Mus, Paul (1902-1969)

Paul Mus (1902-1969), a renowned and atypical French orientalist, spent part of his childhood in Vietnam. Director of studies at the EPHE in 1937, he joined the French School of the Far East in 1939. A Buddhist specialist, his original work on the Barabudur temple in Indonesia (1935) and on transmigration (1938) opened the doors of the Collège de France to him in 1946. He affirmed his commitments by proposing a political reflection on colonization and the conditions for a humanist dialogue among civilizations (Viêt-Nam, sociologie d’une guerre, 1952; Le destin de l’Union française, de l’Indochine à l’Afrique, 1954). From 1952 onwards, he taught every year at Yale University, leaving a more vivid memory there than in France.

Keywords: Colonial sciences | Orientalism | French colonialism | Southeast Asia | Vietnam | Asian studies | Oriental studies | Buddhism