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.

Abstract: This thesis explores the integration process of Khmer women in Long Beach, California during and after the Cambodian genocide by analyzing changing gender roles within Cambodian families. The study gives insight into how changing geographical spaces affects cultural norms. The lives of immigrants are influenced by many factors including culture, gender roles and changing family structure. These changes could be influenced by the culture of the accepting country, past history, economic factors or social changes such as, for example, feminist movement. Qualitative methodology is used for the study, which includes oral histories and observations. For many Khmer women who moved to Long Beach, CA during those times, their role changed from "housewife" to "bread winner". The Cambodian genocide and the change of environment are two factors that played a role. The result was a change in cultural norms. Previously Khmer women had a submissive image. For the respondents in this study, this perception was challenged.

This book provides a comparative analysis of the social, economic, industrial and migration dynamics that structure women’s paid work and unpaid care work experience in the Asia-Pacific region. Each country-focused chapter examines the formal and informal ways in which work and care are managed, the changing institutional landscape, gender relations and fertility concerns, employer and trade union responses and the challenges policy makers face and the consequences of their decisions for working women. By covering the entire region, including Australia and New Zealand, the book highlights the way different national work and care regimes are linked through migration, with wealthier countries looking to their poorer neighbours for alternative sources of labour. In addition, the book contributes to debates about the barriers to women’s participation in the workforce, the valuation of unpaid care, the gender wage gap, social protection and labour regulation for migrant workers and gender relations in developing Asia.

This book is the most comprehensive account yet published about the education system in Cambodia. It covers all system levels and draws upon the knowledge and insights of a wide range of leading Cambodian and foreign scholars. The book focuses on how the system has developed and is making progress. Significant achievements over the past two decades are evident, but many problems remain, including the poor quality of teaching, research and institutional management. Under-funding is an ongoing obstacle, but so too is a bureaucratic culture of resistance to change, a history of weak governance, and an anti-reform sentiment deriving from a teacher-centred and exam-driven curriculum. Achieving international standards must now be the system’s highest priority. To this end, the system must rid itself of conservatism, complacency and manipulation by parochial vested interests.

Taking a theoretical and multidisciplinary perspective, the essays in this collection provide compelling insight into contemporary Cambodian culture at home and abroad. The book represents the first sustained exploration of the relationship between cultural productions and practices, the changing urban landscape and the construction of identity and nation building twenty-five years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. As such, the team of international contributors address the politics of development and conservation, tradition and modernity within the global economy, and transmigratory movements of the twenty-first century. Expressions of Cambodia presents a new dimension to the Cambodian studies by engaging the country in current debates about globalization and the commodification of culture, post-colonial politics and identity constructions. Timely and much-needed, this volume brings Cambodia back into dialogue with its neighbours, and in so doing, valuably contributes to the growing field of Southeast Asian cultural studies.

Between Two Cultures: The Case of Cambodian Women in America is a study of Cambodian (Khmer) refugee women who settled in Lowell, Massachusetts, a city known for its immigrant history. This study describes the «journeys» made and the challenges faced by these newcomers as they attempted resettlement in an environment very different from their home country. Simply and lucidly, Mitra Das gives us captivating insights and an understanding of the experiences of this group of refugees from «different shores.» In so doing, she brings to life the processes and conditions that are important for adaptation to American society. It can be a valuable source for understanding the dynamics of migration, ethnicity, and gender and can be used for those courses in sociology. People outside of academia working with refugee and immigrant groups will also find this book to be a valuable resource.