Review of Ashley Thompson’s Engendering the Buddhist State

My review of Dr. Ashley Thompson‘s new book, Engendering the Buddhist State: territory, sovereignty and sexual difference in the inventions of Angkor, is up on the Religion Journal Taylor & Francis website. The first fifty visits can download the content for free.

Dr. Thompson is an extremely knowledgeable and well-respected scholar of Cambodia, and especially of the Middle Period between the decline of Angkor and the imposition of the colonial period. As in her book, the lecture below uses the Cambodian statuary tradition as a basis for her discussions, which range from the proper way to think about the relationship between Angkor and the larger ‘Sanskrit Cosmopolis’ in which it partook, as well as a range of other central issues.

Her book also uses inscriptions, spirit possession, healing rituals, and more as the evidential bases for discussions of key points in Cambodian historiography and study.