RESEARCH

Dr. Thun’s research spans a wide range of themes, including intellectual and cultural history, ethnicity, Buddhism, war and violence, education, and digital history. His publications address these themes through historical and scholarly inquiry, while his applied research extends to public-facing educational and collaborative initiatives. He was a leading member of App-learning on Khmer Rouge History, a digital history project launched by the Bophana Audiovisual Research Center in Cambodia in 2018 to support inclusive education for Cambodian youth about the Khmer Rouge mass-killing regime (1975–1979). Since 2025, he has also collaborated with UNESCO’s Phnom Penh Office to evaluate, design, and strengthen peace education and public understanding of war and violence. He has also been actively involved in training and mentoring young researchers through trainings, as well as supporting their research projects and publications.

Dr. Thun’s current book project focuses on twentieth-century Buddhist intellectual traditions and monastic education. Centering on Khmer religious leaders who played a formidable role in advancing Buddhist monastic education between 1900 and 1975, the project explores their activities across overlapping spheres of political authority, transnational and transcultural exchange, and diverse epistemological frameworks.

Research Interests

• Southeast Asian studies
• Intellectual and cultural history
• Buddhism
• Ethnicity
• Wars and violence
• History of education
• Peace education

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Epistemology of the Past: Texts, History, and Intellectuals of Cambodia, 1855–1970. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2024. https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/epistemology-of-the-past-texts-history-and-intellectuals-of-cambodia-1850-1970/

• · Winner of the 2026 Early Career Book Prize from the Association of Mainland Southeast Asia Scholars (AMSEAS).

• · Honourable Mention for the 2026 Harry J. Benda Prize from the Association for Asian Studies (AAS)

Tracing the Origins and Evolution of Cambodia’s Ethnic Politics and Nationalism, 1855–1978. Phnom Penh: Royal University of Phnom Penh Press, 2025. With Duong Keo. In Khmer language.

Refereed Journal Articles

“Has a tradition ever been lost? Exploring ‘residual knowledge’ in Cambodia’s humanities and social sciences textbooks.” Educational Philosophy and Theory, (2026): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2026.2628243

“Becoming Paṇḍit: Religious Teachings, Diploma Politics, and Doctoral Education in Post-War Cambodia.” Critical Asian Studies 57, no. 2 (2025): 274–90. doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2025.2463077

“Embodied National History: Leaders, Regime Change, and Regional Historiographical Trends of Independent Cambodia.” International Journal of Asian Studies 22, no. 1 (2025):123–40. DOI: 10.1017/S1479591424000184

(With Duong Keo) “Ethnocentrism of Victimhood: Tracing the Discourses of Khmer Ethnicity in Precolonial and Colonial Cambodia.” Asian Studies Review 48, no. 4 (2024): 847–66. DOI: 10.1080/10357823.2024.2329085

“Post-Conflict Higher Education and Transnational Politics at a Crossroads: A New Vietnamese Language Studies Program Faces Protests in Cambodia.” Studies in Higher Education 49, no. 7 (2023): 1225–40. DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2023.2261978

(With Duong Keo). “Ethnic Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge: The Genocide and Race Debate.” Critical Asian Studies 53, no. 3 (2021): 325–41. DOI:10.1080/14672715.2021.1894959

“Invasion or Liberation?: Contested Commemoration in Cambodia and within ASEAN.” TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 9, no. 2 (2021): 219–35. DOI: 10.1017/trn.2020.17

“Treason and Loyalty to the Royal Court: The Kan Narrative in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Khmer Chronicle Manuscripts.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 31, no. 2 (2021): 343–62. DOI: 10.1017/S1356186320000632

“Ph.D. Inflation and the Lack of PhDs in Higher Education in Post-Civil War Cambodia.” Universities & Intellectuals 1, no. 1 (2021): 43–8. https://chelps.eduhk.hk/page/detail/480

“An Epistemological Shift from Palace Chronicles to Scholarly Khmer Historiography under French Colonial Rule.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 51, nos. 1–2 (2020): 132–53. DOI: 10.1017/S0022463420000235

“Khmer Rouge Children’s Songs.” ASIAN REVIEW 21, (2008): 69–87. DOI: 10.58837/CHULA.ARV.21.1.4. https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/arv/vol21/iss1/5/

Book Reviews

Sally Frances Low. Colonial Law Making: Cambodia under French. Singapore: NUS Press, 2023. Law and History Review, (2026): 1-3. doi:10.1017/S0738248026101734

Andrew Mertha. Bad Lieutenants: The Khmer Rouge, United Front, and Class Struggle, 1970–1997. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 2025. South East Asia Research 34, no. (2026): 104–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/0967828X.2026.2634500

Leslie Barnes and Joseph Mai (eds.). The Cinema of Rithy Panh: Everything Has a Soul. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2021. Journal of Asian Studies 82, no. 2 (2023): 281–282. DOI:10.1215/00219118-10290983

Ly, Boreth. Traces of Trauma: Cambodian Visual Culture and National Identity in the Aftermath of Genocide. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2020. Southeast Asian Studies 9, no. 3 (2020): 469–72. DOI: 10.20495/seas.9.3_469

Astrid Noren-Nilsson. Cambodia’s Second Kingdom: Nation, Imagination, and Democracy. Ithaca, NY: Southeast Asian Program Publications, Cornell University Press, 2016. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 50, no. 2 (2019), 294-296. DOI: 10.1017/S0022463419000304