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This article demonstrates that precolonial Khmer ethnicity played an essential role in the Cambodian court's relations with those of Siam and Vietnam in the mid-19th century because Cambodia's ruling elite and religious leaders often adopted ethnic politics in relation to the Khmer to resist threats that the neighbouring courts imposed on them. Developed as 'ethnocentrism of victimhood', which integrates real or imagined depictions of external influence with anxieties about the extinction of an ethnic community, this primordial ethnic conception was transformed under French rule and became crucial in the rise of nationalism during the early 20th century. The colonial encounter superimposed on the precolonial conception of ethnic identity by inserting the notion of racial superiority into it, thus worsening Khmer–Vietnamese relations. Newly emerged components such as national borders and history, along with socio-political factors, were crucial in restructuring ethnicity under colonial conditions. The notion of being a victim of someone else's abuses had a long-term impact on forming and stimulating ethnic antagonism among ethnic Khmers. This analysis thus reveals the role played by primordialism and constructivism in reformulating modern ethnicity and nationality, and why ethnic antagonism toward the Vietnamese emerged among the Khmer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Khmer Girls in Action in Long Beach cultivates the leadership of high school-aged students from refugee families to organize for gender, racial, and economic justice in their communities. This article looks at the knowledge that KGA's youth organizing produces about the institutional roots of the deportation of Cambodian refugees. The youth connect the U.S. war in Cambodia with the war on crime and gangs in Long Beach to call into question the deportable "criminal alien" and the benevolent resettlement narrative. They redefine what counts as immigrant rights through their campaigns to address disciplinary practices in their schools and police surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I aim to discuss the notion of potency as attributed or inherent to a place through the study of the performance space in which the Khmer ritual classical theatre is staged. Here, the potency of the place results from a complex and cumulative process that strengthens the rite. Through a deliberately identified topography, a space is delimited, constructed and periodically activated so a community can safely transit from one yearly cycle to the next. In so doing, the ritual performance highlights nuanced qualities as well as social and religious considerations of space, and its relation to power. Considering the location’s contribution to the rite helps not only to discuss the relation of people to space but also brings greater understanding to performance as a religious expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cambodia is strewn with places of national, local or, most frequently, village importance, considered as potent places, that is to say, places that are said to have agency and a positive or negative power of interaction with human beings. This paper emphasises the constituent principles of potency using case studies based on ethnographic research conducted between 2007 and 2015 in Pursat province, western Cambodia. Beginning with the analysis of the sanctuary of a powerful land guardian spirit called Khleang Muang, the author progressively guides the reader to all the potent places that form a network which spatially tells the legend of the sixteenth-century Khmer King Ang Chan who passed by Pursat, coming from Angkor and settled in Lovek (south of Tonle Sap Lake). Violent death and sacrifices, rituals, spiritual energy calledparamī, old buildings, monasteries, precious tableware kept in the soil, trees, stones, termite mounds … all those constituents of the potency of the places are analysed. The author’s discussion of the core of potency (pāramīandparamī) enables her to show how Buddhism and land guardian spirit cults are entangled in a single still hierarchical religious system. Finally, the author analyses how potent places in Cambodia embody a process of localisation of the nation-level institution of monarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The medieval Khmer built an extensive road system from their capital of Angkor across vast stretches of mainland Southeast Asia. Integrating the concepts of structure and accessibility it is apparent that this system serves to connect the capital with Khmer centres near important geographic resources, such as iron and copper, and the regional river network. While these roads served multiple purposes their formalization is directly linked to the movement of critical economic commodities and ensuring the security of the Empire's core. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers an examination of the 1973 holy war in post-independence Cambodia fought between troops led by Theravada Buddhist General Lon Nol and those individuals who were considered the "thmil" or non-believers, a group largely comprised of Communist Khmer and Vietnamese troops. It discusses how the war was fueled by a militarized reading of the Buddhist dhamma and existence of long-held ethnic attitudes between the Khmers and the Vietnamese and it explores how Cambodia sought to find its identity after gaining independence.

In Ratanakiri province, northeastern Cambodia, the majority of the local people are native speakers of ethnic minority languages. Primarily subsistence farmers, they use their own language to communicate with others in their villages, and as they work in their rice fields. A baseline survey taken between 1996 and 1998 in five such villages showed that more than 95% of the people could not read and write any language. At the time a literacy program was initiated, there were no other Mother Tongue First literacy programs anywhere in Cambodia for speakers of indigenous ethnic minority languages. Between 1997 and 2002 educational materials were prepared in four of these languages and a village program was initiated. Community participation was the key to the success of the program. Students who complete the program in their own language may go on to more advanced classes to learn to read the national language, Khmer. This paper discusses how against a background in which all previous programs for ethnic minority people had been designed only for reading Khmer, this program was guided by a rationale of Mother Tongue First as the driving principle for acquiring literacy for speakers of indigenous minority languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws upon several ethnographic vignettes taken from fieldwork conducted in Cambodia between 2003-2004 to explore how security and legitimacy are constructed in terms of Khmer culture. I propose that the cultural logic according to which these are formulated rests upon the containment and subordination of power, in its broadest sense, to the Buddhist virtues (sel), the sacred boundary around the temple (sima) and the saffron robe of Buddhist monks. The article presents an historical background to the changing role of Buddhism in Cambodia over the centuries, paying particular attention to its revival after the devastation of the Khmer Rouge period 1975-1979. The ethnography presented reveals the fears Khmer people express today at what would appear to be power escaping the regulation of the sel/sima/robe symbolic complex; the article argues that under these cultural circumstances Khmer imagine their universe and identity to be dissolving. Both security and legitimacy would seem to be at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines tourism, memory and notions of heritage at the World Heritage Site of Angkor, Cambodia. Rather than viewing heritage and social memory as abstract concepts, the paper explores domestic tourism at Angkor as the context within which Cambodia's recent history is re-articulated and made meaningful for a population recovering from decades of national turmoil. In exploring the various values and meanings associated with the national festival of Khmer New Year, the paper argues that an understanding of Angkor as a form of 'living heritage' remains neglected within a management framework which conceives the site as a form of material culture of the 'ancient' past. It is therefore suggested that exploring the values and meanings associated with Angkor's cultural heritage in this way provides valuable insight into the complex relationships of landscape, memory and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1979, an influx of Khmer women refugees have settled in the United States. Because of the cultural differences, many are unprepared for changing roles demanded by relocation. To assist in the cultural transition, many United States volunteer agencies have created educational programs to mitigate their problems. One such program was taught, in part, by nurse practitioners. The purposes of this article are to (a) describe the process of teaching Western child health-care concepts and health education materials to Khmer mothers, (b) discuss the problems encountered in the class material and the teaching process, and (c) make recommendations to assist nurses who work with culturally diverse groups of clients. There were a total of four health-related classes, 2 to 3 hr in length. An interpreter was used to translate the class material. The teaching methods and aids used included illustrations, vocabulary flash cards, dolls, medication and product samples, worksheets, student participation and posttest evaluations. The results of a posttest revealed that Khmer mothers developed a basic understanding and acceptance of Western health-care practices. The problems encountered in teaching these classes as well as recommendations for future classes are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the work of the organization Khmer Girls in Action (KGA), which is a group of Cambodian women who work in the U.S. for immigrant rights, the identity of Khmer Americans, and reproductive rights. Other issues they oversee are social justice, preventing discrimination, and forging links between the Khmer American community and the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community. The KGA's executive director is Suely Ngouy. An excerpt from the KGA website is presented that details the group's mission and goals.