Aurore Candier

Department of History

Director of Center for Burma Studies - Northern Illinois University

“Concepts, Categories of Knowledge, and Buddhist Imaginary: How Burmese History and the Semantic Shifts in Concepts Fit Together”

Friday, September 27, noon Peters Campus Life Building 100 and online (registration required for online attendance)

Co-sponsored by the Center for Burma Studies

Aurore is a historian and associate researcher at the Centre Asie du Sud-Est (Paris) and Institut de Recherche sur le Sud-Est Asiatique (Marseille). She has lived, worked and researched in Burma for more than 20 years when the country was progressively opening up and embracing globalization. Being able to speak Burmese fluently allowed her to build a network of local contacts, academics, students and artists. Her scholarly interests range widely, encompassing Mainland Southeast Asian pre-colonial history and politics; early 20th century colonial history; and Burmese history of ideas, religion, culture, language and literature. She studies changes of ideas and knowledge in Burma in the longue durée and attempts to measure the impact of astrology on Burmese society throughout history. One of the interdisciplinary research programs that she is currently leading brings together scholars working in history, visual arts, and anthropology to explore astrological and divinatory knowledge and practices in Burma.