The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia

Offering a comprehensive overview of the current situation in the country, The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia provides a broad coverage of social, cultural, political and economic development within both rural and urban contexts during the last decade. A detailed introduction places Cambodia within its global and regional frame, and the handbook is then divided into five thematic sections: Political and Economic Tensions Rural Developments Urban Conflicts Social Processes Cultural Currents The first section looks at the major political implications and tensions that have occurred in Cambodia, as well as the changing parameters of its economic profile. The handbook then highlights the major developments that are unfolding within the rural sphere, before moving on to consider how cities in Cambodia, and particularly Phnom Penh, have become primary sites of change. The fourth section covers the major processes that have shaped social understandings of the country, and how Cambodians have come to understand themselves in relation to each other and the outside world. Section five analyses the cultural dimensions of Cambodia’s current experience, and how identity comes into contact with and responds to other cultural themes. Bringing together a team of leading scholars on Cambodia, the handbook presents an understanding of how sociocultural and political economic processes in the country have evolved. It is a cutting edge and interdisciplinary resource for scholars and students of Southeast Asian Studies, as well as policymakers, sociologists and political scientists with an interest in contemporary Cambodia.

Table of Contents:
Introduction to contemporary Cambodia Part 1: Political and economic tensions 1. The contemporary geopolitics of Cambodia: Alignments in regional and global contexts 2. Justice inverted: Law and human rights in 3. Justice and the past: The Khmer Rouge tribunal 4. Civil society in Cambodia: Challenges and contestation 5. Micro-saturated: The promises and pitfalls of microcredit as a development solution 6. The media in Cambodia 7. Tourism in Cambodia: Opportunities and challenges Part 2: Rural developments8. Exploring rural livelihoods through the lens of coastal fishers 9. Practices and challenges towards sustainability 10. The imperative of good water governance in Cambodia 11. Cambodia’s highlanders: Land, livelihoods and the politics of indigeneity 12. Under pressure: Environmental risk and contemporary resilience strategies in rural Cambodia 13. Concessions in Cambodia: Governing profits, extending state power and enclosing resources from the colonial era to the present 14. From chicken wing receipts to students in military uniforms: Land titling and property in post-conflict Cambodia Part 3: Urban conflicts 15. Urban megaprojects and city planning in Phnom Penh 16. Labor rights and unions in Cambodia 17. The ties that bind: Rural-urban linkages in the Cambodian migration system 18. Real estate productions, practices, and strategies in contemporary Phnom Penh: An overview of social, economic, and political issues 19. Forced relocation in Cambodia 20. Homelessness in Cambodia: The terror of gentrification 21. Phnom Penh’s relocation sites and the obliteration of politics 22. Street vending in Phnom Penh: Flourishing but invisible Part 4: Social processes 23. The contemporary landscape of education in Cambodia: Hybrid spaces of the "public" and "private" 24. Health: medical cosmologies and medical inequities 25. Violence against women and girls in Cambodia 26. Gendered politics of power in contemporary Cambodia 27. Sex politics and moral panics: LGBT communities, sex/entertainment works and sexually- active youth in Cambodia 28. Children, childhood and youth in contemporary Cambodia 29. Households and family processes 30. Digital technologies in contemporary Cambodia Part 5: Cultural currents 31. Ethnic identities in Cambodia 32. Violence and memorialization in Cambodia 33. A shifting universe – religion and moral order in Cambodia 34. The persistent presence of Cambodian spirits: Contemporary knowledge production in Cambodia 35. Natural and cultural heritage in Cambodia 36. Destination Cambodia: A volunteer tourism boom 37. Addressing the contemporary: Recent trends and debates in Cambodian visual art 38. Finding new ground: Maintaining and transforming traditional music