Journal Article

Ethnicity, Violence, and Khmer-Vietnamese Relations: The Significance of the Lower Mekong Delta, 1757–1954

McHale, Shawn

2013

Overview

This essay argues that to understand twentieth-century Khmer-Vietnamese ethnic antagonism, the contest for the lower Mekong Delta (in today's Vietnam) since the mid-eighteenth century has been key. It argues, however, that while this pre-1945 background can explain antagonism, it cannot sufficiently explain the violence between Khmer and Vietnamese that occurred after 1945. For that, the First Indochina War (1945–54) and decolonization marked a turning point. This period saw the creation of a dynamic of violence between Khmer and Vietnamese that hardened ethnic antagonisms, shaped the character of the war, and affected arguments over sovereignty. This dynamic of violence also contributed, in the long run, to a common Cambodian antagonism to the Vietnamese, including that of the Khmer Rouge.

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press,Duke University Press, NC & IL
• Subject: 17th century / 18th century / 19th century / 20th century / Asia / Asian history / Asian studies / Cambodia / Communism / Decolonization / Ethnic conflict / Ethnicity / Ethnology / Historical analysis / Historical source materials / History / Hostility / Interethnic conflict / International relations / Khmer / Meaning / Minority & ethnic groups / Minority & ethnic violence / Political history / River deltas / Social relations. Intercultural and interethnic relations. Collective identity / Social structure and social relations / Sources and methods / Sovereignty / Superspaces / Territories / Vietnam / Vietnam War / Vietnamese language / Villages / Violence / War