ABSTRACT
Where does one begin? It is no easy task to organize a volume on the contemporary conditions of any given country and the tumultuous history of Cambodia makes this undertaking all the more difficult. There is no particular historical line in the sand that defines the ‘contemporary’ moment, and with all the twists and turns in Cambodian history over the preceding century it is a real challenge to decide where to pick up the narrative. Cambodia has played host to colonialism, war, genocide and intensive foreign intervention (Chandler 2008; Kiernan 1996; Osborne 1997). So many of Cambodia’s important current events and a great deal of the country’s present conditions find their foundations in the past. Such an acknowledgement presents difficulty in compiling an edited volume that seeks to stand out from other collections inasmuch as our commitment is to examining what’s happening in Cambodia now . Yet rather than allowing our misgivings about time to get the better of us, we will start with the rush of emotions that first drew us into our love for Cambodia in the first place. What better place to begin than with the personal, and the desire we both felt to study Cambodia’s people, places and politics upon first encountering the country and its people? We both came to study Cambodia in the early 2000s, and, accordingly, with the help of our contributors, we want to take stock of the changes in society that we’ve witnessed since then. Our travels in the country soon after the arrival of the new millennium elicited profound and paradoxical responses, seemingly mirroring this transitory stage in the country’s history, which was rife with incongruities. These ambiguities remain, and in presenting contemporary Cambodia to you here in 2016, we do not assume to have resolved all of the issues that pulse through the veins of the country’s social, political and cultural anatomy. Instead, our investigations and those of the included authors are intended as contemplative and reflective. It is this pensive approach that allows us to appreciate Cambodia for the complexity that it represents. Such reflection further allows us to remember that it was a blend of admiration and dismay, sorrow and joy that first captured our imaginations and compelled us to study Cambodia. These dualisms in our understandings of the country have remained with us ever since. Cambodia is beautiful, yet haunted – haunted, yet beautiful. There is both strength and tragedy to be found in contemporary Cambodia, where the contrasts and contradictions are precisely what make it such a fascinating, frustrating and fulfilling country to study.
