Conflicting developments: the clash of ideas and ideals in rebuilding Cambodian society

© 2013 Dr. Jolynna Melinda SinananThis thesis explores the nature of the relationships that emerge as of the encounter between external actors and local people in post-conflict Cambodia. The post-conflict context in Cambodia, amidst the rebuilding of society and unresolved psychosocial recovery, has brought with it an enormous amount of international experts, where the interactions and relations between local and external development actors has produced complex intersections of social change and political dynamics. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and participant observations of individual, organisational and institutional approaches to development in Cambodia, the thesis highlights the essentially interactional nature of the development encounter. In this encounter, Cambodian people, likewise external development actors, continually negotiate and reconstruct what development is, how it is understood and how it should be practiced. The clash of ideas and ideals are not always explicitly stated but emerge in the process of engagement. Importantly, as ‘experts’ endeavour to make visible what development is about, Cambodian people seek to make their society and identity visible in such a way that they distinguish themselves and their society from the normative image of development. Through examining the engagement with development, by development actors and Cambodia’s own development strategy, it became apparent that there is a re-shaping of Cambodian identity that challenges the ‘inclusive’ neoliberal paradigm that development is currently offering. This is most obvious through the exploration of gender as a category of development and women as development subjects. In this exploration, the nature of the tension between internal and external development ideas and ideals were most prevalent, where women are compelled to internalise the values of development, as well as to adhere to the norms and values of Khmer personhood