Les Vietnamiens au Cambodge : analyse des représentations et des conditions d'une intégration

The Vietnamese came to Cambodia for a long time through different migration processes. Called yun, they live mostly in urban areas and suffer from negative representations. The Phnom Penh opposition press presents them as invaders sent by the Hanoi regime. Ethnicity is understood as a social interaction in a multiethnic context in which mutual definitions are articulated. For the Vietnamese in Cambodia, ethnicity is a built-in answer to survival needs when confronted with open discriminatory political discourse. Depending on the history of their migration, the Vietnamese will choose different integration strategies. For example those who came centuries ago as fishermen on the big Tonle sap lake, define their identity in terms of deep comple-mentarity with the Khmer rice farmers, and they claim to be part of this country. We want to show that in Cambodia the Vietnamese problem is less an ethnic problem than a political one linked to the fear of loss of national territory that has been reduced through centuries. The racial discourse maintains confusion of level and persons and it is an easy way to avoid seeing what are the real Cambodian problems.Bertrand Didier. Les Vietnamiens au Cambodge : analyse des représentations et des conditions d'une intégration. In: Aséanie 2, 1998. pp. 27-46