Cambodia is a beautiful country, known for its architecture and landscape. After almost 30 years of war and destruction, the Cambodian people are rebuilding their lives, land, and culture. They are survivors in every sense of the word. They are very proud of their descent, families and country.
Cambodia covers 181,035 square kilometers in the southwestern part of the Indochina peninsula. It appears almost square in shape and is bordered on the north by Thailand and Laos, on the east and southeast by Vietnam, and on the west by the gulf of Thailand and also the country of Thailand. Much of the countryside consists of rolling plains and tropical forests (Tourism, n.d., para. 4).
The ethnic Khmers make up most of the Cambodian total population. There are also Cham-Malays, Chinese, Vietnamese as well as 20 cultural distinct hill tribes occupying the mountainous districts of the northeast. In 2006 the population was 13 million. Subsequently, eighty-five percent of Cambodian people live in small villages and are involved with subsistence farming. This country has a low mortality rate in large part due to AIDS. Forlornly, this results in a higher infant death rate, and a consequent low population growth rate. At birth, a male life expectancy in Cambodia is only 57 years of age, while a female is only 61 years (Facts, n.d., para. 3).
Cambodia’s economy is mainly based on agriculture and tourism. More than 80 percent of Cambodians are farmers. They grow rice and other crops for their consumption and subsistence. A small percentage of people work in industries like: rice milling, fishing, wood products, rubber, cement factories, gem mining, and textiles.
DISCUSSION.1-Family
While the husband is the head of the nuclear family, the wife still has considerable authority. The husband is responsible for providing shelter and food for his family and the wife is generally in charge of the family budget. However, both men and women are responsible for working in the rice fields, and taking care of the household. Most families in Cambodia include extended family members, with grandparents frequently living with their children. Overall, everyone shares in the work of the household, which creates an efficient family dynamic (Khmer, n.d., para. 1).
Many children do not go to school. Instead they help with the household chores and fieldwork, or they have jobs to provide food for the family. Many children work as street vendors, factory workers, or tour guides. Because the world recognizes that education is the only true way to guarantee fiscal independence and security, international and local Cambodian organizations are working to get children out of the workforce and back into schools (DeSilva, 2000, p.24).
Health and life expectancy are very low in Cambodia. One reason is because of the level of sanitation. In most rural areas people use the same water for drinking and cooking that they use for bathing, washing clothes and getting rid of waste products. As a result, waterborne diseases like hepatitis are common. Unfortunately, malaria is widespread because the climate is so wet, and there are so many mosquitoes. Other common illnesses are pneumonia and tuberculosis. These problems are compounded by the fact that there is a shortage of qualified medical personal in Cambodia to take care of these people (Greenblatt, 1995, p.82).
Cambodian children are given a lot of love and freedom until about the age of three or four. At this age they are expected to feed and bathe themselves. At the age of five they start looking after their younger siblings, and learn to be respectful of their elders. By the age of ten, boys and girls help out the family with household chores or have jobs away from the family. Some boys between the ages of eleven to nineteen become a temple servant before going on to become a temple novice monk. Boys serve the monks from six months to a year to learn the Buddhist religion.
While there are many noteworthy differences between the Cambodian culture and the culture of the US, like mortality rates and available resources, surprisingly there are some similarities. The unique family dynamics found in Cambodia, are not unfamiliar to those citizens of the United States. In fact, it is not unusual for all members of an American family to play major roles in executing household chores, nor is it uncommon to have both parents working. While most Americans do not work in rice fields, they do perform other occupational duties to suffice their family’s financial needs. Another commonality between the families in Cambodia and those in America is the fact that many children wind up assisting in the care of their older parents; thus, having live-in grandparents is not unfamiliar to Americans or Cambodians.
War and displacement of the people in Cambodia have made genealogy difficult, if not impossible to trace back family ties for more than a couple of generations. The only exception to would be if a family was of Noble blood. Descent and inheritance of the property and land in Cambodia is bilateral. It is equally dispersed between siblings. However, on occasion, the eldest child may inherit the most.
The majority of Cambodia residents are living in villages near bodies of water. These people help each other during times of need. Many of the people living in these villages are related. They help each other with the cooperation of labor, sharing of produce and income, and contribution as a unit to ceremonial obligations. The people in these villages have mechanical solidarity for the division of labor practices.
Fortunately, America has not had the great displacement of families that the devastating wars of Cambodia have had. While America has suffered its share of wars, it has not endured the same type of impact found in Cambodia. Another societal difference between the two cultures is that very few American cities or towns are interconnected like those in Cambodia. Here in the US, the sense of community is wide spread, and solitary. Each county has their own financial record and allowances, industry, as well as elected officials.
DISCUSSION.3-Food
The majority of people in Cambodia still eat what they grow, raise, or catch. Rice is the most important agricultural product, and takes months of hard work and patience to cultivate. Despite the complexity of this crop, rice has become the center of the Cambodian culture for centuries. In fact, almost all family members participate in the process of sowing, harvesting, or storing the rice in some way. Farmers grow two crops a year, a monsoon season crop and a dry season crop. Interestingly, families often sell the best rice while keeping the broken grains for themselves, hence earning the most for their hard work.
Additionally, animal husbandry has been an essential part of the Cambodian’s economic life. Before the rice seedlings are planted oxen, cows, or buffalo plow and turn the soil. Traditionally, draft animals such as the water buffalo, cows and oxen have played a crucial part in the preparation of rice fields because many farmers simply cannot afford to buy tractors. This is why the draft animals are so vital to the economic survival in Cambodia.
Fishing is also an important source of food and income for Cambodians. Most fishermen live along the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap Lake. They use large bamboo cages or nets to catch fish. Some people have fish hatcheries where they feed the fish cornmeal and other food until they are big enough to eat or sell. Fish are sold either alive or dried (Greenblatt, 1995, p.88).
There are apparent differences between the American culture and that of the Cambodian culture when it comes to food. To start with, very few Americans eat what they grow, or raise and catch food on a daily basis. Such practices are usually looked upon as recreational, especially when one can drive to the nearest grocery store and select from a large selection of produce, meat, and dry goods. Another vast difference is that most Americans partake in occupations unrelated to the food industry, thus it is not a focus of the American culture like it is in Cambodia.
DISCUSSION.4-Art
Cambodia has many different ways of expressing themselves and their talents. They do it through silk cloth weaving, architecture and dance. The colors of silk clothing interpret age. Bright purples, yellows and reds are for the younger women, and the deeper colors are for the older women. In the past, only the best silk cloth and patterns were made available to royalty (Khmer, n.d., para. 13). Today, officials attending ceremonies at the Royal Palace follow the same traditional practice of wearing a different color on certain days. Silk is spun from the cocoons of silkworms that eat mulberry leaves. Entire families work together to weave silk. Daughters begin learning how to weave silk when they are seven or eight. To become master weavers students attend a school in Phnom Penh where they learn how to mix dyes and create complex patterns. These silk cloths are works of art that may take months to complete (DeSilva, 2000, p.72).
Cambodia’s national dance is the Lamthon. The Khmers developed this dance during the time of the Angkorean Empire. This is when the Thai captured the dancing girls from Ankor Thom in 1431, and took them back to Thailand. There, the Thai people changed the dancer’s simple costumes into beautiful silk outfits with silk brocade. Two hundred years later the Lamthon dance returned to Cambodia. Many of the dances are based on stories or folktales. Both music and dancing are a very big part of Cambodian culture.
The architecture of Cambodia is admired around the world. One fine example of this would be the Angkor Wat. The Angkor Wat was a residence for monks and nuns. This monument was designed by King Suryavarman II, and created from artisans, workers and slaves. The stones and bricks used for this ancient temple were made from the soil in Cambodia. Laborers simply excavated the soil, made bricks, and let them dry in the sun. The tropical soil has iron oxides, which give the soil its rich red color, called laterite). Structures built of laterite have remained standing through centuries of weathering. The Angkor Wat took thirty-seven years to build. The measurements and placements of the buildings are precise and have magical and cosmic meaning to the Khmer (Lutgens, & Tarbuck, 2006, p. 126).
In each culture, there are always artistic achievements that are looked upon as icons. Cambodia obviously has their’s and America as well. The only difference is that in America, many of the artistic icons are a combination of cultural ideologies of beauty; hence, America is the melting pot of the world. This makes definition of precise artistic achievements difficult to pin point because many of the people in the American culture have such vast definitions of beauty. For some, Washington D.C. with all its monuments and patriotic memorials may be beautiful, others may feel historic buildings in their own small town are of artistic significance. Therefore, while both culture share in the joy of artistic expression, definition of what constitutes is debatable.
DISCUSSION.5-Family
The majority of Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists. This religion started as a result of an Indian Prince named Siddhartha Gautama, who lived in sixth century B.C. He spent his entire adulthood trying to understand why people’s lives were full of suffering and what could be done about it. The conclusions he reached are known as the Noble Eight-Fold Path, which are a series of rules that stipulate if a person follows these rules they will direct a person to enlightenment (DeSilva, 2000, p. 47).
A Buddhist sees the universe and all life as part of an eternal change. Buddhists believe that a person is continually reborn, in human and nonhuman form, depending on their actions from a previous life. Earning merit is an important cycle for reaching nirvana. This is done by visiting shrines, celebrating holy days, giving money, goods, and labor to the temples, or by providing food to the monks. Boys can earn merit by becoming temple servants or novice monks. Women earn merit if their sons live among the monks to serve.
Many Cambodian Buddhists believe that supernatural spirits dwell in natural objects. They call on these spirits when they are ill or at times of crisis. To keep evil spirits away they build small shrines and bring offerings of food, flowers, and other items to keep the spirits content. Many Cambodians believe in wearing charms to bring them good luck, and to ward off evil spirits.
While Buddhism is not the main religion in America, it definitely has a note-worthy presence as well as other popular American religions, such as Catholicism and Christianity. While in Cambodia it may be rare to practice any religion other than Buddhism, in America it is very common to have many different faiths in any one location. One thing in common with Buddhism is Catholicism, because this religion has many saints; followers of this religion wear medals and pray to these supernatural beings.
The new politics and government established within Cambodia are slowly trying to re-establish the economy and culture. With the assistance of the United Nations, the Kingdom of Cambodia was established in 1993. The Cambodian government is a multiparty, liberal democracy under a constitutional monarch. The chief of state is King Norodom Sihanouk, and the head of government is Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Cultural change of families and society has resulted from the violence of wars. During the Khmer Rouge in 1975 through 1979 many people were relocated into the countryside to work in rice fields (Blakely & Blakely, 2007, p. 146). Professional people were executed from the Khmer Rouge army. Unfortunately, children did not have schooling during this period, so the illiteracy rate plagued about 40 percent of the population. Even now after rehabilitation of the country has begun, schools have shortages of textbooks, laboratories, and equipment. Under the Khmer Rouge reign people were not allowed to wear bright colored clothing. Everyone wore black, dark blue, or maroon. Roads and city streets were severely damaged with holes and craters during the war. This made travel very difficult for people. The Khmer Rouge banned all religion in Cambodia, thus temples were destroyed, and monks were put to work in rice fields or killed. Subsequently, much of the cultural art of this time was smuggled out of the country and sold to private dealers. The people of Cambodia had their families, religion, homes, and culture taken away from them. Thankfully, however, the people are finally at peace. With this new peace, the reinstatement of the king, and the allowance for their culture to return, the Cambodian people are coming together.
The United Nations has helped the Cambodian people put the destruction of war behind them. Both the United States and Canada have given millions of dollars in aid to Cambodia. This money was used to rebuild the economy and to assist the people. The United Nations has helped build a democratic government, encouraged economic development, and brought the Khmer Rouge leaders to trial for crimes against humanity. Many refugees were sent to Canada and the United States to start new lives, and the road was not been easy for these people. When refugees arrived in North America they had many things to get used to. Many did not know how to read or write. Yet, they had to get jobs to support their families. Furthermore, they were not used to the cold weather, running water, or electricity. Today the descendents of Cambodian immigrants have bettered themselves with higher educations and a more stable way of life. Organizations have been established to preserve the Cambodian culture for Cambodian Americans.
Much has been achieved in the past years in Cambodia, but there is still much to do. The government is trying to get world investors to establish businesses or have them give economic aid. The Cambodian people have suffered a great deal over the past two decades. Cambodia is a small poor country trying to recover from the effects of war. It remains to be seen what their future holds for them. With the new establishment of government, culture, and diplomatic relations, this country is well on her way to succeeding.
REFERENCES
Books
Blakely, P. & Blakely, T. (2007). Seeing Anthropology Cultural Anthropology through Film. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
DeSilva, D. (2000). Countries of the World: Cambodia. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Gareth Stevens Publishing
Greenblatt, M. (1995). Enchantment of the World: Cambodia. Chicago, Illinois: Childrens Press, Inc.
Lutgens, F. & Tarbuck, E. (2006). Essentials of Geology. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Websites
Tourism of Cambodia (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2007 from http://tourismcambodia.com/TripPlanner/General/index.asp?PID
Facts about Cambodia (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2007 from http:// worldfacts.us/Cambodia.htm
The Khmer (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2007, from. http://countrystudies.us/Cambodia/42.htm=Geography&View;=Full
