Khmer women on the move : exploring work and life in urban Cambodia / Annuska Derks.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Derks, Annuska.

Series:

Southeast Asia--politics, meaning, memory.

Southeast Asia--politics, meaning, and memory

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Young women--Cambodia--Social conditions.

Young women.

Urban women--Cambodia--Social conditions.

Urban women.

Urban women--Employment--Cambodia.

Physical Description:

ix, 258 p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"This is a fascinating ethnography about young Khmer women moving to the city to work in the garment factories, in prostitution, and as street sellers. The author makes good use of new theoretical approaches in anthropology that focus on negotiation and creativity in situations of rapid change. The result is not only a welcome new book on post-war Cambodia but an important addition to the literature on women, migration, and labor in Southeast Asia and the world." -Judy Ledgerwood, Northern Illinois UniversityKhmer Women on the Move offers a fascinating ethnography of young Cambodian women who move from the countryside to work in Cambodia's capital city, Phnom Penh. Female migration and urban employment are rising, triggered by Cambodia's transition from a closed socialist system to an open market economy. This book challenges the dominant views of these young rural women-that they are controlled by global economic forces and national development policies or trapped by restrictive customs and Cambodia's tragic history. The author shows instead how these women shape and influence the processes of change taking place in present-day Cambodia. Based on field research among women working in the garment industry, prostitution, and street trading, the book explores the complex interplay between their experiences and actions, gender roles, and the broader historical context. The focus on women involved in different kinds of work allows new insight into women's mobility, highlighting similarities and differences in working conditions and experiences. Young women's ability to utilize networks of increasing size and complexity allows them to move into and between geographic and social spaces that extend far beyond the village context. Women's mobility is further expressed in the flexible patterns of behavior that young rural women display when trying to fulfill their own "modern" aspirations along with their family obligations and cultural ideals.

Contents:

Introduction

Rice people in the city

Women, ideals and migration

Factory work

Sex work

Street trade

City life and modern experience

Dutiful daughters, broken women

Conclusion: Moving women, moving selves.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [231]-250) and index.

ISBN:

9780824869182

0824869184

9780824863234

0824863232

9781435666573

1435666577

OCLC:

257514052