EFEO Paris seminar

Alain Arrault (EFEO) speaks on: "Nouvelles perspectives dans l'histoire de la Chine". This seminar is part of the sequence Qu’est-ce que l’Asie ? Aires culturelles, histoire et sciences sociales of the seminar ASIES of the master "Études Asiatiques".

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).

Legend: Contract between the two families Wang and Wu of Kangshan in Yugan and the families Wan, Zhang and Xie of Nanshan in Xinjian, on the 8th month of the 15th year of the Jiaqing reign (1810) (Jiaqing shiwunian bayue Yugan Kangshan Wang, Wu er xing yu Xinjian Nanshan Wan, Zhang, Xie li hetong yiyue zi 嘉慶十五年八月餘幹康山王、吳二姓與新建南山萬、張、謝立合同議約字).

Valérie Gillet and Coline Lefrancq organise the study day Le terrain en Asie du Sud en contexte difficile : tour d’horizon des méthodologies développées par les chercheuses et chercheurs en sciences humaines et sociales.

Wednesday 10 November from 10 am to 4.30 pm in the Grand Salon of the Maison de l'Asie, 22 avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris.

Programme

On November 12 the EFEO and the Institute of Archaeology of the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) are organizing the international colloquium Buried in Jars: Earthenware Containers and Mortuary Practices in Taiwan and the Philippines at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan.

The Kyoto EFEO Center, together with the ISEAS and the Institute for Research in Humanities (Kyoto University), present the closing workshop of the Shirakawa EFEO Salon lecture series: "Aspects of Lived Religion in Late Medieval and Early Modern Japan" organized by Martin Nogueira Ramos, Gaétan Rappo, and Suzuki Kenkō.

Seven lectures in English and one in Japanese are planned.

Starting at 10am (Kyoto time). The day will also be broadcasted on the Zoom platform. Participation either online or on site at the EFEO Center in Kyoto is by registration, either online or on site at the EFEO Center in Kyoto.

Legend: Utagawa Yoshitoyo, Hashika majinai no ben, 1862, Tokyo Metropolitan Library.

The XLth Seoul Colloquium in Korea Studies, organized by the EFEO Center in Seoul, in collaboration with the Royal Asiatic Society, is led by Christophe Duvert, lecturer at Soongsil University in Seoul, on the topic: "L’iconographie de la justice en Corée : analyse historique d’un processus d’hybridation".

At 6:00 p.m. (Seoul time), online: register with the EFEO Center to receive the information needed to connect.

Legend: Statue of haet'ae in Kwanghwamun, Seoul. Chosŏn period. Photograph by Maiwenn Cosquéric © 2020.

As part of the Kyoto lectures, Timon Screech (International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Nichibunken) presents: "Thoughts on the Cult of Tokugawa Ieyasu as the Great Avatar".

At 6pm (Japan time) in hybrid format, at the EFEO Center in Kyoto and on the Zoom platform (upon registration). The password for logging in will be posted on the Kyoto Center's blog and the ISEAS website on the 27th.

Legend: Kanō Tan.yū, Tōshō daigongen, c. 1638.

The exhibition "Revealing Krishna: Journey to Cambodia's Sacred Mountain" at the Cleveland Museum of Art will run from November 14, 2021 to January 30, 2022.

Seven sculptures from the National Museum of Cambodia (NMC) and one from the Angkor Borei Museum (Takéo Province), all of which have passed through the hands of the NMC-EFEO Sculpture Conservation Workshop, are on display.

Chea Socheat is bringing the loaned works to Cambodia from 30 October to 5 November.

The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Studies (CSMC) in Hamburg wishes to compile a detailed online catalogue of the extensive collection of palm-leaf manuscripts held at the Universitäts- und Staatsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky. The manuscripts, in a variety of Indian scripts, cover all branches of traditional Sanskrit knowledge. In the framework of their sub-project RFA07 "Towards a Comprehensive Approach to the Study of South Indian Palm-Leaf Manuscripts", the EFEO has received a grant from the Cluster of Excellence "Understanding Written Artefacts" (UWA) of the University of Hamburg to employ Dr. Lakshmi Narasimhan to work on the cataloguing of 175 Sanskrit manuscripts in Telugu script. Dr. Lakshmi Narasimhan will work at the IFP with Hugo David.

With the generous support of Arcadia and the British Library (Endangered Archives Programme, Major Project no. 1304), a team of researchers led by Hugo David (EFEO / Department of Indology, French Institute of Pondicherry), S.A.S. Sarma (EFEO, Pondicherry) and C.M. Neelakandhan (formerly SSSU, Kalady) have been engaged since September 1 in a project to inventory and digitize the manuscript collection held in the Hindu monastic institutions of Thrissur (central Kerala) with the aim of studying the culture of the manuscript book in early modern Kerala.

Over the next twenty-four months, four researchers and two photographers will study this important collection of about 1,000 manuscripts held at the Vadakke Madham Brahmaswam (Vedic Research Centre), an institution that today is mainly dedicated to the traditional teaching of the Vedas to young children. The collection comes from the old libraries of the four monasteries (Sk. maṭha; Mal. madham) belonging to the Śaṅkara order in the city of Thrissur, one of the major Hindu religious centres of Kerala. All the works are written on palm leaves, using the traditional technique of incision followed by inking, in Malayalam or Grantha characters, and convey works either in Sanskrit or in Malayalam, the vernacular language currently in use in this part of the subcontinent. The subjects covered are extremely varied, ranging from Vedic philosophy and exegesis to works on grammar, medicine and rituals specific to the monastic traditions of Thrissur.

The main objectives of the project include, firstly, the preservation - both physical and digital - of the manuscripts and the documentation of the collection in the form of a descriptive catalogue. This unavoidable but arduous groundwork will then form the basis for a systematic investigation of what was probably one of the major intellectual centres of southwestern India in the 18th and early 20th centuries, from the perspective of a history of early modern manuscript book cultures.

Alain Arrault

Alain Arrault speaks on "Les caractères de la martialité dans la statuaire domestique du Hunan", as part of the colloquium Culture martiale chinoise. Corps, Rituel & Société at the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Claude Lévi-Strauss theatre, on November 12 (in person and live on Youtube).

Legend: left: statue of Napoleon as "Mars disarmed and peacemaker", circa 1802-1806, Antonio Canova, 345 cm, London, Apsley House; right: Great ruler of perfect martiality (Zhenwu dadi), China, Hunan province, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), T0502, 27 cm.

- Alain Arrault speaks on: "Les images cultuelles en Chine: de la momie à la statue, des temples aux altels domestiques".

Legend: left: statue of the patriarch Zhang (Zhanggong zushi 章公祖師), 11th century, China, Fujian province; right: photo of the image of the statue by scanner.

On November 19, Frédéric Girard and Benoît Jacquet take part in the study days L'arbre qui cache la forêt, organised by the Association Asie-Sorbonne on 19 and 20 November.

- Frédéric Girard speaks from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. during the "Session I La symbolique de l'arbre au Moyen-Âge en Asie" on "L’arbre dans le Japon bouddhique".

- Benoît Jacquet speaks from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. during "Session II Comment le passé informe le présent" on "La colonne qui soutient la forêt : comment revitaliser un paysage culturel ? Exemple de la région de Kitayama au Japon".

At the INHA, Ingres room (2nd floor), 2 rue Vivienne, Paris 75001 and via Zoom, ask for a Zoom access by specifying your name, first name, address and possible institution.

Legend: Wu Guanzhong, Tree roots 树根, 1980s, ink and colour on paper, courtesy of the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

On 14 November, Benoît Jacquet takes part in the jury for the architectural competition for the construction of two wooden pavilions ("Ki-Time" project) in Kyoto, at the French Institute of Kansai and at the Villa Kujoyama, in collaboration with the Archi-Depot architecture museum, the Franco-Japanese Society of Industrial Techniques (SFJTI), the FCBA Institute of Technology, the University of Kyoto, the Kyoto Institute of Technology, Otemon Gakuin University, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, ENSTIB and KOZ Architects.

Legend: visit to the 2m26 workshop in preparation for the "Ki-Time" Workshop (Season of France in Japan), Keihoku, October 2021 (photo Benoît Jacquet).

- François Lachaud speaks on: "Wiseblood and Loca Sacra: Vernacular Buddhism Religion in Modern and Contemporary Tōhaku".

Legend: Pavilion of the Revered Jizō of the River of Hell (Sai no Kawara Jizō-son dō) (photo François Lachaud).

Michel Lorrillard, Gregory Kourilsky and Dominique Soutif participate in the CKS Epigraphy Workshop 2021, which will be held by videoconference on November 2 at the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS), Phnom Penh:

- Gregory Kourilsky speaks on: "What are we talking about when we talk about 'inscriptions'".

- Michel Lorrillard speaks on: "Epigraphy and historiography: the case of the Vat Vixun inscription in Luang Prabang (16th century).

- Dominique Soutif speaks on: "The CIK and DHARMA research programmes: inventory, study and dissemination of epigraphic data".

Hélène Njoto is conducting an inventory of early Islamic art in East Java, from Surabaya to Semarang, from October 24 to November 8 2021.

On November 1st, Hélène Njoto is the moderator of Webinar 9 "Introduction to Ceramics in Southeast Asia & An Introduction to Buddhist and Hindu Bronze Sculpture in Southeast Asia with a Case Study on Javanese Bronzes (6th-15th century)" presented by Eko Bastiawan, Mathilde Mechling and Heidi Tan, part of the Archaeology and Art History of Southeast Asia Programme of which she is co-organiser.

3:00-4:30 pm (Singapore time), online, registration required.

The conditions of access are as follows:

- The library will be opened Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

- It will no longer be necessary to reserve a place in the reading room, but you will have to be registered or pre-registered on the Bulac catalogue for the "Maison de l'Asie"

- The documents will be communicated 20 minutes after their reservation from your reader's account, and will be made available on the shelves on the patio side of the reading room

- The library will welcome 15 readers per day. In case of overcrowding, priority will be given to readers consulting EFEO documents.
The health pass will not be required, but the wearing of masks and the respect of protective measures will continue to apply. If you are experiencing Covid-19 type symptoms, please postpone your visit to the library.

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

The Paris library of the EFEO has just published the inventory of the Hán Nôm manuscripts on its website dedicated to the description and management of digitized archives and collections as well as on Calames.

The term Hán Nôm (漢喃 "Han characters and chữ Nôm") in Vietnamese refers to the entirety of Vietnam's premodern writings, whether written in Chinese (chữ hán) or in Vietnamese (chữ Nôm).

Learn more about the Hán Nôm.

The EFEO's photographic collections are accessible on the Photo Library website.

Jean Deloche collection: the photo library upload 1,500 additional photographs online, taken between 1970 and 2000 in Tamil Nadu.

Legend: Frieze, horsemen on elephants, temple in Karnataka, India, 1982 (?) (EFEO_DELJ02440).

It is with deep regret that we learn of the demise of the eminent sinologist and former director of the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), Léon Vandermeersch, who passed away on October 17, 2021 at the age of 93.

A leading specialist of Confucianism and the thought system of early China, Léon Vandermeersch was as familiar with the languages and civilizations of Vietnam and Japan as with those of China. He began his academic career as a member of the EFEO assigned successively to Hanoi, Kyoto, Hong Kong and Paris (1956-1966), after initially teaching high school in Saigon and Hanoi (1951-1956). He then taught as professor at the universities of Aix-en-Provence (1966-1973) and Paris-VII (1973-1979) and occupied a chair in Chinese religions at the École pratique des hautes études (1979-1993). He served as director of the Maison franco-japonaise in Tokyo from 1981 to 1984 and as director of the EFEO from 1989 to 1993.

Soedarmaji Jean Henry Damais passed away on September 15 2021 at the age of 79. A former director of the Jakarta History Museum (Museum Fatahillah), an expert in architectural heritage, and a cultural advisor to successive Jakarta governors since the 1960s, Adji Damais was a tireless supporter of the EFEO Center in Jakarta and its researchers throughout his career.

He was the son of Louis Charles Damais (1911-1966), founder of the first EFEO Center in Indonesia, which was established in Batavia (Jakarta) in 1938, and of Raden Soejatoen Abdul Arief Poespokoesoemo (1912-2005), librarian of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences (Bataviaasch Genootshap), and later secretary to Ambassador Claude Cheysson.

It is one of the pillars of the community of historians, art and architecture historians who is leaving us. Awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres medal in 2015, Adji distinguished himself by training a whole new generation of experts and curators of Indonesian heritage. Deeply saddened by this death, the entire team of the EFEO Center in Jakarta expresses its most sincere condolences to his family, friends, and collaborators, with whom he was very much loved.

Pierre-Yves Manguin, Henri Chambert-Loir, Véronique Degroot, Arlo Griffiths, Hélène Njoto, Diah Novitasari, Daniel Perret, Ade Pristie Wisandhani

A national tribute was paid to him on October 12 in the presence of the Minister of Culture and Education, Nadiem Makarim, and the Sultan of Yogyakarta, on the National Museum Day (the tribute is at the 50th minute of this link). The French Embassy also organised a commemorative ceremony at the Lycée Français in Jakarta the following day.

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 "Les manuscrits en pāli de l'EFEO: un patrimoine vivant" (The EFEO's pāli manuscripts: a living heritage), Maïté Hurel and Javier Schnake present the history of this collection, which is kept at the EFEO's Paris library. This collection of manuscripts, collected from the very beginning of the School, contains numerous texts with diverse themes belonging to the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, whose literary and religious language is Pāli. The interest of this collection is twofold: on the one hand, it represents one of the last coherent repositories of sacred texts from Cambodia, most of which disappeared during the 1970s due to the political turmoil that the country was going through. On the other hand from a philological point of view, some of the texts preserved here are literary productions from Thai countries, whose resonance is essentially regional. Indeed, they have not always attracted the attention of scholars, and some remain unpublished.

The inventory of this collection can be consulted on paper (Jacqueline Filliozat, Catalogue des Manuscrits en Pāli, EFEO Library), but also online on Calames.

Read Catherine Vanesse's article in Lepetitjournal.com - Chiang Mai on the history of the library at the EFEO Center in Chiang Mai.

Legend: The large and luminous reading room of the EFEO Centre library in Chiang Mai was inaugurated in 2011 (Photo Catherine Vanesse).

On November 29 and 30 Elisa Andretta (CNRS, LARHRA), Antonella Romano (EHESS, CAK), Michela Bussotti (EFEO), and the École française de Rome are organizing the colloquium Horizons orientaux des savoirs romains sur la nature du monde as part of the BABELROME programme.

EURICS, IFRAE and the University of Liège are organising the fourth webinar of the series "China in a time of pandemics: politics, culture and society", entitled "Anti-Asian racism during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Experiences, expressions and reactions of Chinese Diaspora in France".

Tuesday November 9, from 5 to 6.30pm (Paris time) on the Zoom platform, link to registration.

EURICS, IFRAE and the University of Liège are organising the fifth webinar of the series "China in a time of pandemics: politics, culture and society", entitled "The Covid19 pandemics: Global implications for the transformation of Chinese state capitalism".

Wednesday 24 November, from 1 to 2.30 pm (Paris time) on the Zoom platform, link to registration.