THE HANDBOOK OF

CONTEMPORARY CAMBODIA

Edited by Katherine Brickell and Simon Springer

First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Katherine Brickell and Simon Springer
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Brickell, Katherine, editor. | Springer, Simon, editor. | Sok Udom
Deth. Contemporary geopolitics of Cambodia. Container of (work):
Title: The handbook of contemporary Cambodia/edited by Katherine
Brickell and Simon Springer.
Description: New York: Routledge, 2016. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016011585 | ISBN 9781138831186 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315736709 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Cambodia–Politics and government–21st century. |
Cambodia–Social conditions–21st century. | Cambodia–Economic
conditions–21st century.
Classification: LCC DS554.8 .H36 2016 | DDC 959.604/3–dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016011585

ISBN: 978-1-138-83118-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-73670-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo
by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Brixham, UK
 CONTENTS

List of figures ix
List of tables x
List of contributors xi
Acknowledgments xx

Introduction to Contemporary Cambodia 1

Katherine Brickell and Simon Springer

PART I
Political and economic tensions 15

1 The Contemporary Geopolitics of Cambodia: Alignments in Regional

and Global Contexts 17
Sok Udom Deth, Kairat Moldashev and Serkan Bulut

2 Justice Inverted: Law and Human Rights in Cambodia 29

Catherine Morris

3 Justice and the Past: the Khmer Rouge Tribunal 42

Rachel Hughes and Maria Elander

4 Civil Society in Cambodia: Challenges and Contestations 53

Louise Coventry

5 Micro-Saturated: The Promises and Pitfalls of

Microcredit as a Development Solution 64
Maryann Bylander

6 The Media in Cambodia 76

Sebastian Strangio

v
 Contents

7 Tourism in Cambodia: Opportunities and Challenges 87

Richard Sharpley and Peter McGrath

PART II
Rural developments 99

8 Exploring Rural Livelihoods through the Lens of Coastal Fishers 101

Melissa Marschke

9 Practices and Challenges towards Sustainability 111

Young Sokphea

10 The Imperative of Good Water Governance in Cambodia 123

Joakim Öjendal and Ros Bandeth

11 Cambodia’s Highlanders: Land, Livelihoods, and the Politics of

Indigeneity 134
Jonathan Padwe

12 Under Pressure: Environmental Risk and Contemporary Resilience

Strategies in Rural Cambodia 146
Laurie Parsons

13 Concessions in Cambodia: Governing Profits, Extending State Power

and Enclosing Resources from the Colonial Era to the Present 157
Jean-Christophe Diepart and Laura Schoenberger

14 From Chicken Wing Receipts to Students in Military Uniforms:

Land Titling and Property in Post-Conflict Cambodia 169
Robin Biddulph and Shaun Williams

PART III
Urban conflicts 179

15 Urban Megaprojects and City Planning in Phnom Penh 181

Tom Percival

16 Labor Rights and Trade Unions in Cambodia 191

Dennis Arnold and Dae-oup Chang

17 The Ties that Bind: Rural–Urban Linkages in the Cambodian

Migration System 202
Sabina Lawreniuk

vi
 Contents

18 Real Estate Productions, Practices, and Strategies in Contemporary

Phnom Penh: An Overview of Social, Economic, and Political Issues 212
Gabriel Fauveaud

19 Forced Relocation in Cambodia 223

Jessie Connell and Mark Grimsditch

20 Homelessness in Cambodia: The Terror of Gentrification 234

Simon Springer

21 Phnom Penh’s Relocation Sites and the Obliteration of Politics 245

Giorgio Talocci and Camillo Boano

22 Street Vending in Phnom Penh: Flourishing but Invisible 257

Kyoko Kusakabe

Part IV
Social processes 269

23 The Contemporary Landscape of Education in Cambodia: Hybrid

Spaces of the “Public” and “Private” 271
Will C. Brehm

24 Health: Medical Cosmologies and Medical Inequities 283

Jan Ovesen and Ing-Britt Trankell

25 Violence against Women and Girls in Cambodia 294

Katherine Brickell

26 Gendered Politics of Power in Contemporary Cambodia 306

Mona Lilja and Mikael Baaz

27 Sex Politics and Moral Panics: LGBT Communities,

Sex/Entertainment Workers and Sexually Active Youth in
Cambodia 315
Heidi Hoefinger, Pisey Ly and Srorn Srun

28 Children, Childhood and Youth in Contemporary Cambodia 326

Melina T. Czymoniewicz-Klippel

29 Households and Family Processes 336

Patrick Heuveline

30 Digital Technologies in Contemporary Cambodia 346

Jayson W. Richardson

vii
 Contents

PART V
Cultural currents 357

31 Ethnic Identities in Cambodia 359

Alvin Cheng-Hin Lim

32 Violence and Memorialization in Cambodia 368

Savina Sirik and James Tyner

33 A Shifting Universe – Religion and Moral Order in Cambodia 378

Alexandra Kent

34 The Persistent Presence of Cambodian Spirits: Contemporary

Knowledge Production in Cambodia 389
Courtney Work

35 Natural and Cultural Heritage in Cambodia 399

Jo Gillespie

36 Destination Cambodia: A Volunteer Tourism Boom 410

Tess Guiney

37 Addressing the Contemporary: Recent Trends and Debates in

Cambodian Visual Art 420
Joanna Wolfarth

38 Finding New Ground: Maintaining and Transforming Traditional Music 432

Catherine Grant

Index 442

viii