Dr. Lia Genovese was awarded a PhD by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, for a Dissertation titled ‘The Plain of Jars of North Laos – Beyond Madeleine Colani’.

In recent months, she has conducted Research Methodologies Seminars at Silpakorn University (Faculty of Archaeology) and edited a volume of essays for Thammasat University. In May 2014, Chulalongkorn University awarded her a scholarship under the ENITAS scheme, to further her research on the megaliths of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia.

In 2014 she also lectured and led site visits on behalf of the Global Heritage Fund (USA) for the Plain of Jars Conservation Workshop in Laos, and also edited/researched material for a book on the ancient jewellery of Myanmar. Her research interests include colonial archaeology, the megaliths of South and Southeast Asia, Iron Age mortuary practices, the life and work of Madeleine Colani.

Lia has published several articles and conference papers and has two book chapters scheduled for publication in 2015-2016. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of the UK.

Centre for Contemporary Social and Cultural Studies,
Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology,
Thammasat University

ศูนย์ศึกษาสังคมและวัฒนธรรมร่วมสมัย
คณะสังคมวิทยาและมานุษยวิทยา มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์

presents || ขอเชิญร่วมงานเสวนาวิชาการ

The Plain of Jars of Laos:
Colonial Archaeology
or the birth of French Prehistoric Research?

Lia Genovese

PhD, SOAS, University of London

Discussion

• Wannasarn Noonsuk
  Head of the Research Unit for Archaeology,
  Lecturer in the Ph.D. Program in Asian Studies,
  Walailak University
• Podjanok Kanjanajuntorn

Director, Thammasat Museum,
Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, Thammasat University

Wednesday, 21 October, 2015
13.30-16.30 hrs.

PhD Programme Meeting Room,
Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology,
4th floor, Faculty of Social Administration Building,
Thammasat University, Tha Prachan

วันพุธที่ 21 ตุลาคม 2558 เวลา 13.30 – 16.30 น.
ห้องประชุมโครงการปริญญาเอก คณะสังคมวิทยาและมานุษยวิทยา
ชั้น 4 อาคารคณะสังคมสงเคราะห์ศาสตร์
มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์ ท่าพระจันทร์

On 3 October 1893, France and Siam signed the Treaty of Peace and Convention in Bangkok, after Siam agreed to withdraw from the left bank of the Mekong River, giving rise to Laos as the fifth province of French Indochina. In 1897, Paul Doumer (1857-1932) was posted to Saigon to assume the position of Governor-General, one of the youngest ever officials to be appointed to this high position. By his command, the Mission Archéologique d’Indochine (Archaeological Mission of Indochina) was established in December 1898, to study and document the languages and cultures of Southeast Asia. In 1900, the Mission Archéologique was renamed the ‘École Française d’Extrême-Orient’ (EFEO) and its research remit attracted talented linguists and art historians, mostly from metropolitan France. In 1929, however, a series of events steered the EFEO towards the Prehistory of Southeast Asia and the Plain of Jars. Though academics like Louis Finot (1864-1935), George Cœdès (1886-1969) and Victor Goloubew (1878-1945) played a vital role in this shift, it is the legacy of Madeleine Colani (1866-1943) that endures to this day. Colani was well placed to lead several seasons of EFEO-funded excavations to the Plain of Jars, having worked for 14 years at the Geological Survey of Indochina (GSI), another Hanoi-based institution founded by Doumer. The findings from the first two missions, conducted in the spring and autumn of 1931 respectively, were presented in Hanoi at the International Congress of Far Eastern Prehistorians, the first time that the Plain of Jars had been discussed at an international forum. This lecture examines the events of 1929 and how their unfolding led to the first large-scale archaeological explorations at the Plain of Jars.

programme || กำหนดการ

13.00-13.30 hrs.
registration || ลงทะเบียน

13.30 – 14.00 น.
introduction (EN/TH) || แนะนำวิทยากรและสังเขปประเด็นบรรยาย (ภาษาไทย)

14.00 – 15.30 hrs.

“The Plain of Jars of Laos:
Colonial Archaeology
or the birth of French Prehistoric Research?”

Lia Genovese
PhD, SOAS, University of London

(in English, with summary in Thai
บรรยายเป็นภาษาอังกฤษ สรุปประเด็นเป็นภาษาไทย)

15.30-16.00 hrs.

discussion (EN/TH)

• Wannasarn Noonsuk
  Head of the Research Unit for Archaeology,
  Lecturer in the Ph.D. Program in Asian Studies,
  Walailak University
• Podjanok Kanjanajuntorn

Director, Thammasat Museum,
Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, Thammasat University

16.00-16.30 hrs.
Q&A