Fabienne Luco Anthropologist Independant Researcher : Ph. D. candidate, E.H.E.S.S (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales- Paris), Unité Mixte de recherche CASE (Centre Asie du Sud Est) Research : « Expression of social values in space : the case of populations living on the framework of old capital cities - Angkor in Cambodia » Abstract : “The angkorian palimpsest : Housing, agriculture and religious practices of villagers living on ancient traces.” For the foreign explorers who came between the 16th century and the late 19thcentury, Angkor appeared as a forgotten antique city of stone engulfed by the jungle. Though, distancing itself from this romantic image, Angkor continued to live throughout middle and recent history as attested in writings and late remains. The site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1992 is now mostly considered as an archaeological and tourism area. But far from being fossilised, the site is a living place. Populations still live on the Angkorian framework. Set back and unnoticed from the circuit roads, today 30 villages with a population of 40,000 are settled in the area of the monumental site of Angkor.

Today, these populations are torn between the aspiration of profiting from the country as it opens to the market economy and mass tourism, and the restrictions of living in a place that is freezing into a museum representation. With international heritage developers advocating the recreation of an ancient idealised space, the solutions offered to the local populations are whether to leave the site or to become part of its folklore. But the approach these inhabitants chose when settling into this area whilst developing it within the framework of their living culture shall be taken into consideration. Angkor is not stuck in the past. Populations continue to live and to lay modern layers on top of the ancient structure.

The presentation aims to recognize the outstanding linkages between the local communities and Angkor landscape. It will pay a special attention to the way local populations have used the angkorian remains (dikes, mound, temples, statues) in terms of housing, water access and religious practices.

Oxcarts on Angkor Wat causeway – End of 19th century

Biography : Resident in Cambodia since 1993, Fabienne Luco has conducted anthropological researches in villages of the Angkor site for several years for the completion of a Ph D. Meanwhile, she has been working as an expert for various agencies of the United Nations : FAO (study of fishing communities on Tonle Sap lake), UNHCHR (investigations on human rights violations within the context of national and communal elections (1993,1998,2002), UNHCHR (Study on the social and economical impacts of land and forestry concessions on local populations), UNAKRT (investigator/researcher for the Khmer rouge trial (ECCC). She also produced a study on the communities living close to an angkorian bridge (Kompong Kdei) within a project of road rehabilitation and restoration of Angkorian bridges (Oriental consultants for the World Bank). Publications/ Angkor: - « Pratiques anciennes et nouvelles d’accès à la terre au Cambodge »,in Cambodge Contemporain, Dir of public. Alain Forest, IRASEC, les Indes Savantes, pp 419-443, 2008. - “The People of Angkor, Between Tradition and Development”, Phnom Bakheng workshop on public interpretation, Organized by World Monuments Fund under the auspices of APSARA (December 4-6, 2005),. - « La religion des cambodgiens » in Cambodge-soir: Chroniques sociales d’un pays au quotidien, IRASEC, 2005. - « Les rituels associés à la construction de la maison »,Center for Khmer Studies , Rockefeller foundation. 2006 - “ Men, legends and supernatural beings” The great lake, a pulse of life.” Dir. Public. Renaud Bailleux, F.A.O. 2002 - " Riz Amer : Daily life under the shade of the Angkor temples" Le Courier de l'UNESCO April 2000, Télérama, special edition, 1997. - Multimedia CD Rom in collaboration with Bruno Dagens and Jacques Dumarcay "Angkor, 10 siècles de fascination" – Studio Cerezales, 1997 Contact : fabienne_luco@yahoo.com