Southeast Asian Soirée: Imagining Indochina (5/5)
Thursday, December 10th at 8 PM Eastern Time

Join Dana & Adam as they interview Tek, one of our favorite tour guides living in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Tek will tell his personal story of growing up in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge and discuss his amazing journey all the way to the present. Bring all of your questions--from the art and architecture of Cambodia to its current society and politics.

Thursday, December 3rd at 6:30 PM Eastern Time*

After our last lecture in each series, our C&S Members are invited to refill a glass and join us for a private reception to reflect on the Soirée with our hosts and discuss the highlights with our fellow travelers.

*NB: Our reception is happening after the 4th virtual tour because our 5th bonus talk on December 10th with Tek in Cambodia will be difficult for Julian to attend from France!

South East Asian Soirée: Imagining Indochina (4/5)
Thursday, December 3rd at 5 PM Eastern Time

Located on a promontory at the confluence of the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers, Luang Prabang has been listed since 1995 on the World Heritage list for its unique and remarkably well preserved architectural, religious and cultural heritage. With it picturesque old temple complexes, photogenic saffron-clad monks and brightly coloured flowering trees, Luang Prabang oozes atmosphere and charm. Not surprisingly, however, this seeming haven attracts huge numbers of visitors from around the globe.

Let’s ramble together through the tranquil, almost car-free lanes of old Luang Prabang, and ponder the ever-growing problems of mass tourism. How to maintain the perilous balance between preserving tradition and catering to the needs of money-bringing visitors in search of authenticity. How do we guarantee a sustainable responsible tourism for tomorrow?

South East Asian Soirée: Imagining Indochina (3/5)
Thursday, November 19th at 5 PM Eastern Time

Today, let’s head off into the jungle, like Indiana Jones, and re-discover the temples of Angkor. We’ll travel back in time to find out that although Frenchman Henri Mouhot did not really “discover” Angkor, his published account did play a major role in awakening Europe’s interest in the “lost” temple city, and how shortly afterwards French navigational expeditions along the Mekong returned with sculptures that were displayed at the Paris World Fairs. In passing, we will come across a motorcar driving from Vietnam to Angkor Wat in 1908, a future culture minister stealing exquisite carvings from a remote temple, and of course we’ll take a whirlwind tour of the site as it is now: temple-pyramids, giants’ causeways, face towers, underwater sculptures and great walls of narrative relief.

South East Asian Soirée: Imagining Indochina (2/5)
Thursdays November 12th at 5 PM Eastern Time

Fancy taking a guided tour of the Vietnamese capital? We’ll hop on the back of a virtual motorbike, or travel sedately by cyclo-pousse if you prefer, and discover lakes with swords and turtles in them, streets of tin-pans, fans, bamboo poles and party decorations, Ho Chi Minh’s imposing mausoleum, an opera house to rival Paris, and the archaeological excavations of the old citadel. All this while attempting to make sense of the multi-layers of this fascinating millennial city.

South East Asian Soirée: Imagining Indochina (1/5)
Thursday, November 5th at 5 PM Eastern Time

This introductory talk will present an overview of the region, with particular emphasis on Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the three countries that once formed French colonial Indochina. We will investigate what made the French adopt this name, and why, later on, other foreigners invented the term Southeast Asia, and see what, if anything, the countries that comprise it have in common. We’ll come across missionaries struggling with tonal languages and discover how a Latin alphabet was used to conquer, before being turned to advantage by the conquered. And just for fun, we’ll figure out just who does and doesn’t eat with chopsticks.

Thursday, September 24th at 6:30 PM Eastern Time

After our last lecture in each series, our C&S Members are invited to refill a glass and join us for a private reception to reflect on the Soirée with our hosts and discuss the highlights with our fellow travelers.

Paris Soirée: Echoes of the Colonial Past (4/4)
Thursday, September 24th at 5 PM Eastern Time

In today’s talk, we will take a brief look at the histories behind three major Paris museums: the Guimet, the Cernuschi and the Quai Branly. All three display important collections of Asian art, but this has not always been the case. Each has come into being in a different way, not always free from controversy. Collectors’ whims, presidential cocktails on tropical islands and inter-museum artefact shuffling all play a part, and at the heart of this story lies the pressing and currently very topical question of who displays whose art and why?

Paris Soirée: Echoes of the Colonial Past (3/4)
Thursday, September 17th at 5 PM Eastern Time

Best known for its universities, bookshops and vibrant student life, the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank of Paris is also home to two of the city’s most interesting colonial-era buildings. Many tourists enjoy mint tea in the atmospheric, bird-filled café of the Mosque without realizing that penetrating the interior of this religious institute is like stepping into the gardens of Andalucia. Hordes of visitors flock to the Jardin du Luxembourg on sunny afternoons, but few look up and notice the ornate North African façades of the former colonial school on the southern side of the gardens. Join me on a journey of discovery that will take us to Cambodia and Morocco in order to unwrap the stories of these unique institutions.

Paris Virtual Soirée: Echoes of the Colonial Past (2/4)
Thursday, September 10th at 5:00pm Eastern Time

Today, let me take you on a guided tour of the Palais de la Porte Dorée. Together, we will unravel the remarkable story of this unique building, originally constructed for the 1931 Exposition Coloniale. Hear about its multiple transformations from “permanent” museum of the colonies to national museum of immigration, and explore its unique art and architecture, taking a look at its extravagant and now controversial frescoes and sculpted façade, the longest in Europe.

Paris Virtual Soirée: Echoes of the Colonial Past (1/4)
Thursday, September 3rd at 5pm Eastern Time

Done the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and Versailles? Looking for something different? Then I invite you to accompany me through a Vietnamese gateway and across a Khmer naga bridge and stumble upon a lost garden on the eastern outskirts of Paris. Filled with traces of France’s former colonial possessions, little-known to Parisians and even less to foreigners, this extraordinary place of memory is a nostalgic testimony to long-gone exhibitions visited by millions. Discover in an hour how Parisians once did a Tour of the World in a day.