SEAArch - The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog

New museums, Hobbit commentaries and views of some of Southeast Asia’s archaeological sites - all this for today’s edition of rojak!

photo credit: kurvenalbn

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Early Indian Influence in Southeast Asia: References on Southeast Asia in ancient Tamil literature

Date/Time: Saturday Apr 26, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Venue: Level 5 - Possibility in National Library
Language: Tamil

Dr S.P. Thinnappan, from South Asian Studies Programme, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, NUS,will talk on the early references about Southeast Asia made in ancient Tamil literature, such as Silappathikaaram and Pattinapaalai.

If you’re still interesting in attending the Introduction to Singapore lectures starting this Saturday, senior curator Cheryl-Ann Low sent me some extra info for the first session that she’ll be presenting. I made a little mistake by saying that the lecture will focus on archaeological data, but it’s actually more than that, including literary sources like the Desawarnana (Negarakrtagama) and Wang Dayuan’s memoirs.

Here’s the blurb for Saturday’s lecture:

The 14th century history of Singapore can be derived from various sources such as archaeological findings, accounts of people who witnessed Singapore centuries ago, records of neighbouring courts, and the Malay Annals (otherwise known as the Sejarah Melayu and Sulalat’ul Salatina).
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Just a reminder - deadline for submission is on May 15.

3rd Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asia
Date: 28/07/2008 - 29/07/2008
Venue: Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Bukit Timah Campus

The Asia Research Institute (ARI) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) invites applications from postgraduate students who are engaged in research on Southeast Asia to attend the 3rd Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asia Studies on 28 – 29 July 2008.

Marking the completion of the Asia Research Institute’s ASEAN Research Scholars Programme 2008, the Forum provides a platform for communication and cooperation among the postgraduate students as they mature into the next generation of academic leaders.

Postgraduate students working on Southeast Asia are invited to submit abstracts based either on work in progress that is at an advanced stage (i.e. already completed data collection and analysis), or on completed work. NUS students are encouraged to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with students from ASEAN as well as those from other regions whose interests focus on Southeast Asia.

This two-day workshop, the third of an annual series of forums for graduate students who work on Southeast Asia, will be organised thematically. Themes will include (but are not limited to) issues in religion, politics, economy, gender, culture, migration, and population and social change.

In addition to student presentations, experts of the region will also be invited to give keynote speeches, sharing their insights on challenges and issues facing contemporary social science scholarship.

Registration fees and Singapore expenses will be covered for those whose abstracts are accepted for presentation. If necessary, students may also apply for some funding to cover regional travel costs.

Registration information here.

The National Heritage Board of Singapore is offering scholarships to Singaporeans and Permanent Residents. I’m not sure if this scholarship is applicable for archaeology, but a number of related fields are:

NHB scholarship

The NHB scholarship scheme provides financial assistance for promising talents in Singapore to pursue full-time undergraduate or postgraduates studies in the fields of heritage and/or museum management or administration.

The grant is awarded only once for the duration of the study and is non-renewable. Grant quantum is 100% of study costs and is capped at a maximum of $100,000. Some of the areas of study allowed under the Scheme are:

· Conservation
· Museum Education
· General Museum Studies
· Curatorial Studies
· Museum Exhibition Design
· Archival Studies
· Art History
· Heritage Education

Download the forms here.