Introduction

The Human Sciences Encounters in Phnom Penh (HSEPP) was created informally in 2008 in order to deal with a feeling of isolation within the discipline and a need for scientific exchange and debate around social science research in Cambodia. The project, the initial name of which was The Human Sciences Happy Hours in Phnom Penh was inspired by anthropological aperitifs organized by the Amades (Anthropologie Médicale Appliquée au Développement à la Santé) Network held in Marseille at that time and began as a monthly aperitif held in a restaurant highlighting a scientific conference given by a guest researcher. These events were open to civil society members and notably development actors. HSEPPs thus became a platform to promote meetings between national researchers and international specialists on questions related to Cambodia in human and social sciences. By the end of 2008 we had one hundred members and the network today includes more than 1,200 people.

From its inception, a blog and a mailing list were used to publicize the network, to centralize and then publish news related to Cambodia centered social sciences. Beginning in 2010, the HSEPPs began to publish a monthly newsletter featuring studies and recently written articles, international seminars, workshop and project announcements. In 2011 the HSEPP network became integrated into the IRD whose dynamic is to promote and valorize scientific partnerships with Southern Country researchers and institutions. This allowed us to create a partnership between the IRD and the Phnom Penh Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) to continue the implementation of HSEPP activities within that University.

Receiving an IRD budget in 2012, which was renewed yearly until 2017, allowed HSEPP to hire a Cambodian coordinator who would be responsible for organizing conferences, managing the mailing list and collecting information sent regularly by members or friends of the network. The creation and upkeep of a trilingual (French-English-Khmer) Web site [1] linked to “social networks” and an online audio conference library led to the creation of an open conference and monthly correspondence archiving tool. These numeric platforms helped increase HSEPP’s visibility.

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In 2015 HSEPP entered into a new partnership with the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS). The CKS also organized conferences, notably for Doctorate and Post-Doctorate candidates, as well as for researchers who were given a CKS grant. This partnership brought communications, conferences and their audiences together in one single place, the Royal University of Fine Arts.

82 conferences were organized between 2008 and 2017 by the HSEPP network. The network brought researchers together from different horizons working in or about Cambodia in such varied fields as anthropology, ethnology, history, archaeology, geography, linguistics, criminology and urbanism. Students have also been able to find a reactive and convivial space in which to present their work and share their research with others. For some, HSEPP also helped find collaborators, a position or funding.

The work undertaken over the past ten years would not have been possible without support from His Excellency Bong Sovath, rector of the Royal University of Fine Arts and we wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to him at this time. We also wish to warmly thank the network coordinators, Sopheak Youk, Sapho Briand, Malinda To and Vutha Um, as well as researchers who have contributed their time to the network’s development. We would like to thank Julie Blot for HSEPP coordinator training and improving the monthly newsletter; Clemence Schantz-Inguenault for compiling conference summaries and Eve Bureau Point for running Podomatic, the conference audio platform [2].

We would also like to thank Emiko Stock, Gabriel Fauveaud, Leo Mariani and Colleen McGinn for their help in building HSEPP and contributing to its dynamism. Thanks also go out to Claire Lajaunie for building the IRD Web site in collaboration with IRD’s Department of Information and Communication [3], Philippe Chollet for designing the site’s Khmer interface [4] and Cedric Mateus for creating an on-line scientific follow-up tool [5]. Finally, great thanks are given to Kongkea Ou who is responsible for the Khmer translations of summaries and Antoine Guide for creating a You Tube channel [6].

As we pass on the baton to the Center for Khmer Studies, we think it interesting to bring together in a booklet a history of the different conferences we have hosted over the past ten years. These 82 conferences fall into six thematic chapters:

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This classification may seem arbitrary, although it does let us present our different conferences from a more pedagogical angle than a simple chronological listing. Hoping to make scientific knowledge available to a wider public we are also adding a Khmer translation of the summaries in annex.

Vientiane and Phnom Penh, March 28th, 2018

Pascale Hancart Petitet [7], HSEPP Founder and Director since 2008

Steven Prigent [8], co-Director.