Dr THUN, Theara

Studies of cross-intellectual interaction
Post-war education
Higher education studies
Ethnic politics
Southeast Asian Studies

As a trained scholar in Southeast Asian Studies, my research interests primarily focus on cross-intellectual interaction, post-war education, higher education studies, and ethnic studies. I am the author of a book titled Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855-1970 (University of Hawai‘i Press, August 2024). The book delves into Cambodia’s intellectual traditions during the precolonial, colonial and post-independence eras. It challenges the assumption that the Western model of history completely replaced indigenous historical thought. Instead, the book argues that despite the emergence of Western historical writings during colonial encounters, precolonial historical scholarship was never entirely displaced. The precolonial indigenous scholarship interfaced with the Western model of historical thought, resulting in the creation of a new epistemological body of knowledge in and of itself.

2019    Wang Gungwu Medal and Prize for the Best Ph.D. Thesis in the Social Sciences/Humanities, National University of Singapore.

2017    Best Paper Award (Champion) at The 5^th Global Social Science Graduate Student Conference, Hong Kong Baptist University.

2017    Best Presentation Award (Champion) at The 5^th Global Social Science Graduate Student Conference, Hong Kong Baptist University.

2016    Best Paper Award (Champion) at The 4^th Global Social Science Graduate Student Conference, Hong Kong Baptist University.

2016    Best Presentation Award (2^nd Runner-up) at The 4^th Global Social Science Graduate Student Conference, Hong Kong Baptist University.

“Post-Conflict Universities: Tracing the Historical Evolution of Higher Education in the Aftermath of Wars.” Research Grants Council Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (PDFS), 2022-2025. The research explores the evolution, roles and characteristics of universities that were established in the aftermath of social upheavals and mass violence. It seeks to understand how post-war universities have emerged as ‘a sphere of influence and negotiation’ for different stakeholders to interact and negotiate power and change.

Books

Thun, T. (August 2024). Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855-1970. University of Hawai’i Press. https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/epistemology-of-the-past-texts-history-and-intellectuals-of-cambodia-1850-1970/

Refereed Journal Articles

1. Thun, T. & Keo, D. (2024). Ethnocentrism of Victimhood: Tracing the Discourses of Khmer Ethnicity in Precolonial and Colonial Cambodia. Asian Studies Review. DOI: 10.1080/10357823.2024.2329085
2. Thun, T. (2023). Post-Conflict Higher Education and Transnational Politics at a Crossroads: A New Vietnamese Language Studies Program Faces Protests in Cambodia. Studies in Higher Education. DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2023.2261978
3. Thun, T. & Keo, D. (2021). Ethnic Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge: The Genocide and Race Debate. Critical Asian Studies, 53(3), 325-341. DOI:10.1080/14672715.2021.1894959
4. Thun, T. (2021). “Invasion” or “Liberation”?: Contested Commemoration in Cambodia and within ASEAN. TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, 9(2), 219-235. DOI: 10.1017/trn.2020.17
5. Thun, T. (2021). Treason and Loyalty to the Royal Court: The Kan Narrative in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Khmer Chronicle Manuscripts. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 31(2), 343-362. DOI:10.1017/S1356186320000632
6. Thun, T. (2021). Ph.D. Inflation and the Lack of PhDs in Higher Education in Post-Civil War Cambodia. Universities & Intellectuals, 1(1), 43-48.
7. Thun, T. (2020). An Epistemological Shift from Palace Chronicles to Scholarly Khmer Historiography under French Colonial Rule. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 51(1-2), 132-153. DOI: 10.1017/S0022463420000235
8. Thun, T. (2008). Khmer Rouge Children’s Songs. ASIAN REVIEW, 21, 69-87.

Other Publications

1. Thun, T. (2023). My Signpost to the Past: A Reflection of Thongchai Winichakul’s Siam Mapped. Letter from the Kamogawa River of Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies. https://kyoto.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/news/2023/07/nl-81-thearathun/.
2. Thun, T. (2021). Khmer Chronicle Manuscripts: Cambodian Historiography from the Pre-colonial to Post-independence Periods. CSEAS Newsletter, 79, 6-8.
3. Thun, T. (2021). Cambodia’s 1991 Paris Peace Agreements: Thirty Years of Contested Commemoration. New Mandala: New Perspective on Southeast Asia. Canberra: Australian National University. https://www.newmandala.org/cambodias-1991-paris-peace-agreements-thirty-years-of-contested-commemoration/.
4. Thun, T. (2020). Wat Preah Vihear Sour: A Popular Pilgrimage Site Outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Database of Religious History. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/76533. DOI: 10.14288/1.0394985
5. Thun, T. & Keo, D. (2019). “App-Learning on Khmer Rouge History (1975-1979),” Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, Cambodia: https://bophana.org/event/app/.
6. Thun, T. (2018). Representations of the Past in a Pre-colonial Khmer Monastery Manuscript. The Newsletter of International Institute for Asian Studies, 80, 5.
7. Thun, T. (2017). Multi-level Movements and Multi-level Interconnectivity Approach. Regional Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 2(2), 109-111.

Book Reviews

1. Thun, T. (2023). [Review of The Cinema of Rithy Panh: Everything Has a Soul, by Leslie Barnes and Joseph Mai]. Journal of Asian Studies 82 (2), 281–282. DOI:10.1215/00219118-10290983
2. Thun, T. (2020). [Review of Traces of Trauma: Cambodian Visual Culture and National Identity in the Aftermath of Genocide, by Boreth Ly]. Southeast Asian Studies 9(3), 469-472. DOI: 10.20495/seas.9.3_469
3. Thun, T. (2019). [Review of Cambodia’s Second Kingdom: Nation, Imagination, and Democracy, by Astrid Noren-Nilsson]. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 50(2), 294-296. DOI: 10.1017/S0022463419000304
4. Thun, T. (2016). [Review of Preah Sdach Kan (God-King Kan), by Ros Chantrabot]. Harvard-Yenching Institute: https://www.harvard-yenching.org/research/preah-sdach-k-n-god-king-k-n/

1. 2023-Present: Section Editor-in-Chief, Insight: Cambodia Journal of Basic and Applied Research (CJBAR), Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. https://cjbar.rupp.edu.kh/index.php/cjbar

2. 2023-Present: Section Editor, Asian Journal of Arts and Culture (AJAC), Walailak University, Thailand. https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/cjwu/index