Cambodge: The Cultivation of a Nation, 1860–1945

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University of Hawaii Press, 2007 M02 28 - 392 pages

This strikingly original study of Cambodian nationalism brings to life eight turbulent decades of cultural change and sheds new light on the colonial ancestry of Pol Pot’s murderous dystopia. Penny Edwards recreates the intellectual milieux and cultural traffic linking Europe and empire, interweaving analysis of key movements and ideas in the French Protectorate of Cambodge with contemporary developments in the Métropole. From the naturalist Henri Mouhot’s expedition to Angkor in 1860 to the nationalist Son Ngoc Thanh’s short-lived premiership in 1945, this history of ideas tracks the talented Cambodian and French men and women who shaped the contours of the modern Khmer nation. Their visions and ambitions played out within a shifting landscape of Angkorean temples, Parisian museums, Khmer printing presses, world’s fairs, Buddhist monasteries, and Cambodian youth hostels. This is cross-cultural history at its best.

With its fresh take on the dynamics of colonialism and nationalism, Cambodge: The Cultivation of a Nation will become essential reading for scholars of history, politics, and society in Southeast Asia. Edwards’ nuanced analysis of Buddhism and her consideration of Angkor’s emergence as a national monument will be of particular interest to students of Asian and European religion, museology, heritage studies, and art history. As a highly readable guide to Cambodia’s recent past, it will also appeal to specialists in modern French history, cultural studies, and colonialism, as well as readers with a general interest in Cambodia.

 

Contents

Originations
1
Angkor and the Archaeology of Colonial Fantasy 18601906
19
Capitalizing on Angkor
40
Scripting a Khmer Nation 18701935
64
Bringing Buddhism to Book 18631922
95
Disengaging Angkor 19701916
125
Angkor and the Art of Authenticity
144
7 Secularizing the Sangha
166
Chuon Nath Huot Tath and Suzanne Karpeles
183
Setting Khmerism in Motion 19351945
210
10 Past Colonial?
242
Notes
257
Glossary
317
Bibliography
325
Index
341
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About the author (2007)

Penny Edwards is associate professor of Southeast Asian studies, University of California, Berkeley.

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