Quote: Margaret Slocomb on the role of agriculture in the Cambodian economy

I was planning on writing up a short review and recommendation on Peg LeVine’s book Love and dread in Cambodia: weddings, births, and ritual harm under the Khmer Rouge today.  But then I finally got to a point in my writing where I picked up another book, Margaret Slocomb’s An economic history of Cambodia in the twentieth century, and at the end of it was this wonderful, refreshing quote:

As the following chapters will demonstrate, agriculture, which has always been the main occupation of the people and the mainstay of the state surplus, has consistently failed to fulfill its potential as the designated catalyst for the sort of economic development that Cambodia’s modernisers envisaged. It is equally true, however, that after each catastrophe that befell the nation, it was traditional agriculture that revived the national economy and salvaged the people’s livelihood. (p. 29)

Yes, yes, and again yes:  the role of agriculture as a foundation for economy, culture, politics, and ritual imagination, has never been genuinely appreciated in Cambodian studies (or indeed among Cambodian ideologues).

Sounding Sociology and Food on July 8 2011

I’ve regularly been bowled over and had socks knocked off by the wonderful wonderful sociological blog “Understanding Society.” Really, you should all subscribe to this blog, which makes complex, and current, sociology comprehensible, while explaining its relevance (I also like “Philosophy Bros,” but that’s a different matter).  Here are some of the posts which have entranced me most recently:

Dude, was “Marx an analytical sociologist?” 1. Microfoundations 2. Rational Individual Choices 3. Causal Explanations.  Could be.

“Dissecting the social,” more on current analytical sociology.

Thank gods there are also “Alternatives to analytical sociology.”

As for Food Stuff, there are new confirmations of what we’ve known for a long time, all of which have come to me via the excellent blog “Ancient Foods” and the “Agrobiodiversity Weblog.”

There’s a fascinating note that the so-called Green Revolution of the 1960s relied on manipulation of the same gene that ancient domesticating farmers manipulated over 10,000 years ago.  ”Ancient Farmers Started the First Green Revolution.”

And of course, agriculture played havoc with our population’s overall health, something we’ve known for a very long time (though few enough of us seem to remember it, day to day). in the Science Daily, (via Ancient Foods), “Dawn of Agriculture took Toll on Health,” including this opening paragraph:

When populations around the globe started turning to agriculture around 10,000 years ago, regardless of their locations and type of crops, a similar trend occurred: The height and health of the people declined.

For you rice fanatics, there’s increasing evidence that rice seems to have had a single origin point of domestication (the Neolithic Yangtze River Valley), and not separate points of domestication.  Southeast Asian patriots may moan about this (there is another theory which argues for a local domestication), but I’m thrilled to know more. Check out the Rice Domestication Roundup at agrobiodiversity weblog.

Sounding Cambodia on July 8th 2011

Howdy, readers.  I’ve been in the great Cascade Mountains of Washington State, and far from the internet.  But I’m back now, working on my manuscript (yes, really), and trying to keep households and students from imploding (sort of).  While I was gone, a lot of important things happened.  Here are some of them!

Over at Slate magazine, Ken Silverstein does an excellent job skewering the self-serving culture of the NGO elites who rule Cambodian in tandem (and not a friendly one) with the CPP.  It won’t be news to anyone who’s ever lived in the ‘Bodge, but it’s a good refresher.  Go read.

Meanwhile, the Closing Order from the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC, aka the Khmer Rouge Tribunal) has been released, and the media are starting to talk about Brother Number Two, Nuon Chea, again. Here’s an article in the Guardian from the  redoubtable Thet Sambath, the Cambodian journalist responsible for the most important film on the Khmer Rouge made, Enemies of the People.  Enemies of the People is available on DVD now – buy it, watch it. Learn.  As a different article said, it’s like watching a documentary on the Nazi Genocides narrated by the bad guys.

Also, there was a fascinating, important election in Thailand, which could have enormous implications (hopefully and likely positive ones) for Cambodia.  We’ll see, but the upshot is that Thailand just elected its first female Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, and the army has indicated that it will respect the results.

Also, important economic news out of Cambodia.  Rice exports quadrupled, which is good for business, but should make Cambodian nationals nervous, since food security is getter worse every year. Cambodia experienced a 6.5% rise in food prices over the last year. Food security analysts point out that other countries have experienced 20% rises, and call that stable.  Tell that to the peasants. If they’re interested in eating meat, prices are at least double the rise of general food increases:

In the first six months of 2011, beef has increased some 12.07 percent to 26,000 riel a kilogramme, smoked fish has seen a 22.63 percent increase to 16,800 riel, and pork has climbed 25.37 percent to 21,800 riel on Phnom Penh markets, the Commerce Ministry’s daily report on Friday showed.

As for the manufacturing sector, the Garment Manufacturer’s Association of Cambodia (GMAC) predicts a thirty percent rise in exports this year, while the anti-union draft law is receiving unified opposition from the unions.  Meanwhile, primitive accumulation proceeds apace, with the cruelty in evidence, for example, in the repeated destruction of the shelters of already-evicted villagers from the notorious Dey Krahom collective.

Sounding Cambodia for June 6 2011

The end of the semester got away from me folks, which means that today’s Sounding Cambodia will consist of a lot of links, videos, and topics, with minimal commentary. Lots of important stuff in there, though.  Go read!

• Sand mountains during Khmer New Year (Video)
• Cash pledges from politicians – exactly what is going on?
• Violence against Cambodian Labor by the government
• Interviews with Rich Garella of Who Killed Chea Vichea?
• Nuon Chea and Cases 002 and 003 in the Extraordinary Chambers/Khmer Rouge Tribunal
• Would you like some Borax with your Cambodian food?  Formalin? You’re welcome.
• Tiny Toones NGO – “Hey Babe” video.
• Cambodian Rice Exports to the Philippines
• Judy Ledgerwood’s awesome Summer ethnography school in Cambodia
• Damned Dams and their impacts on damned-near everything; an article in Critical Asian Studies by Ian Baird
• Book Review of Constance Wilson’s edited volume on the Middle Mekong River Basin
• Thai Politics – an election primer from Duncan McCargo

Click through to see the actual content

SOUNDING on Cambodia for August 31, 2010

The US continues to expel long-term legal residents (from Cambodia, and elsewhere), for crimes that were misdemeanors when they were committed, but reclassified as felonies after the fact.  Even as felonies, these young men and the occasional woman have almost no memory or connection to contemporary Cambodia, and have an immensely difficult time reacclimating.  One of the great success stories has been Tiny Toones (warning: auto-start music soundtrack), but the deportations are inhumane, serve the US population not at all, and are a waste of time and money. From the Phnom Penh Post.

As always, Rice production (‘farming’), processing (‘milling’), marketing (‘selling’ and ‘buying’), and exports (‘leaving’) is an issue of continually underexamined importance outside of Cambodia. Here is the full text of PM Hun Sen’s recent address about a new policy document on Rice farming and leaving in Cambodia.  I link here to the “Hun Sen Blog,” without further comment.

And “Igor Prawn” of the SEA-focused blog “BANG!” has been writing a few short book reviews lately, which I appreciate in my quest for non-academic fare to consume about Cambodia and Southeast Asia.

SOUNDING on Cambodia, July 2, 2010

So many things have been going on since I took an extended vacation from blogging, but here are some of the Cambodian stories I’ve been following and wondering about:

• Rape on the Rise: The incidence of sexual violence appears to continue its meteoric rise in reporting; it seems that it is not only reporting on the rise, however – an entire culture of rape among urban elite males appears to increasingly be copied by immiserated peasants and connected thugs alike, nation-wide.
• Remember the Mekong, whose name, “Mother Ganges,” identifies it with another world-historic river-system also under attack?  Yeah, so do a lot of other people, who saw it dry up this last dry season.  Unfortunately the people who care are not the people making the decisions. If you’re curious about one of the upstream dams likely related to this current, ongoing catastrophe, read the discussion over at New Mandala on the Xiaowan Dam, where most of the real science is being discussed in an informal way.
  
• I’m thoroughly unsurprised that Cambodian officials prohibited a screening of the new film, Who Killed Chea Vichea? While I have yet to see this film, the title alone is enough to make the Cambodian judiciary and elites pissed off, for it points out that no credible suspects have yet been found.  Meanwhile, on May Day, approximately 7,000 workers took to the streets of Phnom Penh.
  
• But I am surprised at some of the news out of the union movement in Cambodia lately.  Rong Chhun appears to have been slowly sucked into the role of political opponent rather than labor dissident, and has been making a fuss over border posts lately, instead of issues of workers’ rights.  That’s unfortunate, because Chhun has the capacity to be a leader of genuine change.  The appeal of political diversions is greatest when workers’ advocacy and organization is weakest, or when individuals begin to burn out, but I hope he returns to the issues at the core of the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association soon.
• Meanwhile, I was grieved to hear that FTUWKC leader Chea Mony was to resign his position as president of the union due to health (pulmonary) problems.  The stress of that job must be killing him.  But then, news suddenly that he’s been re-elected as president, followed immediately by a call to collect money to pay Mu Sochua’s recent fines.  I’m very confused as to what is happening here, but I find the renewal of political party ties unfortunate, because I would hate to see the independent union movement co-opted by the political ambitions of individuals within any party.
• Meanwhile, although Rice exporters are increasing the scope of their ambition (Europe’s markets), the current drought is causing worry about the harvest.
• Go read about the catastrophe that was Bangkok a few months back somewhere; it’s important stuff, though I don’t have time to discuss it here.  On the other hand, even though 80% of migrant workers in Thailand are from Burma, post-catastrophe raids have been primarily rounding up Cambodians (10% of the migrant worker population in Thailand).
• Slavery. flipping hell, can’t we end this now?  Apparently not; there are more people enslaved today than at any previous point in history.

Sounding on Archaeology for June 21, 2010

There’s been some pretty crazy-great archeological news out there.  Some of the stuff I starred to point out specifically, recently, were these:

• Malaysian prehistoric remains 16,000 years old. Holy crap.
• Discover Magazine article continues to confirm that the causes of Angkor’s collapse was ecological, and likely to have been brought about catabolically via two droughts.
• Evidence for Indus script in Southeast Asia? No, wait. Seriously? No, probably not.
• Burnt rice paddies in Hanoi 3,000 years old. Wow. Even crazier, some of seeds are reportedly sprouted. Amaranth FTW?
• Modern archaeology SNAFU: Bodies misidentified at Arlington Cemetery.
• Shamanic transit and the prehistoric hard-on.  Great summary about “the meaning of erection in Paleolithic minds.”
• Ancient stone inscription, possibly in the process of being smuggled out of the country, found near Ta Krabey temple.
• Tracing the origins of the Tai. Via.

SOUNDING on Southeast Asia, 4 February 2010

Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is about to make his first trip to ព្រះ​វិហារ (Preah Vihear) temple in the midst of the run-up to the dry-season offensive (military potential, but it’s going to be loud, at minimum), has also been preaching parables to people in his client-base.  This parable is all about a good Buddhist elder and a bad Buddhist elder, and how at some point, the good guy eventually gets tired of being good to the bad guy and the bad guy stops getting what he asks for, gets leprosy, and dies.  Just sayin’!

Meanwhile, just across the Thai border, the cold-hearted bastards at Reuters who analyze trends for investors have started warning about a possible coup.

Economic indicators in Cambodia: a brand-new, purportedly high-quality modern Rice Mill has opened in Battambang Province.  The president has a Khmer name; is the company owned by a Cambodian and do profits stay in country? Meanwhile, pawn shops are becoming legal.  That’ll help. Cause god knows, there aren’t enough opportunities to buy second-hand, stolen commodity goods in Cambodia right now.

Human Rights Watch has released a 93 page report which is very hard to read.  It details the horrendous abuse taking place in Cambodia’s Drug “Rehab” centers, largely of young children from the streets.  Beatings are not the worst of it.  HRW recommends that the centers be monitored by the UN. I think they should be destroyed and ripped down to the foundations.

Oh, and that cool image from the MMAP folks of what appears to be a burial urn?  It was.  And that’s the second one evah.  Awesomes.

Eveline Porée-Maspero on Pchum Ben

More French-language sources on Pchum Ben, the “Hungry Ghost Festival,” following on yesterday’s short piece from Marcel Zago on the related festival in Laos. Enjoy after the jump.

Taken from Porée-Maspero, E. (1950). Cérémonies des douze mois. Fetes annuelles Cambodgiennes. Phnom Penh, Institut Bouddhique. pp. 47-58.

Marcel Zago, on Boun Ho Khao Padap Din and Boun Khao Salak

I received a nice email from Patrice Ladwig in Bristol today; we’d met at the IABS where we shared space on an excellent panel concerning death practices in Buddhist Southeast Asia. He concentrated on two ceremonies in Laos that closely resemble the Cambodian Pchum Ben, and of which I was almost completely ignorant. He also sent me a few pages from Macel Zago’s  Rites et Ceremonies en Milieu Bouddhistes Lao. Pp. 315-318. Since this work is difficult to find, I’ve posted it here for those who are interested. (sorry, it’s in French). Find it after the break.