On Sunday the 30th of November the University's Robert Christie Research Centre in Siem Reap, Cambodia, hosted an evening of talks on the subject of intangible cultural heritage (ICH), one of the key research areas of the Australian teams working in the Angkor area.

 Three speakers presented talks about their research on the evening, which was attended by a capacity crowd of seventy scholars, members of the general public, government representatives and dignitaries including the Australian Ambassador to Cambodia, HE Ms Margaret Adamson, and the Deputy Director General of the Apsara Authority HE Mr Tan Sambon.

The first speaker, Mr Im Sokrithy, also of the Apsara Authority, provided an overview of the different kinds of cultural practises represented in the bas-reliefs of Angkorian temples and their parallels in the contemporary Cambodian context, giving evidence for cultural continuity over the centuries and identifying several forms of domestic, agricultural and ritual activities which, he argued, were deserving of protection. The second speaker, Prof. Ang Choulean, an eminent Cambodian anthropologist from the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, presented an overview of animistic ritual practises which currently take place at the pre-Angkorian temple complex of Sambor Prei Kuk, and the spatial and symbolic relationship of those activities to the (originally Hindu) temple complex. The final speaker, Ms Georgina Lloyd, presented an analysis of the legal framework for protecting and preserving those activities within Cambodian and international law, and summarised a range of issues which affect Khmers living within and using the Angkor temples, including tensions between traditional uses of the Angkor Wat temple and the activities of the thousands of tourists who flock there every day. Ms Lloyd is currently completing her doctoral studies within the University of Sydney's Faculty of Law on this subject, and is a member of the Living with Heritage Project.

The evening was generously sponsored by various administrative units within the University of Sydney including the Department of Archaeology, the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry (SOPHI), and the Faculty of Law; funding for the Centre's activities in Cambodia come from the Robert Christie Foundation, SOPHI, and the faculties of Arts and Science at the University of Sydney.

An article in the Phnom Penh Post about the evening can be accessed online here.