Talk | Cham Dwellings and Architecture in Vietnam with Dr. Mohamed Effendy & Prof Thanh Phan

Cham house in Ninh Thuan, Central Vietnam
Photo courtesy of Dr Mohamed Effendy

Date: 3 April 2014
Time: 7 - 9pm
Venue: NUS Baba House

Programme
7pm - Registration & Refreshments
7.30pm - Introduction to Cham history and culture by Dr. Effendy
8pm - Presentation on Cham dwellings and architecture by Prof. Thanh Phan
8.40pm - Q&A

The kingdom of Champa once dominated the Southern Vietnam coast, however it declined from the 15th to the 19th century. The Chams exist today as a minority group in Vietnam with a unique culture, religion and language. The Cham language is still spoken today in Vietnam and it is very similar to Malay, Bahasa Indonesia and Tagalog. Many Chams live in Ninh Thuan, Central Vietnam and each Cham family or Sang have their own lands and each Cham village or Palei is composed of a unit called Caga. There are many houses in a caga which is enclosed by a pagar made of wood. In this presentation. Dr. Thanh Phan and Dr. Mohamed Effendy will elaborate on the history and culture of the Chams and the importance of Cham dwellings and architecture in ensuring the practice and continuity of the community's cultural and linguistic space.

Dr. Mohamed Effendy is a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, NUS. He completed his doctoral dissertation titled 'Nager Cam and the Priests of Prowess: A history of resilience' in 2013. His interests including reading and preserving Cham manuscripts and has done extensive fieldwork in Cham areas in Vietnam since 2004. He is currently working on a book based on his dissertation on the history of Cham religious elites in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Prof Thanh Phan is the Vice Director of the Centre of Vietnamese and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam University in Ho Chi Minh City. An ethnic Cham from the Cham Bani (syncretic Muslim) community of Ninh Thuan province (Central Vietnam), he has mentored many international researchers in their research about the Cham community in Vietnam.

Event Photos