Critical Research Pathways
Annual Themes
Photo: Panggah Ardiyansyah documents a small shrine at the base of a tree at the ancient site of Muang Sema, Thailand. (Photo by Kanat Naktanomsub, courtesy of Getty)
Circulation & Circumambulation
Year One explores a series of historical examples of movement of sacred ‘art’. This includes instances of materials circulating across politico-cultural and temporal boundaries, operating within pilgrimage networks and transcending the material world entirely through processes like circumambulation.
Authenticity, Replication, & Ownership
Year Two explores Southeast Asian ‘art’ as theoretical object – that is, as embodying paradigms of authenticity, replication, and ownership. We examine these paradigms for ways in which they play in the construction—or deconstruction—of community. We investigate claims to ownership on a national and international level and probe where local processes of authentication are at odds with art historical, museological and market contexts.
Conservation & Display
In the final year, we examine contemporary Southeast Asian provenancing, collections management, conservation and display practices. With a close eye on objects having been restituted in recent decades, we ask how these paradigms play out in evolving economies of care and veneration.
Year One
Circulation and Circumambulation: Perspectives from Southeast Asian Art History
This year will be devoted to exploring paradigms of movement with respect to sacred art objects within Southeast Asian historical contexts. This will include instances of materials circulating across politico-cultural and temporal boundaries (looting of palladia, diplomatic exchange, donation and other devotional practices, re-use, etc.); pilgrimage sites whose places and objects engender regional circulation, again cutting across politico-cultural and temporal boundaries; practices of circumambulation by which things can be fixed in time and space while also being made transcendent; and ephemera by which objects circulate through alternative embodiments (visualizations, amulets, drawings, rubbings, lyrics, etc.).
We would like to extend our appreciation to the individuals and organisations who hosted us.
- Thammasat University, Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology
- Dr Tanongsak Hanwong, independent archaeologist
- Dr Lalita Hanwong, Senior Lecturer in History at Kasetsart University
- Mr Thossaphorn Srisaman, Director, 10th Regional Office of the Fine Arts Department
- Mr Luxamun Boonrueng, Director, Khon Kaen National Museum
- Mr Phakphum Youphun, Director, Phanom Rung Historical Park
- Mrs Benjawan Phonprasert, Director, Phimai National Museum
- Mr Phanuwat Euasaman, Director, Phimai Historical Park
The reading list for Year 1 addresses the broad theme of Circulation/Circumambulation. Readings focus more specifically on the definition of territory through architectural and sculptural installations, borders, image distribution, pilgrimage, and looting. These themes will be integrated into two full days of discussion organized geo-historically, (1) first millennium Buddhist constructs on the Khorat Plateau, and (2) second millennium Angkorian constructs reaching into this same area. The ‘Historical’ readings below form the core of each day; the subsequent readings will be integrated into daily discussions. It goes without saying, we hope, that the categories to which we have assigned the readings below overlap.
Historical Context
1st millennium: Murphy (2013) provides an overview of Buddhism in the Khorat Plateau while Carbine and Davis (2022) explore the concept of sima (Buddhist boundaries) more generally. Coningham (1995) explores connections between monks, caves and kings in a Sri Lankan context which can help us think more about the role of forest dwelling monks in Southeast Asia more generally.
- Stephen Murphy, “Buddhism and its Relationship to Dvaravati Period Settlement Patterns and Material Culture in Northeast Thailand and Central Laos c. Sixth–Eleventh Centuries A.D. : A Historical Ecology Approach to the Landscape of the Khorat Plateau,” Asian Perspectives, 52 (2), 2013, pp. 300-326.
- Jason Carbine and Erik Davis, “Buddhist Simas across Time and Place,” in Simas: Foundations of Buddhist Religion, University of Hawai’i Press, 2022, pp. 1-17.
- Recommended: Robin Coningham, “Monks, Caves and Kings: A Reassessment of the Nature of Early Buddhism in Sri Lanka,” World Archaeology, 27 (2), 1995, pp. 222-242.
2nd millennium: From the late 11th c., Angkor developed its politico-cultural reach in the Khorat Plateau and beyond into what is now north central Thailand and Laos. The below texts highlight the material forms embodying this process, the ideologies they conveyed, and the enduring circulation and circumabulation they have attracted. These ‘historical’ readings are anchored in a translation of the 12th-c. Foundation stele of 12th-c. Preah Khan temple at Angkor. As Hiram Woodward writes: ‘The Preah Khan inscription records the foundation of a substantial temple complex dedicated to the king’s father in the guise of the Bodhisattva Lokeśvara. It also provides key information about developments in the provinces: that around the kingdom stood 121 “Houses of Fire,” and how twenty-three images named “Jayabuddhamahanatha” were sent to various cities, some as far west as “Śrījayavajrapuri,” the modern Phetchaburi’ (Woodward 2005: 199).
- 12th-c. Inscription from Preah Khan temple, Angkor, (K. 908) & Thomas Maxwell, “The Stele Inscription of Preah Khan, Angkor. Text with Translation and Commentary,” Udaya Journal of Khmer Studies 8, 2007, pp. 1-114.
- Hiram Woodward, The Art and Architecture of Thailand: From Prehistoric Times Through the Thirteenth Century, Brill, 2005, Chapters 3-4, especially pp. 146-159 on Phimai and Phnom Rung, and pp. 206-216 ‘The Imperial Order, in the Provinces’.
- Ashley Thompson, “Mainland Southeast Asia after Angkor: On the Legacies of Jayavarman VII”, The Angkorian World, Taylor & Francis, 2023, pp. 574-591.
- Mitch Hendrickson, “Historic routes to Angkor: development of the Khmer road system (ninth to thirteenth centuries AD) in mainland Southeast Asia,” Antiquity 84, 2010, pp. 480-496.
- Cœdès, George and Pierre Dupont, ‘Les stèles de Sdŏ̀k Kăk Thoṃ, Phnoṃ Sandak et Praḥ Vihār,’ BEFEO, t. 43, 1943, pp. 56-154. (in French)
- Extract from Louise Roche PhD thesis, Une histoire du temple de Banteay Samrae. Introduction à l’étude du renouvellement des pratiques iconographiques dans le Cambodge de la dynastie dite « de Mahīdharapura », PhD thesis, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, 2023, pp. 161-180. (in French)
Circulation: Prohibitions and Potentialities
- Peter Skilling, “Ideology and Law: The Three Seals Codes on Crimes Related to Relics, Images, and Bodhi-Trees,” Buddhism, Law and Society 1, 2015-2016, pp. 69-104.
- Angela Chiu, The Buddha in Lanna: Art, Lineage, Power, and Place in Nothern Thailand, University of Hawai’i Press, 2017.
- Chapter 4, “Buddha Images and Place: Materializing the Buddha’s Agency in the Landscape,” pp. 69-97.
- Chapter 7, “Buddha Images as Objects of Transferable Power: The Physical and Social Processes of Copying Images,” pp. 160-184.
- Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, “Wat Bechamabopit and Its Collection of Images of the Buddha,” Journal of the Siam Society 22, 1928, pp. 19-28.
- Alongside Maurizio Peleggi, “From Buddhist Icons to National Antiquities: Cultural Nationalism and Colonial Knowledge in the Making of Thailand’s History of Art,” Modern Asian Studies 47, no. 5, 2013, pp. 1520-1548.
- Jessica Lee Patterson, “Ostentation and Invisibility: The Phra Phutthabat and Royal Pilgrimage in Late Ayutthaya,” Artibus Asiae 72, no. 1, 2012, pp. 159-192.
- M. Bloembergen and M. Eickhoff, “Wind of Change on Java’s Ruined Temples: Archaeological Activities, Imperial Circuits and Heritage Awareness in Java and the Netherlands (1800-1850),” Bmgn – Low Countries Historical Review 128, no. 1, 2013, pp. 81–104.
- Jacob Kinnard, Places in Motion: The Fluid Identities of Temples, Images, and Pilgrims, Oxford University Press, 2014.
Looting and Restitution
Site visit stories: The two Emma Bunker articles are intended to be read “against the grain” so to speak. The 1971-2 paper was the first publication to conceive of these bronzes as a distinct art historical corpus. This helped to enable the art market for them and all subsequent narratives around Prakhon Chai. The 2002 paper is the first to propose Plai Bat II as the actual findspot which has led to intense scrutiny of the site over the past ten years in particular.
- Emma C. Bunker, “Pre-Angkor Bronzes from Pra Kon Chai,” Archives of Asian Art, 1971-2, pp. 67-76. AND Emma C. Bunker, “The Prakhon Chai Story: Facts and Fiction,” Arts of Asia 32, no. 2, 2002, pp. 106–25.
- Alongside: Dynamite Doug podcast
- Sam Tabachnik’s 2022 three-part series in the Denver Post
- On the return of a lintel looted from Phnom Rung: Charles F. Keyes, “The Case of the Purloined Lintel: The Politics of a Khmer Shrine as a Thai National Treasure,” in Thailand: Aspects of Identity, 1939-1989, Monash University, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Monash Papers on Southeast Asia, No. 25, 1991, pp. 261-292.
Other Recommended:
- P. Phanomvan, “Plai Bat: Reclaiming Heritage, Social Media, And Modern Nationalism,” in Returning Southeast Asia’s Past: Objects, Museums, and Restitution, NUS Press and Southeast Asian Art Academic Programme, SOAS University of London, 2021, pp. 235-63.
- Other engagement with the edited volume from ‘Artefacts, Identities and Restitution,’ Friday 21st May 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7kRLPTcFdo and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOF0tMOHnf4&t=3763s
- Denis Byrne, “The problem with looting: An alternative perspective on antiquities trafficking in Southeast Asia,” Journal of Field Archaeology 41, no. 3, 2016, pp. 344-354.
- Neil Brodie, “Congenial bedfellows? The academy and the antiquities trade,” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 27, no. 4, 2011, pp. 408-37.
- Emiline Smith and Erin L. Thompson, “A Case Study of Academic Facilitation of the Global Illicit Trade in Cultural Objects: Mary Slusser in Nepal,” International Journal of Cultural Property, 2023, pp. 1–20.
- Samuel Hardy, “Conflict Antiquities’ Rescue or Ransom: The Cost of Buying Back Stolen Cultural Property in Contexts of Political Violence,” International Journal of Cultural Property 28, no. 1, 2021, pp. 5–26.
Seminar Reflections
Year Two
Authenticity, Replication, Ownership: Theoretical Perspectives
This year will be devoted to exploring paradigms of object authenticity, replication, and ownership. Particular attention will be paid to the part such paradigms can play in the construction - or deconstruction - of community, where sacred objects can be seen to belong, and where communal belonging can be mediated through such objects. This type of belonging, operating at local levels, does not translate into ownership, and in fact is often at odds with it. Claims to ownership on international or national registers can sever ties between objects and those who ground their belonging in them. Likewise, processes of object replication and associated understandings of authenticity within local religious frameworks do not find their counterpart in replica production and authentication processes at work in many art historical, museological and market contexts. While building on the historical materials probed in Year 1, these sessions will be more firmly oriented to theoretical perspectives transcending the Southeast Asian Field.
We extend deep gratitude and thanks to those individuals who shared their work and experiences with us.
- Hilmar Farid, Director General for Cultures, Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology
- I Gde Agung Wesaka Puja, Bonnie Triyana, Sadiah Boonstra, National Repatriation Team
- Bambang Adhitya Nugraha, Titus Pramono, Elmer Simanjuntak, Directorate of Marine Services, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries
- riksa afiaty with widya, dwe, putu, santosa, rosa, edi, niki and andri, Indonesian Visual Art Archive (IVAA)
- Tyassanti Kusumo, Christopher Lebe, and Bayun Marsiwi, Museum Pura Mangkunegaran
- Moh. Taufiqul Hakim, Binarung Mahatmajangga, & Hannan Asrwoi Efflina Lailufa, Komunitas Jangkah Nusantara
- Sri Ratna Saktimulya and Ratna Mukti Rarasasri, Library of Pura Pakualaman
- Citra Aryandari and Barbara Titus, Decolonising Southeast Asian Sound Archives
- Ery Sustiyadi, Head of Sonobudoyo Museum
- Ayu Dipta Kirana, Rina Rahayu, Irma Tri Hastuti, Arum Sari, Maharani, Sonobudoyo Conservation Library
- Grace Samboh & Akmalia Rizqita, Hyphen Collective
- Ardhi Iswansyah, Griya Seni Kustiyah Edhi Sunarso
This year will be devoted to exploring paradigms of object authenticity, replication, and ownership. Particular attention will be paid to the part such paradigms can play in the construction – or deconstruction – of community, where sacred objects can be seen to belong, and where communal belonging can be mediated through such objects. This type of belonging, operating at local levels, does not translate into ownership, and in fact is often at odds with it. Claims to ownership on international or national registers can sever ties between objects and those who ground their belonging in them. Likewise, processes of object replication and associated understandings of authenticity within local religious frameworks do not find their counterpart in replica production and authentication processes at work in many art historical, museological and market contexts.
I. Research problems, methods and theories, positionalities
- Stein, Deborah L (2018). “The ‘Hindu’ Temple in a Diachronic Context.” In The Hegemony of Heritage: Ritual and the Record in Stone. Oakland, California: University of California Press, pp. 1-21. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv941vz0.
- Bloembergen, Marieke and Martijn Eickhoff (2020). “Towards a mobile history of heritage in Asia.” In The politics of heritage in Indonesia: A cultural history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-21.
- Recommended:
- Bloembergen, Marieke and Martijn Eickhoff (2020). The politics of heritage in Indonesia: A cultural history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Chapter 1: Site interventions, changing loyalties on Java, 1800s-1850s, pp. 22-60.
- Epilogue: Heritage sites, Difficult Histories and ‘Hidden Forces’ in Postcolonial Indonesia, pp. 267-281.
- Flood, Finbarr Barry (2009). “Introduction.” In Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval “Hindu-Muslim” Encounter. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 1-14.
- Reichle, Natasha (2007). “A Charnel House of Images: The Padang Lawas Heruka.” In Violence and serenity. Late Buddhist Sculpture from Indonesia. Honolulu: Hawai’i University Press, pp. 133-166.
- Bloembergen, Marieke and Martijn Eickhoff (2020). The politics of heritage in Indonesia: A cultural history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
II. Pilgrimages, souvenirs and (transnational/transcultural) appropriation
- Bloembergen, Marieke and Martijn Eikhoff (2013). “Exchange and the Protection of Java’s Antiquities: A Transnational Approach to the Problem of Heritage in Colonial Java,” The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 72, No.4 (November 2013), pp. 893-916. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43553234
- Quinn, George (2018). “Prologue: Java’s inner archipelago.” In Bandit Saints of Java. Burrough on the Hill: Monsoon Books Ltd, pp. 15-34.
- Sêrat Cênthini, Canto 426, Lines 7-9 [Taken from Kamajaya (ed), (1989) Sêrat Cênthini (Suluk Tambangraras), Vol. 8, p. 30. Translation provided by Panggah Ardiyansyah]
- Recommended:
- Feener, R. Michael (2017). “Muslim Cultures and Pre-Islamic Pasts: Changing Perceptions of Heritage.” In The Making of Islamic Heritage: Muslim Pasts and Heritage Presents, edited by Trinidad Rico, pp. 23–45. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4071-9.
- Fox, James J. “Ziarah Visits to the Tombs of the Wali, The Founders of Islam on Java.” In Islam in the Indonesian Social Context, edited by M. C. Ricklefs, 19–38. Victoria, Australia: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, 1991.
- Jamhari (2000). “In the Center of Meaning: Ziarah Tradition in Java.” Studia Islamika 7, no. 1: 51–90.
III. Replication, Reproduction
- Benjamin, Walter (1935). “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.”
- Hansen, Miriam (2008). ‘Benjamin’s Aura’. Critical Inquiry 34 (2): 336–75.
- Latour, Bruno, and Adam Lowe (2011). ‘The Migration of the Aura or How to Explore the Original through Its Facsimiles’. In Switching Codes: Thinking through Digital Technology in the Humanities and the Arts, edited by Thomas Bartscherer and Roderick Coover, 275–98. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- With, recommended: Elias, Chad (2019). “Whose Digital Heritage?” Third Text, 33:6: pp. 687-707.
- Peleggi, Maurizio (2022). “The Power of the Copy: Rethinking Replication Through the Cult Image.” British Journal of Aesthetics. Volume 62, Issue 3 (July): pp 339–351.
- With, recommended: Gunawan, Aditia (2017). “Manuscript Production and Akṣara Mysticism in the Bhīma Svarga,” Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Working Paper No. 26 (December).
- Woodward, Hiram (1979). “Acquisition.” Critical Inquiry, 6(2): pp. 291-303.
- With, recommended: Benjamin, Walter (1931). “Unpacking my Library.”
- Further Reading:
- Taussig, Michael (1993). “In Some Way Or Another One Can Protect Oneself From the Spirits By Protecting Them.” In Mimesis and Alterity: A Particular History of the Senses. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 1-18
- Benjamin, Walter (1933). “On the Mimetic Faculty.”
- Causey, Andrew (2000). “The Folder in the Drawer of the Sky Blue Lemari: A Toba Batak Carver’s Secrets.” Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1: pp. 1-34.
- Kubler, George (1962). The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things (New Haven and London: Yale University Press), especially Chapter 1 .
IV. Maritime Collecting
- Pearson, Natali (2023). Belitung: The Afterlives of a Shipwreck. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.
- Introduction, pp. 1-16.
- Chapter 2: Wrecked, pp. 39-62.
- Polkinghorne, Martin et al. (2024). “Reuniting orphaned cargoes: Recovering cultural knowledge from salvaged and dispersed underwater cultural heritage in Southeast Asia.” Marine Policy, Volume 163.
- Recommended:
- Murphy, Stephen A. (2017). “Asia in the ninth century: the context of the Tang Shipwreck.” The Tang Shipwreck: art and exchange in the 9th century, edited by Alan Chong and Stephen A. Murphy, pp. 12-21. Singapore: Asian Civilisations Museum.
Year Three
Conservation and Display: Practice Today
In the final project year, informed by the historical and theoretical paradigms explored in Years 1 and 2, we will examine contemporary Southeast Asian provenancing, collections management, care/conservation and display practices. If, on both local and cosmopolitan registers, conservation practices are bound up with circulation processes, they can also be undone by them. Likewise, display can both perpetuate circulation and arrest it – in ways recalling yet often negating lost modes of circumambulation. With a close eye on materials restituted to Southeast Asian nations in recent decades, we will ask how complex understandings of authenticity, replication, ownership and belonging might play out in evolving economies of care and veneration.