[Tlc] TLC-AAS/TLC meeting minutes 2007

Wed Apr 4 10:54:22 PDT 2007

Dear All,

It was a great 2007 AAS meeting with increased TLC
participation in the formal program. I was happy to meet many
new members and hear provocative talks. Please see below (and
posted under "activities" on tlc.ucr.edu) the AAS/TLC business
meeting minutes.

Thanks,
justin

THAILAND/LAOS/CAMBODIA GROUP OF THE ASSOCIATION OF ASIAN STUDIES
Annual Business Meeting
Boston, MA
Saturday, 7:15-9:00 PM
March 25, 2007

Meeting Minutes

1)	“Anthropological Research in Camboida: New and On-Going
Projects,” talk presented by Dr. Judy Ledgerwood (Northern
Illinois University)

Dr. Judy Ledgerwood offered a wonderful and quite 
comprehensive overview of the numerous research projects in 
the fields of anthropology, religious studies, and history in 
Cambodia today. Some of the many highlights included new work 
by Anne Hansen, Penny Edwards, Alexandra Kent, Kobyashi 
Saturo, Sommai Chinak, Le Duk Po, John Marston, Anuska 
Dirks, Elizabeth Guthrie, Ian Harris, among others. She also
noted that there is now a growing group of young Cambodian
scholars and graduate students who are undertaking
ethnographic and historical research. Many of their masters
and PhD theses are being overlooked in the academy. There is
also a growing concern to document as many narratives of
Cambodians who experienced the genocide and the civil war over
the past 35 years as possible. This generation is now getting
older and new projects are being developed to record oral
histories. One particularly outstanding new memoir is called
Crossing Three Wildnernesses by U Sam Oeur. She not only
called our attention to these new works, but also to growing
institutional capacity in Cambodia. In the past, Cambodian
scholars were trained in Thailand, Vietnam, France, Australia,
and the U.S.; however, with the growth of the Royal University
of Fine Arts, Apsara, the Center for Khmer Studies, the
Institut bouddhique, DC-CAM, and Reyum Institute of Arts and
Culture, with support from a variety of foreign organizations
and universities, Cambodian students can pursue major research
projects within Cambodia. The talk provided a both a sense of
urgency and optimism. 

Since this talk was not distributed. It was a rare opportunity
to hear one of the leading voices of Cambodian Anthropological
Studies. 
This talk was the second in the TLC’s “Discipline Series.” 

This year’s focus was “Anthropology.” After the talk, the
floor was open to suggestions for next year’s “discipline.”
“Art History,” “Archaeology,” and “Political Science” were
suggested. The executive committee will vote on the theme for
next year, and then generate a list of names of senior guest
speakers. Since this year was focused on Cambodian Studies,
efforts will be made to feature a speaker in Lao or Thai
Studies in 2008. 

2)	Panel ideas for a T/L/C sponsored panel

The 2007 TLC sponsored panel was extremely successful. The
room was packed to hear talks by Amporn Marddent (Walailak
University), Mark Askew (University of Melbourne), Michael
Jerryson (University of California at Santa Barbara), and
Duncan McCargo (Asia Research Institute (NUS) and Leeds
University). Dr. McCargo organized this panel which generated
a lively discussion on Buddhism and Violence in Southern
Thailand. 

There were several suggestions (publically and privately) for
TLC sponsored panels to be submitted for the next AAS
conference in Atlanta (2008). They include:

	*“Minority Peoples” throughout Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand

	*The Mekhong River

	*The Thai Military

	*The Thai Coup and its Aftermath

	*Art History across borders

The TLC executive board will be accepting abstracts and
proposals for these or other panel themes. In order to be an
officially sponsored panel from the TLC you must first send
the materials to the TLC executive board. If accepted, the
executive board will include a sponsorship notification to the
AAS and provide the chair of the panel a letter of sponsorship
to include with the full submission to the AAS. In order to be
considered for the TLC sponsorship please submit your full
proposal, including abstracts to the executive board no later
than June 1, 2007. These proposals will be read and voted on
for TLC sponsorship by the board (8 readers). The deadline for
final submission to the AAS is usually in late July or early
August, 2008. Instructions for panel and paper submissions to
the AAS can be found at: www.aasianst.org and in the
(forthcoming) Spring 2007 AAS newsletter.

You can send your proposal to Justin McDaniel (University of
California, Riverside) Department of Religious Studies, 2617
Humanities, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521
justin.mcdaniel at ucr.edu) and it will be distributed to the
other members of the executive board for review.

3)	Center for Khmer Studies announcement by Dr. Philippe Peycam	
Philippe Peycam offered the TLC members a wide ranging number
of programs sponsored and administered by the Center for Khmer
Studies. He emphasized that the CKS is designed to help a new
generation of Cambodian scholars and to build academic
capacity in Cambodia. There are a number of student, junior,
and senior level fellowships that generously assist students
and scholars to teach, work, and research in Cambodia, as well
as a new Journal of Khmer Studies -- Siksacakr (‘the Wheel of
Knowledge’). The Center is publishing the first international
academic bulletin focusing on Khmer Studies in Khmer, English
and French. The bulletin is aimed primarily at providing
Cambodian scholars with an indispensable link to international
scholarship on Khmer and Southeast Asian topics. Its purpose
is to inform the Cambodian and international academic
community of new trends in Khmer studies, projects and
programs taking place in Cambodia and overseas involving the
Center and its consortium. In addition to the fellowships and
the journal, the CKS maintains one of the largest public
academic libraries in Cambodia, and sponsors international
conferences, research clusters, translation projects, cultural
preservation.
To learn more about these fellowships, the library, and the
journal please see the CKS website at www.khmerstudies.org

4)	T/L/C website sponsored by the SEATRiP (Southeast Asian
Text, Ritual, Performance) Program at the University of
California, Riverside: www.tlc.ucr.edu

This website is now available on the web (www.tlc.ucr.edu).
Content is constantly being added, links established, and
vetted. SEATRiP (Southeast Asian Text, Ritual, Performance)
Program at the University of California, Riverside) has
sponsored and constructed this website. A pending internal UCR
matching grant in addition to the generous support of SEAC
(Southeast Asian Regional Council of the AAS chaired by Dr.
Anne Hansen), the TLC has raised 4600 USD over three years
2005-2008). 2200 has been spent to build the website. The
board and SEATRiP is open to suggestions and criticisms in
order to make this site useful and user friendly. Special
thanks to Judith Henchy, Christopher Goscha, Susan Kepner,
Tamara Loos, Gregory Green, Lawrence Ashmun, Charles Keyes,
Arlene Nehrer, Anne Hansem, Hank Delcore, Michael Montesano,
Thomas Borchert, Charles Keyes, Erik White, Patrick Jory,
Matthew Wheeler, Pattaratorn Chirapravati, Carol Compton,
Michael Jerryson, Judy Ledgerwood, James Lin and many others
for their suggestions and support in this endeavor. 

The executive committee will be discussing ways of making the
website and listerv more user friendly.

*Please visit tlc.ucr.edu for suggestions, additions,
corrections, and content. Click on the individual countries on
the map to see specific information related to Cambodia, Laos,
and Thailand respectively. Please report bad links and old
content.

*Please send TLC related announcements of upcoming events as
soon as you become aware of them. 

*Please send announcements of new publications on TLC subjects.

5)	Membership and listserv updates

In early 2007 we conducted an on-line survey which yielded a
large response (53 members responded to date). Based on these
responses, we are particularly interested in raising funds to
hire a student to help build the website in three major areas:
1) film, music, and image archives for TLC Studies; 2) Regular
reports on new articles and books in the field; 3) regular
political reporting from Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. 

In addition to building the content of the website, we would
like to attract new members to the TLC and its listserv. In
June 2005, we had 51 members. Today, we have 207 members. This
huge increase in membership in less than two years is thanks
to all of you who have told your colleagues and students.

6)	Financial Report

As of March 26, 2007, the TLC has 1314.83 USD in its primary
account. We have requested 1,000 USD from SEAC. This money in
addition to a expected matching grant from UCR will increase
our fund to 3314.83. Some of this funding will allow the TLC
to hire an undergraduate student assistant (5 hours per week)
for two years to maintain the TLC website. The executive
committee will also generate new ideas for future funding and
projects. 

7)	Nominations and Elections

There were elections to fill three open positions for the
executive board. Three members were nominated, seconded, and
unanimously approved: Dr. ML Pattaration Chirapravati
(California State University at Sacramento), Dr. Catherine
Raymond (Northern Illinois University), Dr. Penny Edwards
(University of California at Berkeley).

Erik Davis (University of Chicago) was elected as Graduate
Student Chair. 

These new members will serve for two year terms (2007-2009).

Continuing Executive Committee Members (2006-2008): Lawrence
Ashmun (Bibliographer), Gregory Green (Cornell University),
Caverlee Cary (University of California at Berkeley), Justin
McDaniel (University of California at Riverside), Chhany
Sak-Hunphrey (University of Hawaii).

8)	Ingrid Muan Traveling Fellowship Donations

This year the TLC raised 155.00 USD from member donations at
the TLC business meeting. Although this was a lower amount
than previous years (the fellowship began in 2005), our total
fund is now 613 USD. This means we will have enough funding to
offer one fellowship for 200 USD for Michael Jerryson (a
graduate student who gave a talk on the TLC sponsored panel).
The executive committee will discuss additional fellowships
for deserving and eligible graduate students. Eventually, it
may be possible to provide additional fellowship money,
especially to graduate students traveling from Asia.

Remember, if you are a graduate student who is gave a talk at
the AAS on a TLC subject you are eligible to apply for this
funding. Please contact justinm at ucr.edu

To make donations to this fund please send check or money
order to Deborah Wong (Department of Music) or Justin McDaniel
(Department of Religious Studies) at the University of
California, Riverside, CA 92521. Please make the check out to
the TLC and/or Deborah or Justin. Please request a receipt of
your donation and it will be sent immediately.

If any member would like to propose additional fellowship
funds to be created in honor of other former TLC members,
please contact the executive board.

9)	New Publications

At the meeting several members announced new TLC member
authored publications including: 
*Susan Lee, 'Rice Plus': Widows and Economic Survival in Rural
Cambodia (New Approaches in Sociology) (London: Routledge, 2006) 
*Benny Widyono, Dancing in Shadows: Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge
and the UN. Lessons from Cambodia for Iraq (New York: Rowan
and Littlefield, 2007).
*Past Lives of the Buddha – Wat Si Chum and the Art of Sukhothai 
edited with contributions by Prapod Assavavirulhakarn, Pierre
Pichard, 
Peter Skilling, Pattaratorn Chirapravati and Santi Pakdeekham 
*Anne Hansen, How to Behave: Buddhism and Modernity in
Colonial Cambodia, 1860-1930 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 2006)

*Penny Edwards, Cambodge: Cultivation of a Nation (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 2006)

10)	Announcements
*Lao Studies to be held at Arizona State University from May
3-5, 2007. Please see laostudies.org for more information.

*Carol Compton called our attention to www.seasite.niu.edu for
more information of the Journal of Southeast Asia Language
Teaching which has numerous new articles now on-line.
www.seasite.niu.edu/jsealt

*Anne Hansen reminded members who are in the process of
publishing a book to apply to the AAS new author’s subvention
grants of 2,000-5,000 each.

*Thomas Gething announced a new program of fellowships for 20
undergraduate students to study at SEASSI at the University of
Wisconisn at Madison. This is a Luce Foundation fund for the
next 3 years. The deadline is April 15, 2007.

*Larry Ashmun announced that (1) the 2007 COTS (Council on
Thai Studies) conference will be at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, most likely in October again; (2) the UNTAC
radio broadcasts collection will finally be cataloged, at
least preliminarily, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s
Libraries this summer (i.e., it will thus be noted in
WorldCat); and (3) the unique Father Yves Collection (read
Hmong studies) is being obtained by the University of
Wisconsin-Madison Libraries and Center for Southeast Asian
Studies this year.  Fr. Bertrais, a former missionary to the
Hmong in Laos, French Guyana, and Thailand, is now retired in
France at age 85.

Please see links for these fellowships, collections, journals,
and conferences at tlc.ucr.edu

______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu