Vietnamica – History, Epigraphy and Digital Humanities : Research on Stelae Inscriptions and Documentary Sources of Classical Vietnamese History

Funded by the European Research Council (ERC), the Vietnamica programme is under the direction of Philippe Papin. It brings together several researchers and students from the École Pratique des Hautes Études, the Institute of Hán-Nôm Studies in Hanoi (Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences) and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University). It is conducted by the École Pratique des Hautes Études. Its operator in Vietnam is the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie.

It aims to analyse and process the rubbings that reproduce the inscriptions engraved on the thousands of donation stelae erected in Vietnamese villages from the 16th to the 20th century. These inscriptions, written in Chinese and vernacular scripts, open up new perspectives for writing a history of religious beliefs, economy and social structures of the rural world.

In addition to specialised historical studies, including monographs on pious donations to village shrines, the Vietnamica programme is dedicated to the comprehensive treatment of the inscriptions using digital humanities techniques.