Cambodia

What are the legacies of violence on gendered patterns of political representation? We examine the long-term effects of a watershed conflict of the twentieth century: the Khmer Rouge genocide, during which 50–70% of Cambodia’s working-age men were killed. Using original data on mass killings and economic and political conditions in Cambodian communes, we find that genocide exposure is positively associated with women’s economic advancement and present-day indicators of women’s representation in local-level elected office. We conduct in-depth, ethnographic interviews with genocide survivors to explore the mechanisms by which violence spurred women into elected office. A crucial finding emerges: In areas that suffered the genocide’s worst killings, widows obtained economic autonomy, providing a template for the economic advancement of women in households maintaining conventional gender roles. The shift in norms regarding the sexual division of labor created intra-communal and intergen...

The policy phrase Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is rapidly gaining ground across Southeast Asia (and beyond). Despite numerous policy reports, little is known about how vocational training and education work as sites of practice. This is especially true for informal household-based apprenticeships and privately organized, commercial classroom-based training. Yet, these latter arrangements are numerous, an integral part of the widespread informal economy, and reflecting the fact that homes have retained their productive character in much of the Global South. Combining a village-based perspective (Laos) with an urban-based perspective (Cambodia), we analyse how these informal and privately organized training spaces are situated in rural youth’s gendered lives and shaped by, but also generative of, aspirations of ‘becoming someone’. In addition, comparing informal apprenticeships with classroom-based training leads us to raise some important questions about the implications of the (global) policy emphasis on the standardization and formalization of TVET.

Despite their other theoretical differences, virtually all scholars of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agree that the organization's members share an almost religious commitment to the norm of non-intervention. This article disrupts this consensus, arguing that ASEAN repeatedly intervened in Cambodia's internal political conflicts from 1979 to 1999, often with powerful and destructive effects. ASEAN's role in maintaining Khmer Rouge occupancy of Cambodia's UN seat, constructing a new coalition government in exile, manipulating Khmer refugee camps and informing the content of the Cambodian peace process will be explored, before turning to the 'creeping conditionality' for ASEAN membership imposed after the 1997 'coup' in Phnom Penh. The article argues for an analysis recognizing the political nature of intervention, and seeks to explain both the creation of non-intervention norms and specific violations of them as attempts by ASEAN elites to maintain their own illiberal, capitalist regimes against domestic and international political threats.
[the full version is available via my website, http://www.leejones.tk]

This report—including interviews with more than 331 workers employed in 32 factories that supply to H&M—documents the experiences of women garment workers at the base of H&M garment supply chains. Concentrated in short term, low-skill, and low-wage positions, they are at daily risk of gender based violence and harassment at work.

This new research documents sexual harassment and violence including physical violence, verbal abuse, coercion, threats and retaliation, and routine deprivations of liberty including forced overtime. The research also makes clear these are not isolated incidents and that gender based violence in the H&M garment supply chain is a direct result of how H&M conducts business.

Based upon analysis of the spectrum of gender based violence and associated risk factors in the garment industry, these reports include concrete recommendations for an ILO Convention to eliminate gender based violence and harassment in the world of work.

Built in the early twelfth century, Angkor Wat is one of the world’s largest ancient religious structures. Each year thousands of visitors make the pilgrimage to Angkor Wat to witness the equinox sunrise over the temple’s lotus-shaped towers. In addition to the equinox alignment, however, there are other alignments at Angkor Wat and many of the surrounding temples. In this article multiple solstice alignments are identified for Angkor Wat and eleven nearby temples to include: Bakong, Phnom Bakheng, Phnom Bok, Phnom Krom, East Mebon, Pre Rup, Banteay Srei, Ta Keo, Baphuon, Preah Khan, and Bayon.
Subsequent to ground and aerial reconnaissance of the above sites, archaeoastronomic assessments were made using Google Earth, with solstice azimuths calculated using standard protocols. More than seventy solstice alignments were thus identified.
The multiplicity of solstice alignments combined with other data suggest that it was important for Angkor temples to be connected to the sun. If, as endorsed here, Angkor temples were microcosmic models of the cosmos, then arguably, solstice alignments connected the temples to the cyclic movement of the cosmos as manifested by the solar cycle.

Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS; Oriental University, 2019. — 244 pp., ill.
The book is a collection of essays dealing with various aspects of Southeast Asian and Cambodian epigraphy and state formation. The first essay shows the decisive step to the territorial state in Southeast Asia that took place in the seventh century CE. The second essay offers English and Russian translations of the Văt Luong Kău inscription K. 365 issued in honour of the King Devānīka and found near Vat Phou in Laos. Devānīka’s kingdom had no relation to the kingdom of Zhenla, except the possibility that Zhenla conquered the kingdom of Devānīka or his successors. The third essay gives English and Russian translations of the earliest dated Old Kkmer inscription K. 557/600 of 611 CE found in Angkor Borei. The essay includes a short overview of the personal names in the inscriptions of Cambodia. The fourth essay includes English and Russian translations of the Phnom Preah Vihear inscription K. 733 and a discussion of the root vidyā in Old Khmer inscriptions. The fifth essay outlines the history and archaeology of Funan and its transition to Zhenla. The essay is written in Russian. It shows a gradual Indianization of the Lower Mekong River Delta where the kingdom of Funan emerged in the beginning of the Common Era.
Предлагаемая монография «Становление государственности в Юго-Восточной Азии: Фунань и Ченла» состоит из двух частей. Первая написана на английском языке, вторая – на русском. В первой части предлагается концепция формирования территориального государства в регионе в VII в., даны комментированные переводы ключевых ранних надписей, найденных на территории Индокитая. Это санскритская надпись царя Деваники из Ват Пху K. 365, древнейшая датированная древнекхмерская надпись из Ангкор Борея 611 г. K. 557/600 и недатированная санскритская надпись из Преах Вихеар K. 733, в которой упоминаются такие школы индийской философии, как ньяя и вайшешика. Анализ надписей показывает как множественность политических центров в ранней Юго-Восточной Азии и значительные масштабы влияния на неё индийской культуры, так и сложный характер местной антропонимики, в которой одновременно существовали санскритские, древнекхмерские и другие австроазиатские имена. Вторая часть монографии посвящена изложению сведений о древнейших царствах Индокитая – Фунани и Ченле, известных из китайской исторической традиции. Данные письменных источников сопоставляются с результатами археологических исследований в Индокитае. Дана характеристика культуры Окео. В отдельном параграфе рассматриваются царские надписи эпохи Фунани, которые могли быть изданы её правителями или в их честь. Другой параграф показывает циклический характер завоевания Фунани древнекхмерским царством Ченлой: её правители Читрасена-Махендраварман и Ишанаварман оба именуются победителями Фунани в древнекитайских источниках. Особый параграф касается положения зависимых лиц в доангкорской Камбодже – кхнюмов, которых традиционно считают рабами, но чей статус остаётся не вполне ясным.

The story of the modern feminist and humanitarian is a relatively short one, at least according to popular knowledge. The timeline tends to begin in 1948, with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Then come moments in the 1960s and 1970s, like the adoption of CEDAW in 1979. From more recent years, we cite the UN Sustainable Development Goals of 2015, or #MeToo’s viral moment in 2017.

My research expands this narrative by tracing the history of the “modern feminist humanitarian” to the late nineteenth century. I question the idea that feminism and humanitarianism were modern inventions of the post-World War Two era by turning to an exceptional historical case study: policy, research, and advocacy on female prostitution in Cambodia during the period of the French protectorate (1863-1954). I pose the following questions about past history and present practice: first, how do ideas about oppressed/emancipated female gender and sexuality shape the humanitarian mandates of states and institutions? And second, how can women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, framed by histories of imperial and colonial processes, move scholarship and activism to think about the ethics of being a feminist humanitarian?

As historians of gender and empire have demonstrated, the lives of women can often be traced by following what were the protectionist enterprises of imperial and colonial processes, and such projects often had nebulous or dangerous consequences for women. My research on projects that the French implemented in Cambodia corroborates this. This notion echoes scholarship pointing out that humanitarianism and human rights are not mutually dependent, leaving us with an unsettling thought: humanitarian interventions, even those designed to be gender-responsive, can be disempowering in its attempt to empower. Awareness of a historical tradition of gender-based interventions should alert development scholars and practitioners to critical examination of their own feminist research and gender mainstreaming programs. By interrogating the modern feminist and humanitarian claims made in the context of protecting women in colonial Cambodia, I challenge present policymakers and activists who claim to practice gender-sensitive and human-centered approaches in humanitarian and development programs across the Global South.

仏教美術から見たアジアの美、韓国の美：飛天を中心に 姜熺靜(西江大学校) Ⅰ．序言 東アジアの仏教美術において、もっとも重要な礼拝対象は、仏像と菩薩像である。した がって宗教史や美術史にておもに扱う対象は、この仏像と菩薩像である。 仏教彫刻や佛画においておもな研究対象になったのは、仏像と菩薩像の図像、様式的特 徴と影響関係、信仰の脈絡と機能であった。一方、地域や時代を問わず、仏教美術や寺院 において容易く見ることができた飛天は、研究者たちの関心の対象にはなりえなかった。 仏教世界にて飛天は、大きな意味もない装飾的な存在としてのみ扱われた。数ある仏教美 術に描写された飛天は、天上を暗示する仏教美術の背景のひとつとして、佛陀を敬う下級 臣として重んじられなかった。宗教芸術の本質から遠ざけられた存在ではあったが、飛天 は容易く見ることができるという特徴がある。 インドにおいて仏教美術が作られはじめた頃からすでに飛天の造形は始まり、中央アジ ア、中国、東南アジア、韓国(朝鮮半島)、そして日本へと仏教と共に伝えられた。した がって飛天は、仏教文化圏では広範囲に知られた存在であり、造形であるという点におい て脚光を浴びる価値があろう。人々にとって貴重な存在ではなかったがゆえに、他の仏像 や菩薩像よりも容易く土着化、地方化されたのである。インドだけではなく中国、東南ア ジア、そして韓国の飛天も注視されなかった存在として、古くから作られてきたのである 。 インド西北部から中央アジア、西域を通って中国に入るシルクロードと、海からも仏教 と人々、そして思想や文化も移動した。仏教美術の移動と共に飛天、すなわちアプサラス も伝えられた。アプサラスはインド起源であるが、東アジアでは飛天として再創案された 。したがって飛天は仏教の世界化(globalization) と現地化(localization) を同時に示してくれ る好例である。 インド、東南アジアのアプサラスと中国、韓国の飛天は、インド起源の仏教と文化が異 なる方式によって現地化に成功したことを示している。飛天は仏教のおけるグローバル化 の産物であり、韓国を含むアジア固有の文化として定着していったのである。 Ⅱ．天上の舞姫、飛天 1． 飛天の起源と伝播 飛天はインドのアプサラス(Apsua： अप प प ररर र र)を飛び交う天人と翻訳したことばである。

Nokor Reach is a present day Khmer national anthem. It probably became to be a national anthem after independence in 1953. In more than two decades after the coup in March 1970, there are three national anthems for Cambodia, change follow a form of governments. While Cambodia back to be a second kingdom begins in 1993, Nokor Reach also back to be a national anthem.

Some academics mention that Nokor Reach’s text present the glorious Angkor empire, but I think the argument shows no more interest on context. The most important thing in my view is the argument was dominated by idea I call Angkor Myth.

In this article, I will be examines a history of Nokor Reach. I try to show that Nokor Reach before independence time is not a national anthem but it is a royal anthem. King was praised in the royal anthem is S.M. Norodom Sihanouk (1st reign 1941-1955 and 2nd reign 1993-2005). In 1955, S.M. Sihanouk abdicated the throne, established his political group for run the election campaign and then became a Prime Minister. Nokor Reach as a national anthem, however, was still use as anthem for Samdech Sihanouk, father of independence of Cambodia.

Asian populations living in the United States share similar cultural values that influence their experiences with domestic violence. However, it is critical to recognize how differential cultural beliefs in the context of immigration and adjustment to life in the United States affect attitudes, interpretations, and response to domestic violence. This article discusses findings from community-based participatory action research that explores how Cambodian immigrant women talk about domestic violence, what forms of abuse contribute to domestic violence, and what strategies they use to cope with and respond to abuse in their lives. The richness of this research lies in the stories that immigrant women tell about their struggle and their strength in addressing domestic violence.

주제: 캄보디아 불교 사상의 ‘무’  그리고 창조론의 재조명
글쓴이: 오석환
Submitted to: KMQ 여름호, 불교
Date: 2월 21일  2020년   

1.  들어가는 글
미얀마 개혁장로교 신학교의 전호진 박사는, ‘많은 사람들은 불교는 교리적으로 물질세계에서 해방을 강조함으로 비정치적 종교라고 말한다. 그러나 인도차이나에서 소승불교는 스리랑카에서 처럼 도리어 군사적 불교로 발전하여 기독교 선교에 큰 도전 이 되고 있다” 라고 지적하며 “불교를 믿는 주류 인종들에게서 전도는 아직 어렵다” 라고 결론한다. 그러나 희망적으로 “소승불교는 복음의 수용성이 낮지만 전도의 가능성이 있다. 중산층과 지식인들은 불교 사회에서 도리어 기득권을 누림으로 불교를 버리지 않는다. 그러나 청년들은 다른 종교나 이데올로기로 돌아설 가능성을 배제하지 못한다. 기독교는 해방의 종교라는 자부심으로 인내하면서 불교 문화권에 적절한 성경적이고도 변증적인 선교전략을 세워야한다”  라고 새시대의 선교 전략가 들에게 도전한다.

Students go through a transition when they enter university, which involves major individual and contextual changes in every domain of life that may lead to several behavioral and health problems. This study examined a wide range of health behaviors and practices among 1,359 male and female students recruited from two public universities in Cambodia using a multistage cluster sampling method. Health-related information in different domains were collected using a structured questionnaire. We compared the variables in male and female students. Of the total, 50.8% were male and the mean age was 21.3 (SD = 2.3) years. The majority (79.5%) reported not having any vigorous-intensity activities, 25.9% not having moderate-intensity activities, and 33.5% not having walked continuously for 10 min over the last week. More than one-third (38.3%) reported drinking alcohol, 1.1% smoking tobacco, and 0.4% using an illicit drug in the past 12 months. About one in ten (10.6%) reported having sexual intercourse; of whom, 42.4% reported not using a condom in the last intercourse, and the mean number of sexual partners was 2.1 (SD = 2.4) in the past 12 months. Only 7.1% reported having been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the past 12 months; of whom, 60% sought for treatment for the most recent STI. About one-third (33.6%) reported eating fast food at least once over the last week. More than half (55.6%) had one to two servings of fruits or vegetables daily, and 9.9% did not eat any fruits or vegetables over the last week. Gender differences were observed in physical activities, dietary intakes, cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, and sexual behaviors. Findings from this study indicate that public health and education policies should promote healthy behaviors among university students. The interventions may take advantage of and expand upon the positive health behaviors and consider gender differences.

The debate around prostitution has existed for as long as sex work has. With each new era comes a new sensibility adding more complexity to the debate. In this age of information technology, the world's oldest profession has also found new spaces and new media for itself. This exploratory study seeks to examine women's engagement with technology in the area of sex work. The first section summarizes the most prevalent views on prostitution, which range from 'bad women' to 'poor victims' to 'agents'. The second section recapitulates the context of sex work in Thailand, especially its historical, socioeconomic and cultural complexity. Literature on sex work in Thailand is plentiful; however, there is little on freelance sex workers who are a critical part of the sex work scene. The third section presents field data on the use of technology to seek sex work in Bangkok, arguing that women choose to use technology Acknowledgments: I acknowledge the leadership of Dr Kyoko Kusakabe in this research project. The contribution of Prathueng Chauykliang Pootsri, Somchai Chauykliang and Vichai Viratkapan in interviewing sex workers, and Brianne Johnston in editing and research support is also acknowledged. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Throughout history, many different cultures have associated lunar cycles with changes in a variety of human and animal behaviors. In the southern-most part of Laos, in the area known
as "Siphandone" or the 4,000 islands, rural fishers living on islands in the middle of the mainstream Mekong River are especially conscious of the influence of lunar cycles on aquatic life. They associate upriver migrations of large quantities of small cyprinid fishes from Cambodia to Laos at the beginning of each year with lunar phases. This article examines the fishery for small cyprinids in the Khone Falls area, Khong District, Champasak Province, southern Lao PDR, and a five-year time series of catch-effort fisheries data for a single fence-filter trap are presented. These data are then compared with catch data from the bag-net fishery in the Tonle Sap River in Cambodia. It is shown that the migrations of small cyprinids, particularly Henicorhynchus lobatus and Paralaubuca typus, are highly correlated with new moon periods at the Khone Falls. Many small cyprinids migrate hundreds of km up the Mekong River to Khone Falls from the Tonle Sap River and probably the Great Lake in Cambodia. The evolutionary conditions that have led to the behavior of these fish are discussed, and management implications are considered.

California is home to approximately one-third of the Cambodian American population, many of whom came to the United States as refugees. In a chapter from her book, Southeast Asian Migration: People on the Move in Search of Work, Refuge and Belonging, BIMI-affiliate and Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies Khatharya Um, explores how Cambodian American youth participate in artistic expression and political engagement to navigate the burdens of transgenerational trauma and forced migration. Drawing on Prof. Um’s research, this policy brief makes recommendations for activists, educators, policy makers, and service providers to support the empowerment of young Cambodian Americans and other refugee communities.

A number of important legal and institutional experiments have been undertaken at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a UN-backed tribunal established to try some of the most egregious crimes of the Pol Pot era. The ECCC is the first UN-supported hybrid criminal tribunal to mandate a majority of national judges and to divide key legal and administrative offices and funding mechanisms into distinct national and international sides. It also draws more heavily than any prior internationalized mass crimes process from the civil law tradition, including expansive roles for investigating judges and an ambitious mechanism permitting certain survivors to join the proceedings as civil parties. These experimental features — most of which were accepted reluctantly by the United Nations during difficult negotiations with the Cambodian government — have sometimes compromised the ECCC’s capacity to conduct fair, expeditious proceedings and carry out its administrative fun...

ベトナム戦争、ポル・ポト政権による虐殺、内戦など、度重なる戦乱を経て、1993年に成立した「カンボジア王国」。国の復興を支えてきたのが国際的な非政府組織（NGO）で、環境・インフラ・人権・貧困対策などさまざまな分野で活動しており、その数は3,500団体以上にもなるといわれている（＊1）。
芸術文化の分野も例外ではなく、伝統芸能の保全や、若手アーティストを支援する「カンボジア・リビング・アーツ」、伝統的な表現とコンテンポラリーダンスなどを掛け合わせ新たな表現を創造するカンパニー「アムリタ・パフォーミングアーツ」、障がいのある若者の表現を支援する「エピック・アーツ」などが国際NGOとして活動している（こうした団体では設立メンバーや理事として諸外国のメンバーが参画していることも多く、そうしたメンバーのいる国でも同時に非営利法人を設立して寄付金集めなどを行っている）。こうした事情からカンボジア国内の非営利芸術団体は、高度に組織化され、海外からの資金を元に、多くのスタッフを雇用して運営されていることも少なくない。
そうした芸術系NGOのひとつが、1994年に設立された、貧しい家庭の多い地域で芸術教育を実践する学校「ファー・ポンロー・セルパク（Phare Ponleu Selpak）（以下、PPS）」である。そして彼らが2013年に設立した社会企業（ソーシャル・エンタープライズ）（＊2）「カンボジア・サーカス・ファー（Phare, the Cambodian Circus、以下Phare）」は、カンボジア独自のオリジナル・サーカスを観光ビジネスとして成功させた。PPSは「芸術が照らす光」、Phareは「灯り」というクメール語が示すとおり、両団体はカンボジアの数多くの若者の人生を導く希望の光になっている。2013年にPhareのCEOに就任したダラ・フオットに両団体の活動についてインタビューした。
聞き手：谷地田未緒［東京芸術大学］

This policy discussion provides an overview of trends in the use of agrochemical products in Cambodia, one of the most acute chemically polluted countries in Asia, discusses the impacts— particularly about farmers health—and provides some recommendations to policy makers on how to minimize the negative externalities derived on the uncontrolled use of this technological packages. The methodology is based on the review of secondary data, the current laws sources and in-farm interviews as explaining factors of farm consequences. On the other hand, the results of the research can be useful to assist policy makers to improve controlling rules on these usages related to farming issues regarding to pesticides and weeds control. As obtained in the review Cambodian chemicals management laws and regulations have big gaps regarding to their implementation. Most of the legal instruments have only general provisions and do not clearly define the role and responsibility of the governmental institutions and stakeholders. Existing chemicals law enforcement is limited. Paralleled with above issues, Cambodia also lacks human resources and monitoring facilities, which causes ineffective law enforcement. We find in this review that Governmental policies must be put into action, donors must stop helping rent seeking attitude by local and international NGOs and a raise for civil society and the concern of famers must be favored by no monetary incentives as being unfruitful done till this current times. An agro ecological alternative is offered to face these issues. Finally, based on the last assessments some recommendations for further research are outlined.

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the available resources for trauma care at health centers (HCs) and referral hospitals (RHs) in rural Cambodia and to examine whether the resources at HCs are allocated on the basis of actual need based on the referral distance and number of severely injured patients referred to RHs. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional facility survey by phone interview or mail using structured questionnaires at nationally representative samples of 85 HCs and 17 RHs from December 2006 to April 2007. The questionnaire included a modified checklist of the guidelines for essential trauma care as well as questions on distance for referral and the number of injured patients received and referred during the last 3 months. We analyzed the association between resource availability at HCs and their need using multivariate linear regression. Results Median (interquartile range) numbers of available resources at HCs and RHs were 25.5 (22.0–27.5) and 35 (28–41) among 37 and 62 essential items, respectively. Basic equipment, including both consumable supplies and durable devices and life-saving knowledge/skills, were not satisfactory at either HCs or RHs. A longer distance to the RH was associated with more knowledge/skills but not with equipment supplies; the number of referred patients was not associated with equipment or knowledge/skills. Conclusions Staff training emphasizing life-saving knowledge/skills and better organization and planning to supply physical resources are needed. There is a gap between resource allocation and need, which should be addressed through clear policies to prioritize remote areas and to allocate resources based on reliable injury data.

A co-founder of Sa Sa Art Projects and one of the most promising artists from Cambodia, Lim Sokchanlina explores and documents the current socio-economical changes that radically transform his country and its inhabitants’ modes of living. First exhibited at Phnom Penh Photo Festival in 2018, his series “Wrapped Future II” has been selected for the 2020 Sovereign Asian Art prize. Caroline Ha Thuc delves into the artist’s practice and drive.

Widespread availability of monotherapies and falsified antimalarials is thought to have contributed to the historical development of multidrug-resistant malaria in Cambodia. This study aimed to document the quality of artemisinin-containing antimalarials (ACAs) and to compare two methods of collecting antimalarials from drug outlets: through open surveyors and mystery clients (MCs). Few oral artemisinin-based monotherapies and no suspected falsified medicines were found. All 291 samples contained the stated active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of which 69% were considered good quality by chemical analysis. Overall, medicine quality did not differ by collection method, although open surveyors were less likely to obtain oral artemisinin-based monotherapies than MCs. The results are an encouraging indication of the positive impact of the country's efforts to tackle falsified antimalarials and artemisinin-based monotherapies. However, poor-quality medicines remain an ongoing chall...

Urbanization is driving Southeast Asia’s economies, moving vast numbers of people to urban centers at a pace unheard of in the West. As impressive as these cities are, they bring with them massive problems in terms of sanitation, pollution, income disparity and infrastructure challenges. If the region is to enjoy the benefits of urbanization it will have to balance the old and new, taking advantage of both traditional knowledge and modern technology, writes Bharat Dahiya.

Abstract:This essay explores how a recent body of work by Thai artist Piyarat Piyapongwiwat uses an immersive video installation to create a context that affectively connects the viewer with a group of exploited Cambodian labourers. While the struggles of these labourers—whose livelihoods are being eroded as the mountain that has sustained them for generations is fenced off, privatized and mined to supply urban development with limestone—may seem remote and disconnected from the lives of privileged, urban exhibition-goers, Piyapongwiwat’s work belies this disconnection. The affective portal created by the video installation allows us to not only empathize with the labourers, but to see how their sense of their own agency and power to change their plight is negated by what seem to be inexorable autonomous processes of capitalist development beyond their control or influence. At the same time, she enables us to see how we (the privileged viewers) can conveniently ignore our own complicity in these exploitative conditions through that same ideological sleight of hand that allows us to abdicate our responsibility for these seemingly autonomous processes from which we indirectly benefit. This learned acquiescence to exploitation, and concomitant alienation from a sense of agency to challenge these processes, benefits State-sanctioned extractive capitalist exploitation and perpetuates the power to oppress. The essay explores how Piyapongwiwat interweaves fictive, poetic narrative with documentary footage of the limestone quarry labourers, offering critical distance to examine the workings of the ideologies that perpetuate this status quo. The juxtaposition of documentary and poetic, philosophical and political narratives in the artwork offers a fertile space in the imagination for resistance and reclamation of agency through a search for truth beyond the ideologies that serve State and capitalist power.

This book is written for those who are engage in research in Cambodia, and more specifically for students at  Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute (CPTI).

Regarding the future of CPTI, the official CPTI booklet of 2017-2018, Soli Deo Gloria, states the following:

“There are several theological schools which have been established by the unity of missionaries around the world besides Cambodia; however currently there are minority which is being a good exemplary of alliance and this too only has a slight influence.

Whereas CPTI is forming a fantastical unification and developing as a level of university which could give great influence to the Cambodian churches. It was possible by the grace of our God, and devotion, prayer and unity of Korean Presbyterian missionaries in Cambodia.

The mission of the CPTI toward the future is that first to serve the Cambodia Presbyterian church as a school in presbytery. Moreover top up the spiritual needing for Cambodian missionaries and leaders of the church, manage the role of the beautiful coalition, play a part of global mission of Cambodia and Indochina, and to continuously develop as a school which reveals the glory of God alone.”

I finished my 8 years research in Cambodia and want to share my qualitative case study methodology with those who’s taking the same research path at CTPI.  I included following in this book: 1) Introduction 2) How I chose my methodology  3) Methodology  4) Conclusion  5) Appendix.  I pray that your research journey will be fruitful.

In the context of neoliberal financialization, what is the role of debt in agrarian change? To address this question, I combine insights about debt from rural political ecology and development finance scholarship in order to analyze the relationship between changing agroecological practices and household indebtedness in a Cambodian rice-farming village. In the past two decades, Cambodians have borrowed from commercial microfinance institutions at the highest rate per capita of any country in the world. With fewer Cambodians farming, and agricultural production increasingly commodified, researchers have begun to study how the fast growth of Cambodia's microfinance industry contributes to these changes. By building upon the concept of financial landscapes, which highlights the diversity of social and material relations of debt in rural economies, I argue that agrarian change in Cambodia is entangled with rising household debts used to fund both agricultural production and social reproduction. I describe how non-monetary debt obligations underpinned labor-intensive rice agricultural practices in the 1980s and early 1990s, but have since been replaced by monetary debt used to fund household basic needs and commodified agricultural production. To make my argument, I draw upon 20 months of ethnographic research within a farming village in Kampot Province. This article contributes to rural political ecology and development finance scholarship by exploring debt in its diverse material and social forms at a time of deepening financialization, and how these debt relations in turn shape the economic and agroecological contours of contemporary agrarian change.