On May 2, Professor Julie Yu-Wen Chen visited Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV) and exchanged views with Dr. Do Thanh Hai who is senior fellow at the DAV and former Deputy Ambassador of Vietnam to India. They discussed how Vietnam views the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategies and how to position EU policies more closely to Vietnam and other regional powers in order to bolster the region’s peace, stability and rules-based order. Professor Chen’s visit is sponsored by Mercator Stiftung in Germany. For more information about her project “Order in the Indo-Pacific”, please visit here.
On 23 April, embassies representing four Southeast Asian countries visited the Faculty of Arts to foster exchange and explore avenues for future collaboration to promote Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Helsinki.
Photo: Pham Ngoc
From left to right in the picture: Le Thuy Linh (Vietnam), Amelia Putri (Indonesia), Prof. Andrew Logie, H.E. Mrs. Thi Thanh Bình Pham (Vietnam), Dean of Faculty of Arts Pirjo Hiidenmaa, H.E. Mrs. Ratu Silvy Gayatri (Indonesia), H.E. Ms. Chavanart Thangsumphant (Thailand), H.E. Mr. Ariff Ali (Malaysia), Prof. Julie Yu-Wen Chen, and Kosin Phonmang (Thailand)
The delegation was led by H.E. Mrs. Ratu Silvy Gayatri (Ambassador of Indonesia), H.E. Ms. Chavanart Thangsumphant (Ambassador of Thailand), H.E. Mrs. Thi Thanh Bình Pham (Ambassador of Vietnam), and H.E. Mr. Ariff Ali (Chargé d’affaires of Malaysia).
Photo: Pham Ngoc
The Faculty of Art’s dean, Professor Pirjo Hiidenmaa, introduced the faculty and led the discussion between the embassies and Asian Studies professors to explore opportunities. Some key points included the following. Southeast Asia is a major part of Asia and the world. It is characterized by rich cultural and linguistic diversity and is an economic powerhouse. There are significant intersections between Southeast Asia and other regions of Asia currently represented at the Faculty, namely South Asia, and East Asia; these intersections are both cultural and geopolitical. Many researchers and students at the University of Helsinki have active interest in Southeast Asia. Finally, the embassies are keen to support exchange and the promotion of Southeast Asia particularly through the ASEAN framework. This visit paved the way for future collaboration that can continue to develop expertise on Southeast Asia at the University of Helsinki and Finland more widely.
Pham Ngoc from the Finnish China Law Center kindly assisted in the event.
U-tain Wongsathit and his research group received a funding from the Office of the Thai Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation for the one-year project
Heritage of Suvarṇabhūmi: Scripts, Languages, and Religions Attested in Epigraphs of Mainland Suvarṇabhūmi.
Photo: Office of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation
The steering group at the Department of Oriental Languages, Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University includes: U-tain Wongsathit (principal investigator), Chatupohn Khotkanok, Kangvol Khatshima, Sombat Mangmeesuhksiri and Chatpisit Pachanee. The research is conducted in close collaboration with the partner team from the University of Helsinki including: Chingduang Yurayong, Andrew Logie, Sami Honkasalo and Erika Sandman.
The objectives are to collect inscriptions found in Mainland Southeast Asia areas, including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, dating back to the periods between the 2nd century BCE and the 10th century CE. The texts will be interpreted and translated, while linguistic features and characteristics observed will be examined by methods and tools from comparative linguistics. The data will be analyหed from four different perspectives: 1) epigraphy, 2) geolinguistics, 3) philosophy, and 4) art history.
Photo: Kangvol Khatshima
The expected results will shed light on early contact between polities in Mainland Southeast Asia, connecting insights from each humanities subfield represented in this project.
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