Speaker: Nicolas Weber, Senior Faculty Member, Vietnam Studies Major, Fulbright University Vietnam

Moderator: John Phan, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University

When: Friday, December 5, 2025, 12:00–1:30 PM ET

Where: International Affairs Building, 420 W 118th St, Room 918, New York, NY 10027

Set within Professor Nicolas Weber’s forthcoming book Forbidden Voices, Silenced Memory: The Making of a Cham Century, this talk explores one of its central sources: a 19th-century Cham verse narrative known as The Rhyme of Looking Forward. As one of fifteen texts featured in the project, the narrative is read as a “living archive”—a body of poetic memory that restores Cham perspectives to the historical landscape of modern Southeast Asia. Through its lines, generations of Cham observers recorded what they witnessed and endured, articulating their experiences of upheaval and their interpretations of regional transformation across the 19th and 20th centuries.

Nicolas Weber is a Senior Faculty Member in the Vietnam Studies major at Fulbright University Vietnam. His research focuses on Southeast Asian history, ethnic history, and diasporic networks, with a particular emphasis on the Cham world. Before joining Fulbright, he taught at Sun Yat-sen University (China) and the University of Malaya (Malaysia).

This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and co-sponsored by NYSEAN. Further details and registration information are available on the WEAI website.