Book Talk on Theara Thun’s Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970 | Center for Southeast Asian Studies Kyoto University

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Book Talk on Theara Thun’s Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970

Speaker: Theara Thun (Research Fellow, University of Hong Kong / Affiliated Asst. Prof., CSEAS Kyoto University)

Moderator: Kisho Tsuchiya (CSEAS, Kyoto University)

Abstract:
The encounter of indigenous history-making tradition with Western historical practice has been long neglected in Southeast Asian scholarship. Dr. Theara Thun offers one of the first critical and systematic studies of the interface between these two distinctive modes of historical presentation and their impacts on society. By examining historical discourses on Cambodia through the precolonial, colonial, and post-independence years, he presents a compelling account of indigenous scholars, with varying perspectives, who advocated competing versions of history.

Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970 presents one of the largest original indigenous manuscript collections ever assembled in the field of Southeast Asian Studies. It argues that precolonial history-making practices persisted alongside Western historical writings, leading to the development of a unique body of knowledge with its own distinct epistemology. The book makes an important contribution to scholarship on colonial and post-independence Southeast Asia, especially indigenous epistemologies, intellectual history, transculturation and translation, and on the collective historical imagination.

Book Information: Theara Thun, Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970, University of Hawai’i Press, 2024.

Bio: Born and raised in Cambodia, Dr. Theara Thun is currently a research fellow at the University of Hong Kong through the Research Grants Council Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme. He is also a recipient of the 2024–25 Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Distinguished Fellowship on Southeast Asia. Before moving to Hong Kong, Dr. Thun was a Program-specific Assistant Professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University.

Related Information:
Visitor’s Voice: Theara Thun, “Current monograph project: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia between 1850s–1970s”