China Books

'I cannot tell you how or why I survived; I do not know myself. It is like this: love and music and memory and invisible hands, and something that comes out of the society of the living and the dead, for which there are no words'. So begins the extraordinary story of one man's experience of Cambodia's holocaust during the 1970s. As Anne Frank did in her Diary, Daran Kravanh takes readers into the heart of a horrifying tragedy - one that claimed the lives of his parents and seven siblings and as many as three million other Cambodians. Among those murdered were thousands of intellectuals and artists; as a musician, Daran was himself a target for execution, but it was his talent for playing the accordion that saved his life. (For this item please quote stock ID 18549) ISBN: 9780824822668

[Indent] Nearly 2,000,000 people died in Cambodia between 1975-1979 as a result of the Khmer Rouge's genocidal regime. Cambodians who were educated, teachers, artists,and authors were among the first to be killed. One generation later, literature is re-emerging from the ashes. Frank Stewart is Manoa Journal's general editor and has published numerous books on the Asia and pacific region. Sharon May Brown has researched and written about Khmer Rouge atrocities for Columbia University Center for the Study of Human Rights and spent two years on the Thai-Cambodian border. A Manoa book (For this item please quote stock ID 22651) ISBN: 9780824828493

The study of Cambodian religion has long been hampered by a lack of easily accessible scholarship. This impressive new work by Ian Harris thus fills a major gap and offers English-language scholars a booklength, up-to-date treatment of the religious aspects of Cambodian culture. Beginning with a coherent history of the presence of religion in the country from its inception to the present day, the book goes on to furnish insights into the distinctive nature of Cambodia's important yet overlooked manifestation of Theravada Buddhist tradition and to show how it reestablished itself following almost total annihilation during the Pol Pot period. Historical sections cover the dominant role of tantric Mahayana concepts and rituals under the last great king of Angkor, Jayavarman VII (1181?c. 1220); the rise of Theravada traditions after the collapse of the Angkorian civilisation; the impact of foreign influences on the development of the nineteenth-century monastic order; and politicised Buddhism and the Buddhist contribution to an emerging sense of Khmer nationhood. The Buddhism practiced in Cambodia has much in common with parallel traditions in Thailand and Sri Lanka, yet there are also significant differences. The book concentrates on these and illustrates how a distinctly Cambodian Theravada developed by accommodating itself to premodern Khmer modes of thought. Following the overthrow of Prince Sihanouk in 1970, Cambodia slid rapidly into disorder and violence. Later chapters chart the elimination of institutional Buddhism under the Khmer Rouge and its gradual reemergence after Pol Pot, the restoration of the monastic order's prerevolutionary institutional forms, and the emergence of contemporary Buddhist groupings. Ian Harris is reader in Buddhist studies at University College of St. Martin, Lancaster, and associate fellow, Becket Institute, St. Hugh's College, Oxford. (For this item please quote stock ID 23298) ISBN: 9780824827656

'A book of extraordinary breadth - from historical studies to chapters on the Khmer diaspora - that is unfailingly accessible and perceptive. It should be very useful for courses on Buddhism and comparative religion' - David Chandler, Monash University 'Together the contributions in this impressive book make possible the tracing of the vicissitudes of the religions of the Khmer in both time and space: from Cambodia at the time of Angkor to the present-day and from Cambodia to the Khmer diaspora. The book also should be read by those interested in the sociology of Theravada Buddhism for perspectives on the Khmer Buddhist encounter with French colonialism, the linking of Buddhism to nationalism, and the fragmentation of religion in the wake of the reign of terror of Pol Pot' - Charles Keyes, University of Washington This volume showcases some of the most current and exciting research on Cambodian religious ideas and practices by a new generation of scholars from a variety of disciplines. The different contributors examine in some manner the relationship between religion and the ideas and institutions that have given shape to Cambodia as a social and political body, or nation. Although they do not share the same approach to the idea of 'nation', all are concerned with the processes of religion that give meaning to social interaction, which in some way includes 'Cambodian' identity. Chapters touch on such far-reaching theoretical issues as the relation to religion of Southeast Asian polity; the nature of colonial religious transformation; 'syncretism' in Southeast Asian Buddhism; the relation of religious icon to national identity, religion, and gender; transnationalism and social movements; and identity among diaspora communities. While much has been published on Cambodia's recent civil war and the Pol Pot period and its aftermath, few English language works are available on Cambodian religion. This book takes a major step in filling that gap, offering a broad overview of the subject that is relevant not only for the field of Cambodian studies, but also for students and scholars of Southeast Asian history, Buddhism, comparative religion, and anthropology. Contributors: Didier Bertrand, Penny Edwards, Elizabeth Guthrie, Hang Chan Sophea, Anne Hansen, John Marston, Kathryn Poethig, Ashley Thompson & Teri Shaffer Yamada. John Marston is professor of Southeast Asian studies at the Centre for Asian and African Studies, El Colegio de México, Mexico City. Elizabeth Guthrie completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. (For this item please quote stock ID 23299) ISBN: 9780824828684

This volume showcases some of the most current and exciting research on Cambodian religious ideas and practices by a new generation of scholars from a variety of disciplines. The different contributors examine in some manner the relationship between religion and the ideas and institutions that have given shape to Cambodia as a social and political body, or nation. Although they do not share the same approach to the idea of 'nation', all are concerned with the processes of religion that give meaning to social interaction, which in some way includes 'Cambodian' identity. Chapters touch on such far-reaching theoretical issues as the relation to religion of Southeast Asian polity; the nature of colonial religious transformation; 'syncretism' in Southeast Asian Buddhism; the relation of religious icon to national identity, religion, and gender; transnationalism and social movements; and identity among diaspora communities. (For this item please quote stock ID 23300) ISBN: 9780824826666

[Indent] In 1993, the United Nations sponsored national elections in Cambodia, signaling the international community's commitment to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of what was, by any measure, a shattered and torn society. Few of the individuals and organizations responsible for financing, planning, and implementing Cambodia's post-election development thought it necessary to ask why the country's economy and society were in such a parlous state. The appalling state of the education system, many argued, could be directly attributed to the fact that among the 1.7 million victims of Pol Pot's holocaust were thousands of students, teachers, technocrats, and intellectuals. In this exacting and insightful examination of the crisis in Cambodian education, David Ayres challenges the widespread belief that the key to Cambodia's future development and prosperity lies in overcoming the dreadful legacy of the Khmer Rouge. He seeks to explain why Cambodia has struggled with an educational crisis for more than four decades (including the years before the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975) and thus casts the net of his analysis well beyond Pol Pot and his accomplices. Drawing on an extensive range of sources, Ayres clearly shows that Cambodia's educational dilemma - the disparity between the education system and the economic, political, and cultural environments, which it should serve - can be explained by setting education within its historical and cultural contexts. Themes of tradition, modernity, change, and changelessness are linked with culturally entrenched notions of power, hierarchy, and leadership to clarify why education funding is promised but rarely delivered, why schools are built where they are not needed, why plans are enthusiastically embraced but never implemented, and why contracts and agreements are ignored almost immediately after they are signed. David Ayres is Ewing Post-doctoral Fellow in Education at the University of Sydney. (For this item please quote stock ID 17321) ISBN: 9780824822385