A two-stage process of selection

3After a call for candidates at the beginning of 2020, 61 theses were received in March. After elimination of those that did not fulfil the conditions of eligibility, 58 were included in the selection process. This comprises examination of the thesis and of the supporting report, in two steps. The first is an evaluation by two members of the Scientific Council of GIS Asia, followed by an in-depth evaluation by an expert in the field, for which GIS Asia calls on external competence if necessary. During these two evaluation steps, particular attention is paid to the originality of the ideas, the approach or data, knowledge of the literature on the topic being addressed, the method, the rigour of the reasoning and the quality of the presentation, including the writing and the layout (illustrations, tables, graphs). In 2020, the jury consisted of most of the members of the Scientific Council (34 of 36), two members of the GIS Asia management and three external experts. Each evaluated three or four theses during the first stage, and some conducted in-depth analyses of one or two theses.

The candidate theses

4The most common discipline was history, in more than one fourth of the submitted theses. The three most frequent social science disciplines were anthropology, sociology and geography, accounting for half of the theses. The topics of the remaining theses were mainly in the humanities (literature, archaeology, language, philosophy and law). Half of the members of the jury were historians, while the disciplines of one third were anthropology, sociology and geography. Literary and linguistic studies were well represented among members of the jury.

Figure 1

5The difference between the specialities of the candidate theses and those of the members of the jury gave rise to numerous debates, mainly concerning understanding of the local area and of the local language in the area studied. Although mastery of a local language is a clear advantage for understanding a society, many studies have provided significant insights without mastery of the language. For example, studies of certain collections of historical documents require knowledge mainly of the languages of western colonialists, such as English, Portuguese, Dutch and French. Furthermore, mastery of the local language, if necessary, is not a sine qua non for application for a GIS Asia thesis prize.

6With respect to region, one third of the theses were on China and Taiwan. South-East Asia, India, Japan and Korea were also frequently studied, with a relatively good balance. Theses on countries such as Cambodia and Viet Nam reflect the historical legacy of France’s presence in this region, as does the small proportion of theses in Central Asia. Only a few studies covered several areas. This distribution is similar to that of the work of members of the jury, as almost one third of the members work mainly on China and Taiwan. A balance was seen of studies in India, Japan and Korea in South Asia, although the jury had somewhat more specialists on India. Many studied several areas, illustrating diversification of specialities during a university and research career.

The winning theses

Figure 2

7Three theses were awarded a prize:

8Blanchier, Raphaël, “Les danses mongoles en héritage: performance et transmission du bii biêlgee et de la danse mongole scénique en Mongolie contemporaine” [The heritage of Mongolian dances: performance and transmission of bii biêlgee and Mongolian dance on stage in contemporary Mongolia]. EPHE, under the direction of Michael Houseman.

9Girard, Bérénice, “Les ingénieurs, le fleuve et l’État. Rôle et place des ingénieurs dans un grand projet technique : la gestion du Gange” [Engineers, the river and the State. Role and place of engineers in a large technical project: management of the Ganges]. EHESS, under the direction of Roland Lardinois and Odile Henry.

10Pham, Thi Kieu Ly, “La grammatisation du vietnamien (1615-1919): histoire des grammaires et de l’écriture romanisée du vietnamien” [“Grammatisation” of Vietnamese (1615-1919): history of grammar and romanised writing of Vietnamese]. Sorbonne-Nouvelle University, under the direction of Dan Savatovsky.

11Theses that were examined by two evaluators as “exceptional, to be retained absolutely for the thesis prize” were pre-selected for the prize, as were those considered to be “exceptional, to be retained absolutely for the thesis prize” by one evaluator and as “excellent but not exceptional” by the other, when all members of the jury in session decided to include them.

12Thus, 12 theses were pre-selected, in addition to the winning theses:

13Abbe, Gabrielle, “Le Service des arts cambodgiens mis en place par George Groslier: Genèse, histoire et postérité (1917-1945)” [The Cambodian Arts Service established by George Groslier: genesis, history and posterity (1917-1945)], Paris-I-Panthéon-Sorbonne University, under the direction of Hugues Tertrais.

14Aberdam, Marie, “Élites cambodgiennes en situation coloniale, essai d’histoire sociale des réseaux de pouvoir dans l’administration cambodgienne sous le protectorat français (1860-1953)” [Cambodian elites in a colonial situation, essay on the social history of power networks in the Cambodian administration under the French Protectorate (1860-1953)], Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne University, under the direction of Pierre Singaravélou.

15Andolfatto, David, “Le Pays aux Cent-Vingt-Cinq-Mille Montagnes. Étude archéologique du Bassin de la Karnali (Népal) entre le xii^e et le xvi^e siècle” [The country of One Hundred and Twenty-five Thousand Mountains. Archeological study of the Karnali Basin (Nepal) between the 12th and 16th centuries], Paris-Sorbonne University, under the direction of Édith Parlier-Renault & Marie Lecomte-Tilouine.

16Bikir, Radu, “Divination et Destinée sous la Dynastie Song 宋 (960-1279): Étude de la mise en scène des méthodes mantiques dans le Yijian zhi 夷堅志 de Hong Mai” [Divination and destiny under the Song 宋dynasty (960-1279): Study of the staging of mantic methods in the Yijian zhi 夷堅志 of Hong Mai], Paris-Diderot University, under the direction of Stéphane Feuillas.

17Cebeillac, Alexandre, “Mobilités urbaines et données en ligne pour l’étude des maladies vectorielles à Delhi (Inde) et Bangkok (Thaïlande)” [Urban mobility and online data for studying vectorial diseases in Delhi (India) and Bangkok (Thailand)], Rouen University, under the direction of Alain Vaguet & Eric Daudé.

18Le Meur, Mikaëla, “Plasti-cités : Enquêtes sur les déchets et les transformations écologiques au Vietnam” [Plasti-cities: Study of waste and ecological transformations in Viet Nam], Free University of Brussels, under the direction of Pierre Petit.

19Lucas, Aude, “L’expression subjective dans les récits oniriques de la littérature de fiction des Qing” [Subjective expression in dream stories in Qing fiction], Paris-Diderot University, under the direction of Rainier Lanselle.

20Provost, Fabien, “Anthropologie de l’expertise médico-légale en Inde du Nord” [Anthropology of medico-legal expertise in North India], Paris-Nanterre University, under the direction of Anne de Sales.

21Rochot, Justine, “Bandes de vieux. Une sociologie des espaces de sociabilité de jeunes retraités en Chine urbaine contemporaine” [Band of oldies. Sociology of meeting places for young retirees in contemporary urban China], EHESS, under the direction of Isabelle Thireau & Tania Angeloff.

22Srour, Némésis, “Bollywood film traffic. Circulations des films hindis au Moyen-Orient (1954-2014)” [Bollywood film traffic. Circulation of Hindi films in the Middle East (1954-201)], EHESS, under the direction of Catherine Servan-Schreiber.

23Sarah, Terrail Lormel, “Une histoire japonaise de la névrose : la phobie interpersonnelle (taijinkyôfu) (1930-1970). Émergence, développement et circulation d’un diagnostic psychiatrique” [A Japanese history of neurosis : interpersonal phobia (taijinkyôfu) (1930-1970). Emergence, development and circulation of a psychiatric diagnosis], Inalco, under the direction of Anne Bayard-Sakai.

24Zani, Béatrice, “Mobilities, Translocal Economies and Emotional Modernity. From the Factory to Digital Platforms, between China and Taiwan”, Lumière-Lyon-II University, under the direction of Laurence Roulleau-Berger.

A prize for a thesis, and then?

25Receiving a prize for a thesis is often an advantage for young researchers seeking a job that will allow them to continue their research, which is important in the current limited context. The three winners of the previous prizes all have jobs today, at Inalco, the CNRS and the University Lyon-II. We hope that all the winners will soon find positions in an institute for research and higher education, for the gratification and benefit of the community of Asian studies.

26The award ceremony will take place during the “science days” of GIS Asia, on 2 and 3 June 2021 on the Condorcet campus (with the possibility of videoconferencing if necessary). The winners will present their work, and the public will be able to interact with them. The prize will help them to promote their work and to publish it.