Ashley Thompson

Professor Ashley Thompson holds the Hiram W. Woodward Chair in Southeast Asian Art at SOAS University of London, where she also serves as Department Doctoral Studies Convenor in the Department of History of Art and Archaeology within the School of Arts. A specialist in Southeast Asian Art Histories with particular expertise on Cambodia, Professor Thompson's academic journey began with undergraduate studies at Harvard and continued with graduate work at Université de Paris, where she was profoundly influenced by Hélène Cixous.

Her educational background includes a BA from Harvard, MA from Université de Paris 3, and PhD from Université de Paris 8. Prior to her academic career, she spent ten years working in post-war reconstruction in Cambodia and Thailand across education, art, archaeology and cultural heritage fields. Her professional experience spans multiple institutions including Phnom Penh's Royal University of Fine Arts, University of California, Berkeley, University of Paris 8, and University of Leeds.

Professor Thompson's research maintains a sustained focus on premodern Cambodian arts and literatures, complemented by work on contemporary Southeast Asian arts. Informed by deconstruction and psychoanalysis, her work revolves around memory, political and cultural transition, sexual difference, and subjectivity, with explicitly decolonizing critical perspectives playing an increasing role. Her research examines Hindu and Buddhist sculpture, ritual practices and texts, and other forms of fine and performing arts, with particular attention to the intersections of art, politics, and cultural identity in Southeast Asia.

Her recent publications reveal a strong trend toward cultural restitution, decolonizing frameworks, and the political dimensions of artistic representation in Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia. She has produced significant scholarly work on Theravadin Buddhist arts, post-genocide memory, and the complex legacies of Angkorian civilization. Her research demonstrates a consistent engagement with questions of cultural sovereignty, memory politics, and the ethical dimensions of art historical practice.

Professor Thompson currently leads the collaborative research project 'Circumambulating Objects: on Paradigms of Restitution of Southeast Asian Art,' funded by the Getty Foundation's Connecting Art Histories Scheme, and another project expanding her contribution to the restitution of looted Cambodian antiquities. She supervises numerous PhD students working on diverse topics across Southeast Asian art history, archaeology, and cultural heritage.

Her doctoral students include Pim Fitzpayne (on Khmer art markets), Panggah Ardiyansyah (on Hindu-Buddhist materials in Indonesia), Conan Yongneng Cheong (on Buddhist memory in Luang Prabang), and several others working on diverse topics across Southeast Asian art history. Her research funding includes support from the Getty Foundation and SOAS Impact and Knowledge Exchange with funding from Research England.

Professor Thompson directs research initiatives focused on the restitution of looted Cambodian antiquities and collaborates closely with the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Restitution Team. Her work connects academic research with practical applications in cultural heritage management, museum studies, and community-based interpretation of restituted artifacts.