The Center for Khmer Studies library in Siem Reap, Cambodia On April 1, 2019, the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS) library team in Siem Reap signed an inter-library loan Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Hun Sen Library of the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), the oldest and largest university in Cambodia. The agreement aims to enable library users to access the high-quality and abundant resources available in both libraries. Following a previous agreement between CKS

CAORC sponsored the panel discussion, Teaching Asia Beyond the Ivory Tower: The American Overseas Research Centers and Broad Educational Engagement, at the 2019 Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, held in Denver on March 23, 2019. The panel featured representatives from several overseas research centers—the American Institute of Indian Studies, Center for Khmer Studies, American Center for Mongolian Studies, and American Institute of Pakistan Studies—who discusse

Encased in lucite, this 1.142-gram moon rock was returned to Earth by Apollo 17 in 1972 and presented to Cambodia. (US Embassy in Cambodia) In 1973, one month before the US stopped bombing Cambodia as a part of the Vietnam War, President Nixon presented to Cambodia a fragment of the moon rock brought back to earth by Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, as a symbol of peace and harmony among countries throughout the world. It was received by then Cambodian p

Lok Ta, “the owner of the water and the land” in Cambodia’s protected Prey Lang Forest, is rapidly losing out to deforestation and cashew plantations. Photo by Courtney Work. In this essay, CAORC-NEH Senior Research Fellow Courtney Work discusses the intertwined economies of development and environmental conservation in Cambodia’s Prey Lang Forest. For over a thousand years, the indigenous Kuy people lived sustainably in Cambodia’s northern Prey Lang Forest. The sovereign own

Once again, the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS) contributed its beautiful space for the Siem Reap Giant Puppet Project, which brings together vulnerable children and youth under the guidance of theatrical performance experts and NGO workers to foster and promote self expression and confidence through art. The 2016 project brought awareness about local wildlife such as the water buffalo, the Cambodian lizard, the red ant, the caterpillar, and the monkey. This event continues to

The Center for Khmer Studies' Executive Director, Krisna Uk, gave five presentations during her day-long visit to the Scarsdale High School: two to students taking a French-language class on French Imperialism and its legacy in Cambodia; one to a science class on the environmental challenges in Siem Reap; one to a social studies class on Contemporary Cambodia, and one to the teachers of the school and other K-12 district schools on the Director's research in post-conflict la

Reconstructed wooden coffins and burial jars on a mountain ledge Dr. Nancy Beavan, ECA/ CAORC 2012-13 Senior Fellow, presented her work after a decade of archaeological research on the Jar and Coffin burial sites from the Cardamom Mountains in Southern Cambodia. Dr. Nancy Beavan at the inauguration of the exhibition The exhibition presented the results of the research project from 2003 to 2015, and gave insight into the people who lived apart from Angkor, the ethnic minoritie

"La France est notre Patrie" (France Is Our Mother Country) is the latest film- documentary by acclaimed Cambodian film Director Rithy Panh on the French colonial empire. With a special focus on French Indochina, this creative and skillful work of editing weaves together archival footages and antiqued title cards into an eloquent silent movie that subtly criticizes the concept of "mother country" as promoted by the French colonies in Southeast Asia and Africa. This film was

This latest documentary by American documentarian Arthur Dong is based on the autobiography of Dr. Haing Ngor, who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide under harrowing conditions, and went on to act in a movie on the subject: The Killing Fields. Dr. Ngor received an Academy Award for his extraordinary performance, and then used his name to actively raise awareness about the genocide and advocate for greater human rights in Cambodia before he was tragically killed in a robbery.