Agenda

Centres

Chiang Mai

On December 2, Phongsathorn Buakhampan and Christophe Pottier will be taking part in the 1st National Academic Conference on Arts and Culture for Local Development (1st CACLD2024) on the theme of "Palm-leaf Manuscripts, Folding Book Manuscripts and Ancient Manuscripts: Cultural Capital to Soft Power", organised by the Arts and Culture Institute, Chiang Mai Rajabhat University.

Ho Chi Minh City

On December 12, Jade Thau will be taking part in a series of lectures and debates organised by the Centre. She will be presenting "From mobilisation to propaganda: a study of Vietnamese posters between 1945 and 1986."

Pondicherry

On December 6, S.L.P. Anjaneya Sarma will give a presentation entitled ‘vyākaraṇaśāstre, sahayukte “pradhāne pā. sū. 2.3.19 sūtravicāraḥ” at the Subrahmanya Vākyārtha Sabhā organised by the Sri Maha Vidyapeetham-Hyderabad, Tenali Branch (AP).

On December 25 and 26, S.L.P. Anjaneya Sarma will give a presentation entitled ‘bhāṭṭarahasyarītyā divaḥ karma ca .pā. sū. 1.4.43 iti sūtravicāraḥ’, at the Catuśśāstrasabhā organised by the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham in Kanchipuram.

From December 27 to 29, S.L.P. Anjaneya Sarma will give a presentation titled ‘laghuśabdenduśekhararītyā divaḥ karma ca .pā. sū. 1.4.43 iti sūtravicāraḥ’ at the Vākyārtha Sadas organised by the Government Sanskrit College, Tripunithura, Kerala.

From December 12 to 13 at the Institut français de Pondichéry (IFP), several members of the team from the EFEO Center in Pondicherry will give presentations at a workshop organized by the Indology Department of the IFP:

- Dominic Goodall will present ‘Editing the Sarvajñānottaratantra with the commentary of Aghoraśiva (12th century) - a project of three decades (so far)’

- Indra Manuel (ERC DHARMA) will present "Editing the Cirāmalai Antāti"

- T. Rajarethinam (Hindu Temple Legends Project with Heidelberg Academy) will present "Editing Kaccālaya's Kañcippurāṇam"

- S.A.S. Sarma will present "The Task of Editing Śaiva Paddhatis and Commentaries: A Long-term Pursuit"

- R. Sathyanarayanan will present "Critical Edition and Tamil translation of the Vīratantra - problems and solutions"

- M. Vighneswharam (Hindu Temple Legends Project) will present "Translation and edition of Kacciyappa Muṉivar's Kāñcippurāṇam"

Siem Reap

Throughout December, the EFEO Centre in Siem Reap will be welcoming Benoît Lafay and Nathalie Bruhière, curator-restorers. At the Angkor Conservation Centre, they will be continuing the study and restoration project on the Dancing Shiva statue at Koh Ker directed by Éric Bourdonneau, in collaboration with the National Authority for Preah Vihear and the Cambodian Ministry of Culture.

From December 10 to 15, the Centre will also be welcoming Vilasak Phongsawath and Sybounheuang Phimmasenh, Laotian archaeologists from the "Division du Site Patrimoine Mondial de Vat Phou Champassak" with whom the EFEO teams are currently working in the Champassak region.

Vientiane

Researchers

Éric Bourdonneau

On December 10, Éric Bourdonneau has been invited to take part in the symposium on the Bayon temple organised to mark the 30th anniversary of the activities of JSA/JASA (Japan-APSARA Safeguarding Angkor). He will be presenting a paper entitled: "The Bayon and the 'uncertain centrality' of the temples-mountains in ancient Cambodia (with some additional remarks on the foundation stelae of King Jayavarman VII)."

On December 11 and 13, Éric Bourdonneau will be taking part in the CIC-Angkor (39th technical session and 31st full session). He will be presenting a paper entitled: "D'Angkor à Koh Ker, et inversement. Discussion sur le nom et la date de construction du baray occidental."

Paola Calanca

Élisabeth Chabanol

Hugo David

As part of the international project "An Intellectual History of Late Vedānta," funded by the Leverhulme Trust (UK) and of which the EFEO is a partner, this year Hugo David is resuming his workshop on the (online) reading of the Śivamahimakalikāstuti, a double-meaning śivaite hymn by Appayya Dīkṣita, and its commentary by Mannurgudi Tyāgarāja Śāstrī. Every other Thursday, 3pm CET (next sessions on 5 and 19 December). Information and links from Jonathan Duquette.

From December 11 to 13, Hugo David will be visiting the Institute of South Asian and Tibetan Studies at the University of Vienna (Austria), at the invitation of Andrey Klebanov. There he will lead three workshops with students, devoted to the question of modes of disambiguation of statements according to the Vākyakāṇḍa of the Vākyapadīya of the grammarian-philosopher Bhartṛhari (st. 2.314-316, with self-commentary).

Luca Gabbiani

Valérie Gillet

Valérie Gillet will be at the École française de Rome from December 4 to 7 to take part in a meeting of the InterEFE project Destins of Objects, for which she is responsible on behalf of the EFEO, followed by the 3rd colloquium within this project, entitled "Constitutions. Treasures and collections from Rome and elsewhere".

Dominic Goodall

From December 16 to 18, Dominic Goodall will be in Trivandrum to give a lecture entitled "Thoughts on Editing Śaiva Literature from Manuscripts" as part of an International Seminar on Global Issues and Indian Knowledge Systems, organised by the Department of Sanskrit at the University of Kerala in Kariavattom, Trivandrum.

On December 19, at the invitation of Professor Muralimadhavan, Dominic Goodall will give a public lecture entitled "Textual Criticism of the Raghuvaṃśa" at the Kantaloor Sala Research Institute, Trivandrum.

Christine Hawixbrock

Christine Hawixbrock is in Laos until December 12, as part of the CHAMPA project, to study the material unearthed during this year's excavation mission at Vat Sang'O, to take part in the synopsis of the setting up of the collections for the future Vat Phu museum, to prepare, install and inaugurate the educational panels for the Nong Hua Thong interpretation pavilion and to take part in the scenography of the Savannakhet museum.

Benoît Jacquet

On the 7th of December from 1 to 6 pm, Benoît Jacquet will take part, along with Ellen Van Goethem (University of Kyūshū) and Matthew Stavros (University of Sydney), in the Nichibunken Collaborative Research Project seminar on "The City and the Monument: Urbanism and Memory from the History of Visual Culture", directed by Timon Screech at the Nichibunken International Research Centre for Japanese Studies in Kyōto.

François Lachaud

François Lachaud will be visiting Izumozaki from December 11 to 14 as part of his research on Ryōkan, which is the subject of his course at the EPHE in the second half of 2024-2025.

Christophe Marquet

Costantino Moretti

On December 11, Costantino Moretti took part in a workshop organised by the University of Edinburgh on the theme of "Concertina-Fold Books."

Martin Nogueira Ramos

Martin Nogueira Ramos is visiting Japan from December 1 to 15 to give two lectures and to carry out research into the image of Catholicism in the Japanese press of the 1880s. During the first week, at the National Library, he will consult the press of Kōchi prefecture (Shikoku); during the second week, he will be in Kyōto to examine the collection of Kansai newspapers held at the Kyoto Institute, Library and Archives (Kyōto furitsu Kyōto-gaku Rekisaikan).

Lectures:

On Saturday, December 8, at the Tōyō Bunko (Tōkyō), Martin Nogueira Ramos will speak as part of the study day organised by François Lachaud and Makino Motonori "En quêtes d'Asie: le Tōyō Bunko et l'École française d'Extrême-Orient, trois décennies d'histoire." His lecture (in Japanese) is entitled "Etudier la mission catholique sous l'angle des publications japonaises des années 1880 : le cas de Kyoto."

On Tuesday, December 12, as part of the Kyoto Lectures (EFEO Center in Kyōto), Martin Nogueira Ramos will give a lecture entitled "Right in the Middle of 'Shaka's Mecca': The Reemergence of Catholicism in Early Meiji Kyoto."

Brice Vincent

Brice Vincent will be giving a lecture on Monday 9 December at the Maison de l'Asie, between 9 and 11 a.m., as part of the core seminar of the Master's in Asian Studies (EHESS-EPHE/PSL-EFEO). His talk will be entitled: "Casting for the king: study of a specialised craft in Angkor".

On Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 December, Brice Vincent will be visiting the Arc'Antique laboratory in Nantes, to take part in the second meeting of experts planned as part of the technological study and conservation-restoration project on the Vishnu of Western Mebon (Musée national du Cambodge, Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France, École française d'Extrême-Orient and Musée national des arts asiatiques - Guimet, 2019-2025; funded by the Aliph Foundation). The meeting will review progress on the conservation-restoration of the statue, which will continue until April 2025.

Projects

ALIPH-EFEO project in Ambon

Archaeoscape.ai project

CHAMPA project

Lectures

Alain Arrault et Michela Bussotti
- EHESS seminar in the framework of the Master's degree in Asian Studies, Histoire culturelle de la Chine impériale tardive : textes techniques et prescriptions du quotidien

Véronique Degroot
- EHESS seminar in the framework of the Master's degree in Asian Studies, Introduction à l'histoire de l'art et à l'archéologie de l'Indonésie occidentale: protohistoire et période hindo-bouddhique

Hugo David
- EPHE seminar in the framework of the Master's degree in Asian Studies,  Implicite, ambiguïté, polysémie. Introduction à la philosophie linguistique de Bhartṛhari

Andrew Hardy
- EHESS seminar in the framework of the Master's degree in Asian Studies, Histoire de la colonisation du Vietnam : approches micro-biographiques ?

Benoît Jacquet
- Master 2 seminar, Introduction au Projet de fin d’études (PFE), at the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Paris-La Villette

- Master 2 seminar, Par-delà la modernité : Retour d’Asie, at the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Paris-La Villette

Fabienne Jagou
- EHESS seminar in the framework of the Master's degree in Asian Studies, Nationalisme tibétain et mongol à partir du début du XXe siècle

François Lachaud
- EPHE seminar in the framework of the Master's degree in Asian Studies, Vies de Ryōkan : bouddhisme, poésie et érémitisme dans le Japon d'Edo

Martin Nogueira Ramos
- EPHE seminar in the framework of the Master's degree in Asian Studies, Sources et histoire du christianisme japonais (XVIe-XVIIe siècles)

- EPHE seminar in the framework of the Master's degree in Asian Studies, Histoire religieuse et intellectuelle du Japon (1600-1900) : Atelier de lecture de textes

Christophe Pottier
- Master's seminar at Sorbonne University, Actualités et pratiques de l'archéologie en Extrême-Orient

Catherine Scheer
- EHESS seminar in the framework of the Master's degree in Asian Studies, Faire de la recherche sur le terrain : contraintes, contournements, engagements en Asie du Sud-Est, since October 10

On December 5, Sarah Kerboas (Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès) will present "Les métamorphoses du terrain et de son chercheur : du bureau en temps de pandémie à l’ethnographie de la traduction au Cambodge"

On December 19, Anne-Laure Porée (CESPRA, EHESS) will present "Enquêter sur S-21 et le Cambodge des Khmers rouges (1975-1979) : comment les obstacles stimulent la recherche"

Saathak Singh
- EPHE seminar in the framework of the Master's degree in Asian Studies, Architecture de l'Inde médiévale, c. 400-1400 : problématiques et perspectives d'étude

Publications

All EFEO publications are available on the publications website.

Researchers' publications

Frédéric Girard, "An Inquiry in Human nature, sense of being and ontology of levels in Japanese philosophy, religion and littérature, through the Treatise on the Act of Faith in the Great Vehicle", in Tōyō-kenkyū, The Studies of Asia and Africa, n° 228, The Institute for Oriental Studies od Daito bunka University, Juillet 2023, pages 1-31.

François Lachaud, review of Ōtani Tōru 大谷亨, Chūgoku no shinigami 中国の死神 in Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 33 (2024), pages 248-257.

Interview with François Lachaud published in Tokyojin, issue 485 (November 2024), as part of the centenary of the Tōyō Bunko, pages 124-125.

Research Services

Recipients of allocation on mission

- Otavio Amaral is based at the Pondicherry centre for a study on "Les Hijras du sud de l’Inde : une approche heuristique des rapports entre le corps et le sacré. Subversion, genre et dévotion"

- Aline Bontemps is based at the Beijing centre for a study on "Connexions steppiques dans le sud-ouest de la Chine : étude des tombes à ciste 'shiguanmu 石棺墓' découvertes sur le cours de la Yalong et de ses affluents entre le VIIIe et le Ier s. avant notre ère"

- Ariff Hafizzi Bin Mohd is based at the Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur centres for a study on "Southeast Asia and Beyond: Mapping Muslim Solidarities and Transregional Connections during the Long Global Sixties (1960s-1990s)"

- Marie Olivier is based at the Pondicherry centre for a study on "Andrée Karpelès (1885-1956). Une artiste au cœur des échanges culturels franco-indiens"

- Théophile Rabu is based at the Beijing centre for a study on "La linguistique dans un monde chinois : une histoire des discours épilinguistiques et pratiques de communication dans le Guizhou méridional, 1890-1960"

- Akarsh Raghunath is based at the Jakarta and Bangkok centes  for a study on  the "Mapping Synchronism in the Visual Arts of Tamiḻakam and Śrīvijaya (7th—12th century CE) - with special reference to Buddhism"

Library

On December 2, the Paris library team will pick up Che Bing Chiu's donation of books on architecture and landscaping in China.

On December 3, Katia Juhel, Director of Libraries, will take part in the PSL library directors' working group and, on December 5, in the PSL documentation council.

On December 9, the Paris library team will be collecting documents from Pierre Pichard's library relating to the archaeology and fine arts of South-East Asia and India, donated by his children Louise and Pascal.

Photo Library

Of particular note

Réseau des Écoles françaises à l'Étranger

News from PSL Université Paris

News from EURICS