J. Randall Groves’s two-part study of “Southeast Asian Identities: The Case of Cambodia” (v70, continued in v71) is the most substantial CCR treatment of Southeast Asian civilization. It develops a multi-layered conception of Cambodian identity:

  1. Its shamanistic and animistic pre-history,
  2. Its borrowing of Indic culture, connecting Vedic, Hindu and Buddhist myth with earlier animism and providing an indelibly Indic narrative framework,
  3. The rhythms of the Mekong River and the periodic reversal of the Tonle Sap tributary,
  4. The economic rhythms of Indian Ocean trade and its monsoons,
  5. A political identity marked by conflict with the Chams, Siam and Vietnam, and more recently with France and the United States,
  6. Maoist philosophy and its descent into the political terror of the Khmer Rouge,
  7. Chinese influence, and
  8. Key personalities: Suryavarman II, Jayavarman VII, Sihanouk and Pol Pot.

The article situates Angkorian civilization within the comparative frame: Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom’s walls display the Battle of Kurukshetra, the Battle of Lanka (Ramayana), the Churning of the Ocean Milk, the Victory of Vishnu over the Demons, and the Victory of Krishna over Bana — all Hindu except the army of Suryavarman II. The Bayon of Angkor Thom displays the syncretism of Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Cambodia is thus “India without caste” — Hindu and Buddhist narrative and ritual borrowed, but the social structure of caste not adopted.

The article closes with a tragic reading: Cambodian history enters world history twice, once in greatness (Angkor), once in destruction (the Killing Fields). The Janus-faced quality — artistic genius and maniacal evil — is read as a “narrative center of gravity” rather than an essence.

Source summaries:

  • v70 (Spring 2014) — J. Randall Groves, “Southeast Asian Identities: The Case of Cambodia” (part 1). (v70)
  • v71 (Fall 2014) — Continuation of the Cambodia study, with the Khmer Rouge era and post-Communist era to the present. (v71)