Siem Reap conference on special topics in khmer studies
3rd Annual International Conference — Siem Reap, Cambodia — June 9th to 10th, 2012
Following previous successful conferences on Epigraphy & Databases (2010) and Archaeometallurgy (2011), the organising committee of the annual Siem Reap Conference on Special Topics in Khmer Studies is pleased to announce that the meeting will be dedicated, in 2012, to the History of Religions.
The epigraphical, architectural and iconographical material available to understand pre-modern Cambodian society and history all attest to the centrality of religion. Despite this importance, however, very few studies have been dedicated exclusively to the topic of religion. Indeed, the complexity held by this topic has many sources. The process once referred to as Indianization involved the transmission of the already composite system of Indian religions (Śaivism, Vaiṣṇavism and Buddhism) into a barely known local system of beliefs. Recent discoveries from Buddhist studies -- whether on discrepancies among texts and religious practices or on unveiled tantric texts and the wider recognition of tantric Buddhist aesthetic forms -- add further layers to this complexity.
The aim of this conference is to take an interdisciplinary approach to the study of religion in order to render the richness of pre-modern Southeast Asian religions, and in particular, Khmer religion. By comparing pre-modern Southeast Asian civilisations, what can be understood of the common or characteristic choices of Indian religious features they each made? Consequently, what can be concluded about the local systems of beliefs followed at the time? How do contemporary religious systems reflect the strata of the Indian borrowings and reveal their own essence throughout their own evolutions?
The conference will bring together international specialists, colleagues and students from all the disciplines, who share a common interest in Cambodian and Southeast Asian religions, from prehistory to the modern period.
We invite submissions for topics on all aspects of religions in Cambodia, including History, Archaeology, Art History, Religious Studies, Anthropology, etc. Comparative papers on pre-modern Southeast Asian religions are also encouraged. By the collation of recent scholarship in multiple fields and the presentation of the latest theoretical works in Religious Studies, this conference will improve our understanding of Southeast Asian religions.
Colleagues who wish to participate in the Conference, to be held in Siem Reap on the 9th and 10th of June 2012, should submit the title of their paper and an abstract (around 150 words) by the 15th of February 2012.
