Khmer Women on the Move : Exploring Work and Life in Urban Cambodia

"This is a fascinating ethnography about young Khmer women moving to the city to work in the garment factories, in prostitution, and as street sellers. The author makes good use of new theoretical approaches in anthropology that focus on negotiation and creativity in situations of rapid change. The result is not only a welcome new book on post-war Cambodia but an important addition to the literature on women, migration, and labor in Southeast Asia and the world." —Judy Ledgerwood, Northern Illinois University __Khmer Women on the Move__ offers a fascinating ethnography of young Cambodian women who move from the countryside to work in Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh. Female migration and urban employment are rising, triggered by Cambodia’s transition from a closed socialist system to an open market economy. This book challenges the dominant views of these young rural women—that they are controlled by global economic forces and national development policies or trapped by restrictive customs and Cambodia’s tragic history. The author shows instead how these women shape and influence the processes of change taking place in present-day Cambodia. Based on field research among women working in the garment industry, prostitution, and street trading, the book explores the complex interplay between their experiences and actions, gender roles, and the broader historical context. The focus on women involved in different kinds of work allows new insight into women’s mobility, highlighting similarities and differences in working conditions and experiences. Young women’s ability to utilize networks of increasing size and complexity allows them to move into and between geographic and social spaces that extend far beyond the village context. Women’s mobility is further expressed in the flexible patterns of behavior that young rural women display when trying to fulfill their own "modern" aspirations along with their family obligations and cultural ideals.

Postcolonizing the International brings post-colonialism directly into engagement with contemporary international studies, while at the same time reflecting back on the discourse, noting certain blindspots and shortcomings in critique. Reversing the established agenda, it begins with the position of non-European societies and the legacies of colonialism. Two companion essays on knowledge formations about the international and the changing nature of the political are followed by challenging reinterpretations of contemporary global politics focusing on race, skewed development, cultural difference, and everyday life. Individual chapters speak to the significance of consumption and commodification, the need for redirecting Western development stategies, initiatives of the Tibetan cabinet in exile, and sexuality as metaphor.

Contributors: Phillip Darby, Paul James, Gabriel Lafitte, Marcia Langton, Ashis Nandy, Edgar Ng, Sekai Nzenza, Simon Obendorf, Nabaneeta Dev Sen.

contents acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. Rice People in the City 3. Women, Ideals, and Migration 4. Factory Work 5. Sex Work 6. Street Trade 7. City Life and Modern Experience 8. Dutiful Daughters, Broken Women 9. Conclusion: Moving Women, Moving Selves Appendix Notes Glossary Bibliography Index About the author