Khin Sok

Khin Sok (Khmer: ឃឹន សុខ; 1942 - 10 October 2011) was a Cambodian historian, linguist, literature and arts scholar. He acquired a doctorate of history in Paris, published scientific works, taught as a professor in the Royal University of Phnom Penh and was a member of the Royal Academy of Cambodia. His publications during the second half of the 20th century profoundly contributed to the scientific interpretation of historical sources, literature and the systemic development of the modern Khmer language. As a participant of the Khmerization movement he encouraged the promotion of a culturally independent Cambodia on the basis of enlightened and scholarly education in an international context.

During the 1990s Khin Sok's publications shifted towards linguistic topics, such as the first grammar book on modern Khmer language, a comprehensive Khmer language manual in co-operation with Claude Jacques and Yoshiaki Ishizawa and a contemporary Cambodian-French dictionary, followed by his concluding work: "La khmérisation de l’enseignement et l’indépendance culturelle au Cambodge - On the Khmérisation of education and the cultural independence of Cambodia." In later years he alternatively taught history and civilization of the countries of Southeast Asia in Phnom Penh and Paris in order to lend his expertise and presume the tradition of scholarly exchange and co-operation. Khin Sok was a prominent member of the "Association Culturelle Franco-Khmer", the "Association Des Etudiants Cambogiens" in France and the Cambodian Academic Network.

Beginning in the late 1980s, he produced a number of scientific papers on the history and the relations between Annam (modern day Vietnam), Siam (modern day Thailand) and pre-colonial Cambodia. In 1991 he published his synoptic works "Cambodia squeezed between Siam and Vietnam (from 1775 to 1860)" and "The annexation of Cambodia by Vietnam during the 19th Century, as retold in two poems composed by Venerable Botum Baramey Pich (The Kampoub Ter Ong story)".

After successfully acquiring certificates and titles in advanced literature and the arts, Khin Sok taught Khmer language between 1973 and 1993 at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) and published his early works (Mon-Khmer Studies, History Revisions) in Paris at the Bulletin de l’École française d'Extrême-Orient. From 1975 on he conducted studies, revisions, interpretations and translations of the Cambodian Royal Chronicles, culminating 1988 in his work "Chroniques royales du Cambodge (De Banà Yàt jusqu’à la prise de Lanvaek de 1417 à 1595). Traduction française avec comparaison des différences version et introduction" - a widely acclaimed revision and reinterpretation of previous works of European scholars. He and fellow scholar Mak Phoeun reassembled the individually treated, stylistically and methodically differing works of most of the French authors and rearranged them into a new context. During the 1970s and 1980s he published a number of works on the interpretation of inscriptions of various temple ruins of the Khmer Empire. His expertise helped to supplement and determine the actual Royal Chronology of Cambodia.