Yosothor’s17th volume on local culture at fair

THE Yosothor Cultural Organization, which has a mission of helping to promote Khmer culture, has compiled and published its 17th Cultural Research Anthology, which focuses on Khmer culture and traditions as well as Cambodia’s natural environment.

Yosothor’s Khmer Culture Media Anthology No. 17 is now on sale after an official launch event took place on December 3 and it will be available at the 9th Cambodia Book Fair held at the National Library from December 9-11.

The founder of the Yosothor Cultural Organization, anthropologist Dr. Ang Choulean, said that the 17th volume in the series consists of 14 articles totalling 120 pages that focus on culture and Cambodia related topics such as traditions, archaeology and the natural environment.

He said that the money raised from the sale of the books will help the organization carry out its regular activities, which include publishing a university-level magazine and sponsoring other activities in the higher education sector related to culture.

“The purpose of establishing this organization was to find financial support partners who also value the research we’re highlighting and the dissemination of Cambodian culture on a wider basis,” he said.

He mentioned that in 2000 he published a magazine for international researchers called Uthai, which ran for 15 issues. He later created the Khmer Renaissance website in order to promote Khmer culture to the general public with less academic and easier to understand content.

“We published the first book in the series in 2005 and now in 2022 we’re on number 17 in the series and still going strong,” he said.

Chulean said that he created the Yosothor Cultural Organization in 2013 to expand his activities and reach a broader audience than his magazine Uthai had been reaching.

He said Yosothor is intended to be an independent Cambodian research organisation that can promote Khmer culture on the national and international stage and fill in the gaps that exist in research on Cambodian culture that currently exist.

“In addition to that, we normally organize lectures five times per year, but during the Covid-19 pandemic the lectures were interrupted. With Covid tapering off we’re getting prepared to publish more books that will provide Khmer cultural knowledge to our readers,” he said. “Yosothor’s activities include compiling and publishing books, publishing magazines and preparing lectures which focus on pure culture alone.”