A Cambodian Christmas An entertaining evening with the Cambodian Students Society of Cal State Long Beach. Got to catch up with my old pal Teri Yamada, who is their advisor. The Student Society has some of the best and brightest kids from Long Beach, and had many guests from UCLA, Irvine, and San Diego. After a dinner and some Cambodia pop, some serious hip hop dancing got underway. Spotted Cambodian hip hopper Prach at the proceedings, but alas, no MCing. Maybe another night.

LA Times article Prach drives us through Long Beach in an LA Times article on local Cambodian community. Read it here, or here. Be nice to see some more feature stories - aside from bullets flying there are lots of positive things to cover about the LBC.

Shadow Puppets Theatre Kray Taong & Charavann Crocodile Story Friday 19 December 2003 7:30 pm Entrance fee 5$ Sovanna Phum Art Association nº111, Street 360 ( Corner 105 ) Boeng Keng Kang 3 - Phnom Penh Tel: (+855) 012 84 60 20 or 012 857 437 e-mail sovannaphum@camintel.com web http://all.at/sovannaphum We have a show every friday and open every day ( except Sunday ).

December, Monday 22nd, 2003 You are cordially invited to attend the following informal presentation: Delusions and Grandeur - A Comparison of Khmer Rouge and Ancient Large-Scale Land and Water Management Techniques Jeffrey Himel Independent Researcher Both the Khmer Rouge and the Pre-Angkor and Angkorian Kingdoms used large-scale manual labour to mould the land and control water in order to gain more crop production to sustain and extend their regimes. Ironically, the techniques applied by the Khmer Rouge less than three decades ago were primitive and counter-productive, particularly in comparison to the elegant and sophisticated methods developed by the Ancients over one thousand years ago. Soil and water management were essentially the fundamental economic basis for both regimes yet what was done and its impacts on the societies have been misunderstood and are still not properly emphasized in contemporary scholarship. This presentation discusses the works of both eras, their impacts, and draws useful lessons from the experiences that could be applied in research and in modern development of Cambodia. Jeffrey Himel is an Engineer who has worked in irrigation and drainage, hydrology, rural development, environmental assessment and geomatics in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and China since 1989. He hopes one day to complete his Masters thesis for an M.S. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Cornell University. His research is based on comparing the works of the Khmer Rouge and those of the ancient period of Sambor Prei Kuk and environs in Kampong Thom Province. The presentation will take place on December, Monday 22nd, at 6:30 pm at the EFEO center. Presentation will be in English Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) Siem Reap Phum Beng Don Pa, Khum Slâ Kram Tel: (885) (16) 635 037 / (63) 964 630 Tel/Fax: (855) (63) 964 226 Email: efeo.angkor@camintel.com / efeo.rep.bib@camintel.com EFEO Web Site: www.efeo.fr

Khmer, Lao, Vietnamese Heritage Language Classes for Summer 2004 The Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI) will offer 8-week intensive summer Heritage language and culture classes in Khmer, Lao, Hmong and Vietnamese. The classes will take place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, from June 14 to August 6, 2004. These classes are intended for Hmong, Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese university students who grew up in North America and can speak/understand the language of their Southeast Asian culture (to at least a minimal degree) and would like to learn to read and write their language as well. Students with no oral or spoken command of the language can also study at SEASSI, but would be placed in a beginning level class with non-native speakers. Placement will be determined on the first day of classes. Students will have a chance to learn more about the traditions of the culture and how to make sense of their lives and traditions in America/Canada in an historical context. Independent, project-oriented study opportunities will also be available, in the context of modular instruction, so students who enter the program at an intermediate literacy level can also have their educational needs met. The classes are taught by experienced instructors from the United States, Canada and Southeast Asia, and make use of the latest teaching materials and methods. All classes carry one full year of university language credit. A variety of fellowships and tuition reductions are available. For more information, please visit the SEASSI Heritage Program website: http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/SEASSI/heritage Even if you've visited the above website before, please take another look, since new photos, videos and program information have recently been added for Vietnamese, Khmer and Hmong. Please note also these important deadlines in regard to applying for financial aid for the program: January 12, 2004 FLAS Fellowship Application Deadline February 2, 2004 Heritage Language Fellowship Application Deadline April 1, 2004 Tuition Fellowship Application Deadline April 1, 2004 Wisconsin Bilingual Education Grant Deadline April 1, 2004 Final SEASSI Application Deadline For descriptions of the individual fellowships, please see: http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/seassi/financial_aid.htm (Thanks to Teri Yamada for the above info.)

Shadow Puppets , Music & Mask Dance Preah Koh Bot Story Friday 12 December 2003 7:30pm Entrance fee 5$ Sovanna Phum Art Association 111, Street 360 (corner 105 ) Boeng Keng Kang 3 - Phnom Penh Cambodia Tel: 012 84 60 20 or 012 857 437 e-mail sovannaphum@camintel.com web http://www.sovannaphum.com We have a show every friday and open every day (except Sunday ).

Cambodian Students Association Christmas Dinner coming up: http://www.csulb.edu/~camss/css_events/2003-2004/christmas_party/christmas_party_page.html

Do You Find Khmer Classical Dance Impenetrable? December 14th, 2003 Dancer, teacher and choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro opens the door to the meanings of this ancient tradition’s intricate hand gestures and movements in an informal lecture/demonstration. (Royal University of Fine Arts, practice room, in English) http://www.mujestic.com/k__a__a_

Folk & Classical Dance Friday 5 December 2003 7:30pm Entrance fee 5$ Sovanna Phum Art Association Street 360 (corner 105) Boeng Keng Kang 3=20 Phnom Penh,Cambodia Tel: (+855) 012 84 60 20 or 012 857 437 e-mail sovannaphum@camintel.com web http://www.sovannaphum.com We have a show every friday and open every day (except sunday).

Wednesday 3rd of December 2003 You are cordially invited to attend the following informalpresentation: Maya and Khmer: studying monsoon forest civilisations Prof. Michael D. Coe Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, YaleUniversity Michael D. Coe is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at YaleUniversity. Born in New York in 1929, Michael D. Coe, anarchaeologist, is well recognized for his superb work in the field ofthe ethnohistory of Mesoamerica, the historical archaeology ofnortheastern United States, and writing systems. Michael D. Coe hasauthored numerous world-renowned books on Mesoamerica including"Breaking the Maya Code" (1992). This book constitutes an informedaccount of one of the most exciting adventures of our age, theextraordinary breakthrough in deciphering the inscribed remains ofMayan monuments. Coe's other works include "The Maya" (1966),"America's First Civilization: Discovering the Olmec" (1968), and"The True History of Chocolate" (1996). A frequent traveller toSoutheast Asia since 1954, Michael D. Coe is a specialist in thecomparative study of ancient, tropical forest civilizations. Herecently published "Angkor and the Khmer Civilization" (2003), a bookwhich presents a concise but complete picture of Khmer culturalhistory from the Stone Age until the establishment of the FrenchProtectorate in 1863. Large low-density urban complexes were a feature of tropical regionsin the Old and the New world through the first fifteen hundred yearsof the Common Era. The similarities in the overall form and milieu of these settlements were noted many years ago by Michael D. Coe (in 1955!). Recent imaging and on- the-ground mapping at Angkor has shown two related settlement patterns. A closely similar doublearticulation is also characteristic of Classic Maya regal- ritualcenters like Tikal and Calakmul; in these, as at Angkor, there are noclear-cut city boundaries or edges, but rather whole settledlandscapes beyond the core areas. This is in strong contrast to suchdensely occupied, economically heterogeneous, and highly planned cities as Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan in Mexico, medieval Cairo and imperial Beijing. Following William Sanders and David Webster, it issuggested that the weak urbanization of these two monsoon-forest civilizations was the result of low population, lack of environmentaldiversity, poorly developed interregional trade and relatively inefficient food production. The presentation will take place Wednesday 3rd December at 6:30 pm atthe EFEO center. Presentation will be in English. Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) Siem Reap Phum Beng Don Pa, Khum Slâ Kram, Siem Reap, Cambodge Tel: (885) (16) 635 037 / (63) 964 630 / 760 525 Tel/Fax: (855) (63)964 226 Email: efeo.angkor@camintel.com / efeo.rep.bib@camintel.com www.efeo.fr

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