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From the fall of Phnom Penh, to the hyper-Marxist Khmer Rouge, to the decades-long civil war and reconstruction of the country following Vietnam's invasion in 1979, Cambodia has seen a cultural upheaval that brought with it the destruction of institutions and ways of life that have been slow to recover. This two site study examines the reconstruction of one those institutions, the Buddhist monastery, in Prey Thom commune in the southwestern province of Kampot. The loss of traditions, texts, and clergy has meant that the centre of village life -- the local temple -- has had to regain many of those aspects that defined it throughout the centuries. Two of these, the power the monastery commanded in the eyes of locals and the monastic identity which defined how that power was expressed, have historically been vital to the monastery's existence and allowed for temples to be the epicentre of villages, defining individuals' lives and the agrarian economy they depended on. The monastery's reconstruction has also meant that the reliance on local folk and Hindu beliefs continued, and in some instances, grew in prominence in the absence of a viable and competent cadre of Buddhist monks. As the monastery continues to regain its former stature, how this affects merit-making traditions and the local economies which rely on them in many ways reflects the importance of local temples from village to village. While monastic schooling has proved to be important in recreating a knowledgeable cadre, how this affects local attitudes regarding the status of monks is further shaped by those outside of the monastery who either purposely or unknowingly determine local perceptions of it. The future of the monastery will depend on how it can maintain a degree of separation from these larger entities while continuing to serve in the time-honoured roles that sustain villages and the traditions they have historically relied upon.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1969. / Bibliography: leaves [199]-207. / viii, 207 l

Thesis (M.A. (Linguistics))--Mahidol University, 1984.

Le Phnom Kulen, éminence gréseuse à une trentaine de kilomètres au nord-est d'Angkor se caractérise par sa topographie et son réseau hydrographique. Il est la source des principaux cours d'eau irriguant la région. Les données épigraphiques et la présence d'un ensemble de monuments, indiquent que le plateau accueillit à l'aube du IX e siècle, l'une des capitales où s'établit Jayavarman II, fondateur de la royauté angkorienne. D'autres sites archéologiques, de nature et de fonction différentes, ont révélé une interprétation plus complète de l'occupation du massif, ne se développant pas uniquement autour des temples de cette capitale. Cette thèse propose une première étude diachronique de l'occupation du massif, depuis les premiers sites fondés à la seconde moitié du VII e siècle jusqu'aux vestiges postangkoriens. Reprenant l'ensemble des éléments épigraphiques et archéologiques issus d'un siècle de recherche, elle s'appuie sur la réalisation d'une nouvelle carte archéologique et sur les résultats d'opérations récentes, riches en nouveaux éléments. Cette étude démontre l'antériorité de certains sanctuaires au règne de Jayavarman II et révèle l'importance du temple-montagne du massif, régissant l'implantation de nombreux autres vestiges. L'identification d'un site d'habitat, très probablement palatial, et de structures hydrauliques d'envergure, contemporaines, confirme la présence de l'implantation du pouvoir royal. Enfin, cette recherche illustre l'apparition aux X e et XI e siècles des ermitages, nichés dans les abris rocheux. Cette tradition se poursuit à la période postangkorienne puis, jusqu'à nos jours, perpétuant singulièrement le particularisme sacré du Phnom Kulen. / Located 30 km north-east of Angkor, the sandstone mountain of Phnom Kulen is known for its particular topography and for being the source of many rivers in the region. Epigraphic data and the presence of numerous monuments indicate that the plateau of Phnom Kulen was the location of one of the capital of Jayavarman II, founder of the angkorian kingdom, at the beginning of the IXth century. Other archeological vestiges located on this plateau have allowed a better understanding of its occupation, not exclusively organized around the temples of the capital. This thesis offers a diachronic study of the occupation of this massif, from the first sites of the second part of the VIIth century to the remains of the postangkorian period. It revisits the epigraphic and archeological data gathered over a century and benefits from a new archeological map and recent and productive excavations. This study shows that some sanctuaries are anterior to the reign of Jayavarman II and reveals the importance of the « mountain-temple », around which numerous vestiges were to be located. The presence of a powerful settlement is evidenced by the habitat, most likely palatial and important contemporaneous hydraulic structures. Later, over the Xth and XIth centuries, hermits were occupying this mountain's rock shelters. This became a tradition during the postangkorian period and continues today, illustrating the sacred nature of the Phnom Kulen.

The Khmer Sampot: An Evolving Tradition examines the history of the Khmer hip-wrapper, specifically the sampot. and its place within Khmer society. The thesis suggests that the continuation of the tradition of making and wearing the sampot is an indicator of what is important within Khmer society. Evidence of the sampot's early form comes from many sources, including Angkorian sculpture and inscriptions; from notes made by the Chinese emissary Chou Ta-Kuan who lived at Angkor in 1296AD; traders in the region around the fifteenth century; later European explorers such as Henri Mouhot; early twentieth century travellers, scholars and French administrators; later twentieth century anthropologists notes, Cambodian journals, interviews with Cambodian people and visits to Cambodia. Using the above evidence, the sampot's forms and functions within Khmer society from ancient times to the present day are examined and discussed. The varieties of sampot. the motifs, colours, types of cloth and methods of weaving are considered. Also considered are the sampot's functions, ie as everyday dress, ceremonial dress and the economic function of the sampot within Khmer society. The thesis notes that during the twentieth century alone there have been two events which could have caused the demise of traditional sampot weaving, one of which was the flood of imported goods to Indochina during the early years of the twentieth cntury, resulting in a lack of interest in local goods and the subsequent lack of production of local goods such as cloth. The other event was Pol Pot's reign of Cambodia during 1975-79, when the population wore a black uniform. In the case of the first event, it was the French who realised that encouraging the traditional skills to resurface was essential if these skills were not to be lost. However in the case of the second event, it appears to have been the Cambodian people themselves who, after the devastating events of the late 1970's, recommenced their tradition of making and wearing sampot as a way of expressing their cultural identity.

In this thesis I describe Khmers' negotiations of circumstances surroundingthe disassembly, reconstruction, and redefinition of Khmer identity fromtheir homeland in Cambodia to a traditional Khmer village recreated in theUnited States. Using a framework derived from a constructivist perspective,I have placed processes of negotiation and identity transformation withinthe lived context of Khmers' lives. Thus, a holistic understanding of theinterrelatedness of multiple changes in Khmerness is made possible.Ethnographic data collected between 1997 and 1999, through participantobservationand interviews, inform this study. Findings from this studyreveal three levels of identity transformation as told by members of a smallKhmer village established along the U. S. Gulf of Mexico. However, thesethree levels of transformation are not mutually exclusive nor are theynecessarily sequential. Each transformation of Khmers' identitiesconstitutes permeable aggregates of other past and continuingdisassemblies, reconstructions and redefinitions of Khmerness. Findingsfrom this study demonstrate that Khmer identity shifts and is transformedby past and present experiences and with their changing circumstances,from endangered Cambodian, to refugees, to re-established Khmers inAmerica.

Zugl.: Jena, Univ., Diss., 2009

Anlong Veng was the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge until the organization's ultimate collapse and defeat in 1999. This dissertation argues that recent moves by the Cambodian government to transform this site into an “historical-tourist area” is overwhelmingly dominated by commercial priorities. However, the tourism project simultaneously effects an historical narrative that inherits but transforms the government’s historiographic endeavors that immediately followed Democratic Kampuchea’s 1979 ousting. The work moves between personal encounters with the historical, academic presentations of the country’s recent past, and government efforts to pursue a museum agenda in the context of “development through tourism” policies. / Department of Anthropology Rice University Wagoner Scholarship for Study Abroad Center for Khmer Studies

Zugl.: Köln, Univ., Diss., 2006