A review on the Khmer Lands of Vietnam -------------------------------------------------------------------- Others have congratulated Philip Taylor on the publication of his book. I have two words: read it! This is a marvelous work. One of the oft-forgotten topics about Vietnam, or about the Mekong delta, is the role of the Khmer. Even those who have touched on the Khmer, like myself, have a tendency to homogenize them. After reading this book, you will get a far better sense of the diversity of the Khmer Krom in the delta. To get a sense of Taylor’s accomplishment, note that this is the fruit of research that goes back to 1999 and involves visits to an astonishing 400 villages across the delta as well as in Tây Ninh province. The organizing principle of the book is the relation of Khmer to their environment. Taylor breaks down this relationship into six environmental regions in the Mekong delta and one outside of it (Tây Ninh province and environs). Of all the books I have read on the delta, this one is the most nuanced in understanding the relationship between ethnic groups and the environment. Analyzing the Khmer in these different environmental settings is key, because these settings are indeed so different. If the area including Trà Vinh and Sóc Trăng provinces could be considered the epicenter of the Khmer population, they are also widely found elsewhere. I remember once going to Hòn Chông (in between Rạch Giá and Hà Tiên) and being surprised to see a Khmer wat — there is a small Khmer Krom population living there, right by the sea. It is one of the strengths of this book that Taylor, having travelled all over the delta, even covers the Khmer Krom living on this coastal fringe. I was also, however, thankful for his attention to areas where Khmer Krom are no longer found, or found in much smaller numbers. One of the virtues of this book is that Taylor, by interviewing older individuals about their experiences since 1945, is able to reconstruct, tentatively, some major changes in population. For example, there used to be substantial Khmer settlements in what Taylor labels the freshwater “central delta zone,” which includes present-day Vĩnh Long, Cần Thơ, and Hậu Giang, and spills over into two other provinces. There are still Khmer in this area, but it has also been a zone of bitter contestation in the wars against the French and Americans. It has also been a site, Taylor argues, of extensive land dispossession from which Khmer fled (because of war), but when they came back, their land was taken over by ethnic Vietnamese. This note is getting long. As the comments above suggest, this is a book based on extensive research experience. It is also one in which Taylor weaves numerous accounts collected from Khmer Krom into the narrative, giving a richness to this book. It is not, in other words, only about Khmer Krom and their relation to the environment, but is also a work in which we find extensive voices of the Khmer Krom. As I said — this book, clearly written, is well worth the read. Shawn McHale Associate Professor of History George Washington University Washington, DC 20052 USA indomemoires.hypotheses.org/14967
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 00:33:09 +0000
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