increasingly idiosyncratic path.

How can we think about the homologies and singularities of this Chinese heritage trajectory, in which Simon Leys saw the shadow of a "past of words, not of stones", but which now shelters under the internationalized idiom of the different heritages recognized by UNESCO?

Based on two collective editorial projects in progress, this presentation will evoke a series of milestones documenting the transformation of the Chinese relationship to the traces of the past from the emergence of a secularizing approach in the China of the scholars to the current infatuation with "traditional" practices. It will attempt to show that behind the circulation of inventory and conservation procedures, it is in the long term and in a comparative tension with other experiences of heritage that the profound logics at work in Chinese heritage practices are revealed, as well as in the values that these practices cover for the groups involved.

Aude Favereau (National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan) gives a lecture entitled "Myanmar at the Crossroads between South, East, and Southeast Asian Exchange Networks: Cultural Contacts from the Pottery Point of View," organized by the EFEO Center in Taipei and the Center for Research on Taiwanese and Southeast Asian Archaeology Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica.

The XXXVIth Seoul Colloquium in Korean Studies is organized by the EFEO Center in Seoul in collaboration with the Royal Asiatic Society. It is led by Maël Bellec, curator of Chinese and Korean art at the Cernuschi Museum in Paris, on the theme: "Korean artists in France: Why they went there and what they did there".

At 6 pm, Asiatic Research Institute building, Korea University.

Register at the EFEO Center. The seminar will take place online, on the Zoom platform.

Legend: Kim Whanki in his studio in Paris in 1957 ©Whanki Foundation.

As part of the Kyoto lectures, Bettina Gramlich-Oka (Sophia-Tokyo University) presents: "Studying Women and Networks in the Late Tokugawa Period: The Case of the Rai Family".

At 6 p.m. (Japan time). The conference will be broadcasted online via Zoom.

The password for logging in will be posted on the Kyoto Center's blog and ISEAS website the day before.

Legend: Buddhist altar.

Philippe Le Failler will represent the EFEO and will give a summary of the creation and development of the Hanoi Central Library, which later became the National Library of Vietnam, at a press conference at the French Embassy in Hanoi on April 7 to mark the launch of the digital portal developed jointly by the National Library of France and the National Library of Vietnam. The new website of the "Patrimoines partagés" [Shared Heritage] collection is entitled France-Vietnam: Bibliothèque des flamboyants [Library of the flamboyants]. With a bilingual interface, the site, which already contains thousands of works in both French and Vietnamese, aims to welcome the collections of other institutions. CIRAD (Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement) is already participating and the EFEO should follow.

The CHAMPA project for the preservation and enhancement of heritage in the provinces of Champassak and Savannakhet in Laos, funded by the French Development Agency, has several components, including a large-scale Lidar acquisition in the provinces of Champassak and Savannakhet. A team led by Damian Evans, consisting of Sarah Klassen, Tiago Attore and Tommaso Pappagallo, travelled to Laos in April and May with the acquisition company to carry out the Lidar acquisition.

Ledend: Aerial view of the river at the Nong Hua site.

Benoît Jacquet speaks on April 16 in the Japarchi seminar "Patrimoine et aménagements urbains : pratiques et enjeux contemporains" [Heritage and urban development: contemporary practices and issues] co-organized by the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) in Kyoto, on the theme: "De la maison au quartier : comment protéger le paysage urbain de la ville de Kyōto ?" [From the house to the neighbourhood: how to protect Kyoto's urban landscape?].

This videoconference will take place from 10:00 to 12:00 in France (from 17:00 to 19:00 in Japan) and will be organised by the Nichibunken. Registration is required before April 10. Write a message in English or Japanese specifying: "Japarchi + 16 April 2021 + your name + your affiliation + the email address" to which the link will be sent.

Legend: Ornamental arrangement of the reception room (zashiki) with Buddhist altar (butsudan), alcove (tokonoma) and library (shoin), in an urban house (machiya) in Kyoto. Photo ©Jérémie Souteyrat, 2018.

François Lachaud gives a lecture entitled "D'un empire à l'autre: vies et légendes de Napoléon au Japon" [From one empire to another: the life and legends of Napoleon in Japan], organised by the Association française des amis de l'Orient (AFAO), on Monday 5 April from 2 to 3.30 pm. Online, registration is compulsory.

Legend: "View of the solemn funeral of Napoleon after the return of his remains from St. Helena", from the book Kaigai jinbutsu shōden 海外人物小伝 [Short Lives of the Great Overseas Men], 1853.

Charlotte Schmid presents the Cycle 5 "L'alchimie culturelle du pays tamoul" [The Cultural Alchemy of the Tamil Country] organised by the Association française des amis de l'Orient (AFAO), in a series of four lectures devoted to the history of art and epigraphy in the Tamil country, from the first evidence of writing to the present day:
- Tuesday, April 6: Appearance of writing in Tamil country
- Thursday, 8 April: Royal foundations in Tamil country
- Tuesday, 13 April: Local foundations in Tamil country
- Thursday, 15 April: History of art and epigraphy in Tamil country

The lectures take place online, registration is compulsary.

As part of its support for international cooperation activities, the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MESRI) awards five doctoral contracts each year in partnership between a Doctoral School and one of the five Écoles françaises à l’étranger (EFE) [French Schools Abroad]: École française d’Athènes, École française de Rome, Institut français d’Archéologie orientale du Caire, École française d’Extrême-Orient, Casa de Velázquez (School of Advanced Hispanic and Iberian Studies).

Applications must be sent directly to the EFE concerned. Details and procedures for submitting applications can be found on the respective websites: EFEO doctoral contract.

The application documents can be sent until April 30, 2021, 3:00 pm (Paris time), according to the procedures specific to each EFE.

The results will be sent during the month of June, before the meeting of the Councils of the Doctoral Schools for the awarding of ministerial contracts.

This allocation is in addition to the quota available to each Doctoral School: it therefore constitutes both a reinforcement of aid to early-career researchers, support for French research abroad and a broadening of partnerships between French universities and the EFEs. Moreover, obtaining the allowance does not necessarily imply permanent residence in the EFE's host country (so it remains compatible with, for example, teaching hours done by the doctoral student in his or her university).

The EFEO library is open on appointment from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It offers a document loan and return service every Wednesday.

Make an appointment for a reading space.

Make an appointment for the Wednesday loan-return service.

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

Legend: Bronze statuette of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Collection of Tibetan objects, EFEO call number D71-56.

The Paris library of the EFEO has begun to enter its inventories of archives, objects, and iconographic documents into Calames.

You can now explore the finding aids for the archives of Charles Archaimbault, George Cœdès, Georges Condominas, Madeleine Giteau, Victor Goloubew, and Christian Pelras: Papers of former members and scholars.

Also available are inventories of the Tibetan art collection, propaganda posters of the People's Republic of Kampuchea, and Khmer Rouge propaganda documents disseminated by the Comité des Patriotes du Kampuchéa Démocratique en France: Objects, iconographic collections and various archives.

The EFEO's photographic holdings remain accessible on the photo library website.

Discover the photographs from the collection of Marie-Louise Reiniche, anthropologist and specialist of the Tamil country (South India).

Marie-Louise Reiniche (1934-2008) defined herself as a "social anthropologist, aiming at an anthropology of movable wealth, in the context of Indian civilisation and in relation to rituals". She taught at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (1977-1989) before becoming head of the Religions of India department of the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes. Marie-Louise Reiniche was closely associated with the EFEO, of which she was Director of Studies (July 1992-January 1993), and she also spent long periods at the EFEO Center in Pondicherry. She attended many religious and ritual ceremonies, which she documented both with photographs and with sound recordings.

Legend: Festival (kodai) of the temple (Kovil) of Siva kumbhabhiseka, Konar day, Mel Seval (Mel Ceval, Tirunelvel district, Tamil Nadu), EFEO_REIM06740.

With a view to celebrating its 120th anniversary, the École française d'Extrême-Orient is launching a series of video vignettes, entitled "EFEO's Asian Treasures", designed to make the rich holdings of its library and archives better known: prints, published works, manuscripts, maps, plans, photographs, images, etc.

In Un ethnologue au Japon: 1937-1939. La bibliothèque japonaise de Leroi-Gourhan [An ethnologist in Japan: 1937-1939. Leroi-Gourhan's Japanese library], Christophe Marquet (EFEO) and Alice Berthon (Grenoble Alpes University) present the work library acquired by André Leroi-Gourhan (1911-1986) during his very first ethnological fieldwork in Japan from 1937 to 1939. This collection, which remained in his family until recently, consists of approximately 600 documents, mainly Japanese and Chinese: manuscripts, xylographic works from the 17th to the 19th century, monographs and reviews, published in the first half of the 20th century. This documentation provides a better understanding of his interests and working methods. Discovering a tradition of encyclopaedism in Japan, Leroi-Gourhan studied this bibliography before confronting, in the field, the traditions and techniques described in these works. Leroi-Gourhan is best known for his post-war work on prehistory and parietal art. This forgotten period of his career, during which he undertook his first research and collection of objects for the Musée de l'Homme in Japan, can be better understood thanks to this collection, which the EFEO acquired in 2018.

The Modern China Biographical Database (MCBD) has been put online by the ENP-China project (an ERC project in which the EFEO collaborates).

MCBD is a freely accessible relational database that aims to record all historical actors active in China during the late Qing and Republican eras (1830-1949).

MCBD is based on the Heurist database system. It was developed by the ERC-funded project "Elites, Networks, and Power in Modern Urban China" (ENP-China) and represents a fundamental initiative to create a long-term public resource for Chinese world history research. Data is drawn from a wide range of sources - biographical dictionaries, who's who, directories, newspapers, archives, Wikipedia/Baidu. MCDB is intended to serve as a resource for all types of visualisation and analysis, including statistical textual analysis, network analysis, spatial analysis and NLP. MCBD currently contains data on more than 75,000 people, with information on 20,000 jobs and 6,000 programmes/degrees, as well as 10,000 institutions and 14,000 companies. A major feature of MCBD is that it presents individuals in all forms of their names, both in Chinese and in all forms of transliteration where they have been mentioned in Western sources.

Legend: Green Nimman's home, conference venue in Chiang Mai, conference poster.

The fields of research that dominated this 3rd edition were studies on social or ethnic inequalities, especially among minority groups and migrant workers, peace and security surveys, as well as issues of marginalisation or development in relation to health policies, gender or sexuality. Panels on the country's languages, language policy, divination and folk religion were less numerous. A panel on history and social memory was eventually reduced to two participants, including Jacques Leider who presented a micro-study on the evacuation (1942) by the British army of several thousand Muslims and Buddhists from Arakan following the Japanese invasion and the complications of their repatriation from India after the war (1946-47). A panel discussion inviting reflection on the military coup and civil resistance responded to the topicality in the minds of all participants. Three speakers articulated a call for a new political culture, a reminder of the role of women and, politically crucial, a focus on the agentivity of ethnic minority actors.

Legend: Exhibits about present-day Burma: a panel displaying a compilation of photos and documents about the events following the February 1 coup.

In the silence, indeed the contemplation of a hall welcoming the speakers for the recording, improvised panels were already displaying the photos of the recent events, the collective and individual sufferings of February 2021, the diversity of the situations encountered in urban or rural areas, all this next to a refined historical exhibition on the Burmese of all times in Northern Thailand. The debate on the return of the military junta to power in Burma, held in Thailand within the walls of the CMU, could not match the vigour it has in the social media. A banner scrolling across the screen of all the digital interventions also reminded participants that the conference organiser was not responsible for any legal complications that might arise from the speakers' positions.

Among the films shown twice, two featured portraits of Burmese lives, testimonies of courage and perseverance: in the context of this conference, they were moments that offered a sharp contrast to the dramatic situation that the population of the cities has been experiencing since then.

Join EFEO researchers Damian Evans, Dominique Soutif, and Brice Vincent for the replay of the RMC Découverte documentary on the temple of Angkor Wat until Wednesday, April 14.

Applications for the Master's degree in Humanities and Social Sciences, "Asian Studies", are open according to a three-stage application process:

- 22 February to 21 April 2021
- 24 May to 25 June 2021
- 23 August to 10 September 2021

The "Asian Studies" Master's Degree is a multidisciplinary programme at the M1-M2 level, with a research focus, organised around two optional courses:

- Course 1: "History and social sciences: fields, texts and images" (EHESS-EFEO). Apply online on the EHESS website.
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- Course 2: "History, philology and religions" (EPHE/PSL-EFEO). Apply online on the PSL website.
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This higher education system, with a research purpose in the field of humanities and social sciences, is unique in France, offering the possibility of integrated training where each identified cultural area is examined through a method and construction specific to each discipline. With this offer, the training encourages students not to limit their reflection to a single cultural or linguistic area and to be open to a multidisciplinary and comparative approach to their subject of study. The course also attaches particular importance to training and research stays in Asia; funding is earmarked by the partner institutions (EHESS, EPHE, EFEO) for student mobility in the field with a view to preparing the dissertation in M2.

For all candidates (M1 and M2), the Master's degree is open in priority to students who have followed a course in the humanities and social sciences (SHS); it may, however, be open to professionals (journalists, documentalists, consultants, etc.) wishing to broaden their knowledge of Asian societies. In addition to the compulsory knowledge of French and English, partial or total mastery of an Asian vernacular language is desirable, or even indispensable for certain research projects.

More information on the website of the mention.

Together with Angela Ki-Che Leung (University of Hong Kong), Luca Gabbiani will participate as a discussant in the webinar "Epidemic Governance in China: A Historical Perspective", organised by IFRAE and the University of Liège, in collaboration with EURICS and CEFC Hong Kong, as part of the webinar series "China in a Time of Pandemics: Politics, Culture and Society".

The session will take place on Zoom on 2 April, from 1 to 2.30 pm (Paris time). More information and registration.