Organizer: Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University
Type/Location: Hybrid / DeKalb, IL
Description:
Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University for a book talk by Nicolas Revire, the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Research Fellow at the Art Institute of Chicago, serving both the Departments of Arts of Asia and Curatorial Documentation and Research
Little is known about the early history, political organization, or geographical extent of the different Indianized polities that scattered over mainland Southeast Asia during the late first millennium and the early second millennium of the Common Era. What we know derives mainly from a vast array of archeological objects, sculptures, monuments and inscriptions, mostly religious in content. Based on this epigraphic and material evidence, we know that a large area that today constitutes mainland Southeast Asia was strongly shaped by Buddhism from circa the 6th century CE onwards, although Brahmanism and local beliefs were also common. The focus of this lecture is on the early introduction of Buddhism and culture in the “Golden Land” (Suvarṇabhūmi), with special references to the Mon country of Rāmaññadesa (lower Myanmar) and Dvāravatī (central Thailand).
About the Speaker:
Nicolas Revire is presently the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Research Fellow at the Art Institute of Chicago, serving both the Departments of Arts of Asia and Curatorial Documentation and Research. Born in France, he holds a doctoral degree from the Université Paris 3–Sorbonne nouvelle and specializes in the Buddhist art and archeology of early Southeast Asia, with a research focus on pre-modern Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia. He spent nearly two decades of teaching and research at Thammasat University in Bangkok and is general editor of Before Siam: Essays in Art and Archaeology (2014) and Decoding Southeast Asian Art: Studies in Honor of Piriya Krairiksh (2022).
Registration Links:
To attend the event in person, please register here.
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