Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät - Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

The encounter of indigenous history-making tradition with Western historical practice has been long neglected in Southeast Asian scholarship. Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970 offers one of the first critical and systematic studies of the interface between these two distinctive modes of historical presentation and their impacts on society. By examining historical discourses on Cambodia through the precolonial, colonial, and post-independence years, the book presents a compelling account of indigenous scholars, with varying perspectives, who advocated competing versions of history. It argues that precolonial history-making practices persisted alongside Western historical writings, leading to the development of a unique body of knowledge with its own distinct epistemology. The book makes an important contribution to scholarship on colonial and post-independence Southeast Asia, especially indigenous epistemologies, intellectual history, transculturation and translation, and on the collective historical imagination.

Link for the book: https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/epistemology-of-the-past-texts-history-and-intellectuals-of-cambodia-1850-1970/