In the early twentieth century, the history, civilization, and culture of Champa was an active concern of researchers.  Many Cham manuscripts were collected.  This interest declined after the 1930s so that researching and collecting Cham manuscripts was almost forgotten. Interest revived in 1977 when some researchers began to research Cham manuscripts -- but almost exclusively those stored in libraries in France, not those available in Vietnam itself.  Until now, very few researchers have investigated Cham manuscripts in Vietnam.

In Vietnam, most of the Cham manuscripts are owned by Cham families living in Central Vietnam. They are quite diverse, covering topics such as Cham history, language, literature, culture, religion, music, ceremony, magic, and habits of the Cham. This paper introduces Cham manuscripts in Vietnam.  It also explores issues related to research on them, in order to encourage the study of the Cham in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Thanh Phan, himself a Cham from Vietnam, is a Lecturer and Vice-Director of the Centre for Vietnamese and Southeast Asia Studies, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City.  He received his Ph.D. degree from the Leningrad Institute of Ethnology.  For the past twenty years he has published extensively on Champa and the Chams.  His current project, funded by the Toyota Foundation, is "Excavation, Preservation and Annotation of Koran and Traditional Manuscripts of the Cham in South Central Vietnam."

Cost: Free and open to the public.

For more information please contact

Barbara Gaerlan
Tel: 310-206-9163
cseas@international.ucla.edu
www.international.ucla.edu/cseas/                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Source: http://www.international.ucla.edu