Mission Statement The Center for Khmer Studies promotes research, teaching and public service in the social sciences, arts and humanities in Cambodia and the Mekong region. CKS seeks to: • Promote research and international scholarly exchange by programs that increase understanding of Cambodia and its region, •Strengthen Cambodia’s cultural and educational struc- tures, and integrate Cambodian scholars in regional and inter- national exchange, • Promote a vigorous civil society. CKS is a private American Overseas Research Center support- ed by a consortium of educational institutions, scholars and individuals. It is incorporated in the state of Delaware, USA. It receives partial support for overhead and American fellowships from the US Government. Its pro- grams are privately funded. CKS is the sole member institution of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) in Southeast Asia. CKS’s programs are administered from its headquarters in Siem Reap and from Phnom Penh. It maintains a small administrative office in New York and a support office in Paris, Les Three Generations of Scholars, Prof. SON Soubert (center), his teacher (left), and Board of Directors Amis du Centre Phon Kaseka (right) outside the Sre Ampil Museum d’Etudes Lois de Menil, Ph.D., President Khmeres. Anne H. Bass, Vice-President Olivier Bernier, Vice-President Center for Khmer Studies Dean Berry, Esq., Secretary and General Counsel Head Office: Gaye Fugate, Treasurer PO Box 9380 Wat Damnak, Siem Reap, Cambodia Prof. Michel Rethy Antelme, INALCO, Paris Tel: (855) 063 964 385 Prof. Kamaleswar Bhattacharya, Paris Fax: (855) 063 963 035 Robert Kessler, Denver, CO Phnom Penh Office: Emma C. Bunker, Denver Art Museum 234 Street 450, Tuol Tumpung II, Chamkamorn, Prof. Thak Chaloemtiarana, Cornell University Phnom Penh, Cambodia Prof. Kieth Rethy Chhem, University of Vienna & Ulm Tel/Fax: (855) 023 991 937 University, Germany Prof. Penny Edwards, University of California, Berkeley Email: [email protected] Selma Ertegun, New York, NY Website: www.khmerstudies.org Prof. Bion Griffin, University of Hawaii CKS Staff Jacques Hennessy, Rome Prof. Alan Kolata, University of Chicago Michael Sullivan Acting Director Prof. John Miksic, National University of Singapore Michel Rethy Antelme Editor-in-Chief, Siksacakr Journal Steven Pesner, Esq., New York, NY Dr. Dawn Rooney, Bangkok, Thailand Mam Vannary Librarian Prof. Son Soubert, Constitutional Council, Cambodia Men Chean Director, Junior Faculty Training Program The Hon. Benny Widyono, Ph.D., United Nations (ret.) Nop Sovanna Finance Officer Oum Daraneth Head Librarian Bonnie Burnham, Chairman Emeritus Michael Sullivan, Ph.D., Acting Director , ex officio Sim Puthea Administration Officer, Phnom Penh Tith Sreypich Administrative Assistant 2 IN FOCUS Yem Yoeun Publishing Coordinator WELCOME TO CKS! CKS has weathered the econom- Son Soubert, a distinguished scholar and member of Cambodia’s ic storm of this past year with Constitutional Council. Prof. Son Soubert’s children are by now a disciplined management and a rather large and lively ‘family,’ who assume responsibility for all the determined spirit, as we carry tasks of living together, as well as attendance at school and participa- forward our commitment as an tion in a multitude of activities. Several of them speak quite good American Overseas Research English as a result of his efforts. He welcomes interns from around the Center to our two-pronged core world. The children put on a wonderful traditional Khmer dance mission of supporting interna- recital in my honor. I then joined them for lunch and participated tional scholarship and service to fully in their community by singing “Old McDonald Had a Farm” our host community, Cambodia. with them. The positive spirit of what Son Soubert has accomplished The spirit of CKS extends far was evident in his presentation of a ‘problem’. One young man Lois de Menil, President beyond our core mission. I would would soon be finished with his high school studies and longed to go like to tell you a bit about how that spirit is carried forward in all that to medical school in Phnom Penh--but where to find the funds to we do, both officially and unofficially make that possible? Prof Soubert also has a second, more recent orphanage close to the Thai border, where he welcomes Cambodian Our dedicated Board members have generously assisted our small children who have been sold into servitude in Thailand by their par- staff in moving CKS forward. With the help of His Excellency Son ents or simply deposited on the Thai border, and who are subse- Soubert, we have signed an agreement with the Buddhist pagoda of quently repatriated to Cambodia by the UN. Far from our usual sup- Wat Damnak that assures our continued long-term presence there. positions about grim orphanages, these are places of welcome and of That has opened the way for CKS to build an office, scholars’ facility hope, where in the orderly life of a nurturing community, children are and research library at Wat Damnak. We have watched our new sent to school, given instruction in the useful work of life, valued and building emerge from a dusty hole to a complete research center that cared for. we look forward to inaugurating in January 2010. With our existing library soon to become an expanded reading room for the local com- While in Sre Ampil, I also visited the museum and the site of the munity, we will now move into transition, while we renovate our archeological training program sponsored there by CKS. The modest existing facilities. museum, tended by local villagers, houses the findings from our pre- Angkorian site excavations. The CKS project director was a former In addition to new facilities, we have new leadership. Dr. Michael student of Prof. Soubert, now a professor himself at the Royal Sullivan, a young British Ph.D. from the distinguished School of Academy in Phnom Penh. Phon Kaseka led me to the site with great Oriental and African Studies in London, and formerly CKS’s Chief anticipation. Alas, just a few days earlier, the peasant who owned the Operating Officer, is now Acting Director. Mike’s field of interest is land had plowed the field under to plant eggplants, completely the impact of Chinese investment on Cambodia. Together with Board destroying the neat lines of brick that outlined the ancient riverbank member Jacques Hennessy, Mike has been overseeing the construc- village settlement. Sre Ampil had been a main trading stop along the tion of the new facility, which, we are delighted to report, will be com- river in Pre-Angkorian times. Kaseka registered his acute disappoint- pleted on schedule and on budget. ment with a certain philosophical self-discipline. At least they had the complete records of the site, with photos, he commented. Two min- During my visit to CKS in June, I had the pleasure to visit two heart- utes later, the farmer appeared. She told Kaseka she had something warming ventures begun by Cambodians. The first is an orphanage for him. During the plowing, they had unearthed a large stone tablet begun by Pol Pean, a young former night watchman at CKS. Inspired covered with inscriptions. She said he could have it. Brimming with by the example of CKS’s service to Cambodia, when Pean completed excitement, Kaseka lost no time in gathering some men to help move his course of study to become a teacher, he returned to his native vil- the tablet straight to the museum. With the support of CKS Board lage--1 ½ hours and several light years removed from Siem Reap-- members Emma Bunker and Prof John Miksic, Kaseka is now collab- and began an orphanage in his portion of his parents’ land. The 50 orating with a Vietnamese and a Lao colleague on a cross-border young people who live at the orphanage are both real orphans and archeological research project – a first among traditional enemies. The also children whose parents could not afford to care for them, reflect- Khmer empire spread far beyond the borders of today’s Cambodia. ing the dire poverty of the Cambodian countryside. Pean provides pleasant housing in boys’ and girls’ dorms, the required school uni- By its example and its programs, and through its Board members’ and forms and shoes, sends them off to the village school, and provides staff’s dedicated engagement, CKS is reaching out in many directions, remedial support classes in English and math at the orphanage. A encouraging both scholarship and caring. small library, with children’s books sent by visiting tourists, was filled with young girls happily gathered around a low table. Welcome to CKS. I hope you will join in supporting our programs. A similar distance outside Phnom Penh, I visited Sre Ampil, site of Lois de Menil, Ph.D. another orphanage founded 17 years ago by CKS Board member H.E. President IN FOCUS 3 Director’s Note By the end of 2008, after almost three years in the planning, construction of the new Library and research center at CKS’ Siem Reap headquarters finally got underway. The new construction proudly represents the Center’s continued com- mitment to promoting research and public service in the social sciences, arts and humanities in Cambodia and the Greater Mekong Sub-Region. When it is fully up and running in early 2010 it will provide an impressive range of services for local, national, and international scholars and researchers. As well as space for about 20,000 books, journals, and digital resources, it has study carrels, a spa- cious seminar room, all with free Wi-Fi access. Together with our existing facilities, the addition of the new Library and research center strengthens the position of CKS as the sole American Overseas Research Center in Southeast Asia. At the same time, it distinguishes us as a key destination in Cambodia for all scholars and researchers working on Khmer and Southeast Asian studies projects.