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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219248 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Perry, Liz, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Applied Science |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Liz Perry |
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