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One of the outstanding questions of Southeast Asian history is the nature and timing of major cultural and political shifts in the territory that was to become Cambodia, starting in the 13th century. What explains the shift in religious doctrine, different language uses (Pāli over Sanskrit, Khmer as a literary language), the radical transformation in architecture and sculptural production? How was the spread of Theravāda Buddhism related to regional political reconfigurations? What exactly was it we rather blindly label ‘Theravāda Buddhism’? Do the esoteric Buddhist traditions the region still harbours relate to this transitional period? What of the exoteric at this time? And how is 'Theravāda Buddhism' entangled with the identity shifts that over the next four hundred years gave rise to the Buddhist state now called Cambodia? Editor Ashley Thompson has brought together the foremost scholars of premodern Cambodian art and archaeology to reflect on the relevant material evidence to probe these questions - and to push them further in exploring larger issues of Buddhist history, regional exchange networks and ethno-political identities across mainland Southeast Asia. The book will be a crucial reference for historians of Southeast Asia, and its insights into religious change will make it important reading for scholars of broader Buddhist Studies. Fully illustrated in colour, the book will appeal to those with a serious interest in the Buddhism and Buddhist art of mainland Southeast Asia.

No detailed description available for \"Cambodian Evangelicalism\".

Post-independence national historical writings have often been seen as a product of nationalist advocacy and modern nation-state formation. Moving beyond this perspective, this article considers how political leaders took a direct role in promoting different kinds and forms of collective historical thoughts to strengthen their leadership. Specifically, the article explores an active engagement of independent Cambodia's leaders such as Prince Sihanouk, Lon Nol, and Pol Pot, who independently saw national historical understanding as one's own monopolized source of power. It also discusses how different historical accounts in the country were shaped by, and kept up with, other important factors such as Cold War confrontations and regional and global historiographical trends, including “Modernist” and “Marxist” approaches. Discussing these factors helps us understand more critically national historical accounts, which were closely intertwined with specific socioreligious and political circumstances such as political rule and legitimacy, widespread public anxieties, and geopolitical tensions. It also sheds light on the substantial impact of state-imposed historical interpretations on society. As informed by the Cambodian case, this impact can be seen in the implementation of state projects stirred by certain kinds of historical understanding which consequently transformed the living conditions of thousands of people.

Theravada is one of the three main branches of Buddhism. In Asia it is practiced widely in Thailand, Laos, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia. This fascinating ethnography opens a window onto two communities of Theravada Buddhists in contemporary America: one outside Philadelphia that is composed largely of Thai immigrants and one outside Boston that consists mainly of white converts. Wendy Cadge first provides a historical overview of Theravada Buddhism and considers its specific origins here in the United States. She then brings her findings to bear on issues of personal identity, immigration, cultural assimilation, and the nature of religion in everyday life. Her work is the first systematic comparison of the ways in which immigrant and convert Buddhists understand, practice, and adapt the Buddhist tradition in America. The men and women whom Cadge meets and observes speak directly to us in this work, both in their personal testimonials and as they meditate, pray, and practice Buddhism. Creative and insightful, Heartwood will be of enormous value to sociologists of religion and anyone wishing to understand the rise of Buddhism in the Western world.

In the Theravāda Buddhist polities on the mainland of Southeast Asia, abiding concerns about the proper structuring of the relationship between the ‘two wheels of dhamma’ (i.e. the realm of religion and the realm of politics) have had a profound influence on processes of state formation and political legitimation. This article explores one such religious ‘effect’ on the constitutions and electoral laws of modern Burma/Myanmar, Siam/Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, namely the official disenfranchisement of Buddhist monks (and, in some instances, Buddhist ‘nuns’ as well as non-Buddhist clergy). The article traces the historical evolution of this Buddhist exception to the democratic principle of equal and universal suffrage, and assesses the extent to which dominant theoretical approaches in the social sciences help us to understand the politics of religious disenfranchisement in Southeast Asia. It finds that neither secularization theory nor the religious-economy approach can explain observed patterns. Instead, the article offers an account of the politics of religious disenfranchisement that emphasizes the role of ideas and historical context.

[...]to increase sound output for multiple participants, amplifiers were helpful. [...]for better sound quality, unidirectional microphones worked better then omnidirectional microphones. [...]communication was much better if participants took turns, so that only one person spoke at a time.

An assessment of political and security developments in Southeast Asia over the last year will reveal three trends that highlight the continued challenges faced by both individual Southeast Asian states as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). First, ASEAN faced the challenge of re-establishing regional cohesion, a task that had taken on greater import in the wake of debacle of 2012 when the inability of members to arrive at a consensus for a joint communique at the conclusion of its July foreign ministers' meeting cast doubt on the organization's unity. Second, the year also saw a deepening of engagement with major powers. Third, the imperative of domestic stability came to the fore of regional affairs as several Southeast Asian regimes came under pressure for political change both at the ballot box and in the street. Predictably, the preoccupation of several governments on domestic affairs had negating effect on foreign policy and regionalism.

Sebastian Taylor and Alireza Marandi provide examples of how health programme designs that take social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental factors into account can improve health equity, especially among the poor

Despite their profound differences all of Cambodia's post-independence regimes have exhibited a unique obsession with protecting the country's borders from the depredations of neighbouring states. Some of this is fall-out from the colonial inheritance but this paper argues that older indigenous categories related to Theravada Buddhism have also played a significant role in the aetiology of modern Khmer territorialism. By showing how the traditional maṇḍala arrangement of space was being eroded at around the same time as the old monastic conception of a ritual boundary was purified, rationalised and extended under the influence of Buddhism modernism the author seeks to provide a Southeast Asian illustration of Carl Schmitt's insight that certain important elements of the modern state are, in fact, secularised religious concepts.

The articles in this book offer a fascinating panorama of the status and practice of astrology and divination in several Asian societies, including Mongolia, Tibet, India, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Cambodia. In most of these cultures there is an interplay between native traditions and imported Indian or Chinese traditions. In some periods and in some places, astrology is part of the curriculum of universities, or the remit of an official bureau, at other times astrology, along with other 'superstitious' arts is rigorously prescribed by the state. Some of the traditions are written, others are oral; some are state-sponsored and centred on capital cities, others are popular and rural. Sometimes numerical correspondences are at the forefront, at other times it is the symbolic forms that predominate. For all traditions (even when, as in the case of Japan, Korea and Taiwan, only a section of the tradition is studied) one gets the impression of an inheritance stretching back into the mists of time. From the point of view of someone more familiar with the Western tradition of astrology, what is interesting are the similarities and differences. Reprinted by permission of Presses Universitaires de Vincennes