A drawn conversation with Ashley Thompson. She is a professor at SOAS University of London, in the School of Arts & Department of History of Art and Archaeology.
In Ashley’s undergraduate years, she studied with the visionary writer and feminist Hélène Cixous, and later came to Battambang as a volunteer, where she also supported the founders of Phare Ponleu Selpak. Her experiences in Cambodia and Thailand influenced her research on post-war reconstruction in the fields of teaching, art, archaeology, and cultural heritage.
Calling the Souls is one of her publications, in which the Cambodian healing ritual Hau Proleung is examined. A Khmer cultural belief holds that we have 19 different spirits or souls. When people become ill or traumatised, the proleung (spirit or soul) wanders. During the ritual, in which relatives also take part, the collective souls are called home. This ritual is still practised in Cambodia today.
As a teacher, Ashley Thompson supervises students undertaking independent research on Buddhist and Hindu art. Encouraging critical thinking and preserving freedom of thought are among her central concerns. She seeks to connect the beginnings of art with the contemporary, even though this remains difficult.
Cambodia, February 2026