The Cham of Vietnam: History, Society and Art

The Cham people once inhabited and ruled over a large stretch of what is now the central Vietnamese coast. Their Indianized civilization flourished for centuries, and they competed with the Vietnamese and Khmers for influence in mainland Southeast Asia. This book brings together essays on the Cham by specialists in history, archaeology, anthropology, art history, and linguistics. It presents a revisionist overview of Cham history and a detailed study of the various ways in which the Cham have been studied by different generations of scholars, as well as chapters on specific aspects of the Cham past. Several authors focus on archaeological work in central Vietnam that positions recent discoveries within the broader framework of Cham history. The authors synthesize work by scholars during the French colonial period and after who discuss what 'Champa' has represented over the centuries of its history. The book's new perspectives on the Cham provide penetrating insights into the history of Vietnam that shed light on the broader dynamic of Southeast Asian history.