1st Edition

Expressions of Cambodia The Politics of Tradition, Identity and Change

Edited By Leakthina Chau-Pech Ollier, Tim Winter Copyright 2007
    248 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    242 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Taking a theoretical and multidisciplinary perspective, the essays in this collection provide compelling insight into contemporary Cambodian culture at home and abroad. The book represents the first sustained exploration of the relationship between cultural productions and practices, the changing urban landscape and the construction of identity and nation building twenty-five years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. As such, the team of international contributors address the politics of development and conservation, tradition and modernity within the global economy, and transmigratory movements of the twenty-first century.

    Expressions of Cambodia presents a new dimension to the Cambodian studies by engaging the country in current debates about globalization and the commodification of culture, post-colonial politics and identity constructions. Timely and much-needed, this volume brings Cambodia back into dialogue with its neighbours, and in so doing, valuably contributes to the growing field of Southeast Asian cultural studies.

    Introduction: The Politics of Tradition, Identity and Change  Tim Winter and Leakthina Chau-Pech Ollier Part 1: Re-Scripting Angkor  Subscripts: Reading Cambodian Pasts, Presents and Futures through Graffiti Penny Edwards  When ancient "glory" meets modern "tragedy": Angkor and the Khmer Rouge in contemporary tourism Tim Winter   The Fascination for Angkor Wat and the Ideology of the Visible Panivong Norindr  Part 2: Identity and the Liminal Space  Sitting between Two Chairs: Cambodia’s Dual Citizenship Debate Kathryn Poethig Refractions of Home: Exile, Memory and Diasporic Longing Khatharya Um  Rapping (in) the Homeland: Of Gangs, Angka, and the Cambodian Diasporic Identity Leakthina Chau-Pech Ollier  Part 3: Performing Tradition  Weaving into Cambodia: Negotiated Ethnicity in the (Post)Colonial Silk Industry Heidi Dahles and John ter Horst  A Burned-Out Theatre: The State of Cambodia's Performing Arts Robert Turnbull  The (Re)emergence of Cambodian Women Writers at Home and Abroad Klairung Amratisha  Part 4: Engaging Modernity  Entrepreneurialism and Charisma: Two Modes of Doing Business in Post-Pol Pot Cambodian Buddhism  Ian Harris  Touring Memories of the Khmer Rouge (Anlong Veng) Timothy Dylan Wood  Khmer Women and Global Factories Annuska Derks  Bibliography 

    Biography

    Leakthina Chau-Pech Ollier is a writer and lives in Siem Reap, Cambodia

    Tim Winter worked on this book as part of his Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Asia Research Institute, Singapore. Tim is now a Professor in the School of Social Sciences at The University of Western Australia.

    'The book aims to be of interest to those working in the fields of Asian studies, tourism, diaspora, and postcolonial and cultural studies.' - Oxfam's Development Resources Review

    "Ollier and Winter’s edited volume is an engaging assembly of thirteen chapters organized along four major themes that focus on some aspect of Cambodian culture." - JoAnn DiGeorgio-Lutz, PhD, Texas A&M University