Expressions of Cambodia: When ancient glory meets modern tragedy

8/6/2019 Expressions of Cambodia: When ancient glory meets modern tragedy

1/18


2/18

3 When ancient glory meetsmodern tragedy

Angkor and the Khmer Rouge incontemporary tourism

Tim Winter1

Introduction

In which country can you stroll through the biggest temple in the world?In which country can you shoot a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and

play roulette with former Communist guerrillas? In which country are skulls

a tourist attraction just like Buddhist monasteries? Welcome to one of the

most contradictory and fascinating places on the face of the earth: Welcome

to Cambodia!

(Introduction: 90 Days in Cambodia)2

Cambodias turbulent transition towards political stability and a free-market

economy after a history of genocide, civil war, and foreign occupation has been significantly influenced by an extraordinary growth in internationaltourism. Reconciliation along with cultural and economic rehabilitation have been urgent and simultaneous demands. The challenges facing Cambodiahave been especially severe because of its need to restore a national iden-tity shattered by prolonged conflict, the immense scale of the past to whichthat identity adheres and the dependence of the state on the tourist revenuefrom Angkor. In this context, tourism has not only played a pivotal role inmolding the countrys heritage industry, but has also been instrumental in

defining and valuing what is Cambodian in a post-conflict era.For the vast majority of tourists who have traveled to the country since

the early 1990s, an inherently complex cultural and social history span-ning thousands of years has been dissolved into two overwhelminglydominant, yet polarized, episodes: one modern and tragic, and the otherancient and glorious.3 Authors of television documentaries and guidebooks, not to mention numerous journalists and photographers, have allenjoyed considerable stylistic mileage from juxtaposing the Khmer Rouge(197579) and Angkor (8021431) eras as paradoxical, contradictory, and

inherently ironic.Closer examination of such representations, however, reveals that thesetwo histories are far less polarized and disconnected than they initiallyappear. Indeed, this chapter sets out to illustrate how international tourism

1111234

56789101112311145678920111123

4567893011112

3456789401111

23445111


3/18

has created a socio-cultural milieu within which the Khmer Rouge andAngkor now continuously intersect, often shaping each other in mutuallyconstitutive ways.4 The chapter concludes by briefly reflecting upon howsuch a tourism industry has shaped processes of economic development,

nationalism, and the countrys cultural landscape since the beginning ofthe 1990s.

Conceptualizing tourism

Eddie (50s, American, 10-day package to Thailand and Cambodia):If somebody says Cambodia, what do you think of, the killing fieldsor Angkor Wat, there is nothing else that comes to mind.

Yukio (50, Japanese, 3-day tour to Bangkok and Siem Reap): Yes Iheard of Angkor Wat, but all I knew about Cambodia was that it wasdangerous, thats all I knew.5

To date, studies of tourism in Cambodia have essentially fallen within theremit of policy, and received little or no academic attention. Cambodiaspost-conflict tourism industry has undoubtedly been both shaped and hin-dered by the countrys grossly inadequate social and physical infrastructures.Roads, airports, hotels, and the range of skills required for a hospitalityindustry have all required overhauling over the last decade or so. Given such

demands, World Bank or UNESCO heritage management reports have prin-cipally discussed tourism in terms of facility provision or infrastructuredevelopment. In contrast, little attention has been given to the cultural arti-facts produced and circulated by the travel and tourism industry and the rolethey play in shaping broader social processes such as Cambodias socio-economic development or post-war nationalistic anxieties.

In response, this chapter offers four analytical themesthe lure of the jungle; the well-trodden path; revival and restoration; megalomaniatoexplore the ways in which the country is (re)presented to, framed by, and

known by, todays international visitor. Together, these four themes explorenotions of place, culture, and history in metaphorical, metonymical, and lit-eral terms. The chapter specifically focuses on the connections between thesymbolic economies of tourism and the material realities of actually beinga tourist in the country. This approach, referred to by Crouch (2005) asembodied semiotics, analytically juxtaposes a diverse range of represen-tations and narrativesincluding hotel interiors, Hollywood films, ordecades of television news coveragewith the various ways in whichtourists talk about and actually encounter the country. Pursuing such an

analysis reveals howdespite being separated by hundreds of years and providing the country with two vastly different historical legaciestheKhmer Rouge and Angkor periods do not merely converge but actually foldthrough and re-cast one another within a socio-cultural landscape of con-

1111

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1011

1

2

3111

4

5

6

7

8

9

20111

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

30111

1

2

34

5

6

7

8

9

40111

1

2

3

4

45111

38 Tim Winter


4/18

temporary tourism. The chapter also argues that the dominant framings andrepresentations of Cambodia as a tourist destination are non-Cambodian.While the Royal Governments Ministry of Tourism has consistently pro-duced a range of promotional material since the mid-1990s, its impact

remains minimal in comparison to the consistently pervasive influence oftravel writing or guidebooks and television channels such as Lonely Planetor Discovery Channel.

The final section of the chapter reflects upon the wider social impactof such tourism dynamics. Themes explored in the preceding four sectionsare brought together to illustrate the various ways in which tourism-relatedrepresentations and framings influence highly charged issues such asnational identity, patterns of socioeconomic development, and the trans-mission of the past through forms of material and non-material culture. Itwill be seen that urban architecture, imbalances in infrastructure devel-opment, the priorities of a national heritage industry, and the broader socialfabric of Cambodia itself have all responded to the ways in whichCambodia has become framed and encountered as a post-conflict touristdestination.

Deep in the jungle

Anticipating Angkor, A Dream Deferred

Some people are suckers for lost cities. I am. Ive sought out, amongothers, Machu Picchu, Pompeii, Petra, Ephesus, Karnak and Uxmal.But Angkor, the jungle-covered capital of the ancient Khmer civi-lization in Cambodia, has always seemed to me the Mother of AllLost Cities . . . The romance of its discovery and exploration by theFrench in the mid-19th Century was part of Angkors glamour . . .Sometimes I just sat trying to contemplate cosmology and civiliza-tion, or trying to pretend I was Henri Mouhot, who came upon theruins in 1861.

(New York Times, July 21, 2002)6

Angkors re-emergence as Cambodias principal tourist attraction in thelast decade has been characterized by a small number of dominant fram-ings. In addition to being seen as the premier World Heritage Site ofSoutheast Asia, it has also come to be seen as the quintessential ruin.Despite being comprised of numerous temples, rivers, monasteries, andvillages, the 400-square-kilometer site has been consistently representedthrough a small repertoire of iconic images. Postcards, travel agent

brochures, coffee table books, and even the 2001 Hollywood film TombRaider shot at Angkor, have all consistently portrayed the site as a desertedlandscape, void of modern intrusions (see Winter 2003). In the fewinstances where people are represented, they are invariably orange-robed

1111234

56789101112311145678920111123

4567893011112

3456789401111

23445111

When ancient glory meets modern tragedy 39


5/18


6/18

Val (50s, American, Thailand and Cambodia for three weeks): as wewere flying in I expected to see much more jungle out of the planewindow. Thick jungle. I guess I imagined it that way from all theVietnam War films you see. I imagined all of this region to be like

that, its known as a place of guerrilla, jungle warfare.

Many visitors arrive in Cambodia today with a rudimentary, but perhapsless than detailed, understanding of the atrocities inflicted by the KhmerRouge regime of the 1970s. In addition to knowing about the infamoustopography of the Cambodian killing fields, visitors also often arrivewith an awareness that the countrys cities were evacuated by the KhmerRouge in 1975, and that as the regime ceded power throughout the 1980s,fighting continued across remote western provinces. As with Angkor, a popular memory of the Khmer Rouge seems to have formed around an

imagining of the jungle; a vision of landscape where evil has hidden,fought, lost, and eventually taken political refuge:

Natalie (55, Italian, traveling in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia for twomonths): When I said in Italy that I go to Cambodia people say ah . . . be careful the Khmer Rouge are still waiting there in the jungle. . . there are bombs everywhere, we were told this by all our friends.

On occasions these two histories converge within a single narrative repre-

sentation. Almost all guidebooks on Cambodia, for example, makereference to the looting of remote jungle-hidden temples by communistguerrillas or Khmer Rouge guerrillas. A similar theme runs throughthe 1979 filmApocalypse Now, which has become a must see for manyvisitors planning a trip to Southeast Asia today. Put briefly, the film tellsthe story of the assassination of a renegade American soldier who setshimself up as a leader of a mysterious tribe dedicated to the worship ofAngkorean-style statuary deep in the Cambodian jungle. Mirroring JosephConradsHeart of Darkness, the film conflates the ancient and the modernof Cambodian history within a landscape of rivers and impenetrable jungle:an aesthetic that lingers today:8

Barry (33, Australian, visiting Southeast Asia for one month): I hadthe idea that the whole of Southeast Asia was dense jungle, Thailand,Cambodia and Vietnam . . . and that would be from movies,ApocalypseNow,Predator, from Vietnam war and other jungle type movies. Withthings, ruins, out there to really explore you know.

Stuart (20s, English, two-month trip to Thailand and Cambodia): I

expected more jungle in the temples, I think I was expecting moreTV jungle. Thats what we were brainwashed to be expecting. Wesaw Sylvester Stallone carrying his M16 through that jungle, hackingaway with his machete, swinging through the vines.

1111234

56789101112311145678920111123

4567893011112

3456789401111

23445111



7/18

Interestingly, the very same juxtaposition of exploration and danger alsoforms the basis of the narrative for documentary makers for TV channelssuch as the Discovery channel and the National Geographic channel. Onedocumentary in particular, combines the archaeological exploration of lost

Angkorean structures with the perils of landmine clearance in order toadd a sense of mystique and drama to what would otherwise be a mundanescholarly pursuit, as the following program description illustrates:

In the late 1960s war took a murderous grasp on Cambodia and didntlet go for 30 years. The temples of Angkor were lost to the jungle.During the war years Cambodia was littered with unexploded ordin-ance and landmines . . . In this program, anthropologist CharlesHigham and guide Sokhorn Sin travel to Northern Cambodia to explorethe temples around Koh Ker . . . Dr Higham explores seven temples,one of which has not been demined, and brings his unique expertiseto bear on them. The program also discusses the demining process,showing how it is done, and witnessing the detonation of some livelandmines.9

This account neatly illustrates how Cambodias history has come to beencapsulated within a single vision of landscape. Continually romanticizedand mythologized as either terra incognita or a site of lurking danger, the jungle serves as a metaphor that powerfully conveys a mysterious and

dark past. For todays visitor, the ever-present promise of hidden archi-tectural treasures also carries a risk of exploration. Whether it be close toAngkors well-trodden temples or in remote provinces along the Thai border, the jungle both lures and repels tourists in emotional, cognitive,and corporal ways. As we shall see shortly, this has major implicationsfor the geographical distribution of tourism development across thecountry. In the meantime, the following section introduces the idea ofthewell-trodden path in order to illuminate how this imagined geography issubjectively negotiated by tourists.

The well-trodden path

These days, Cambodia is not necessarily the most dangerous place inthe world, or not even a nasty place, but it is an exotic, very inex-pensive stop that every traveler to Asia should make. Is it safe? Wellif you stay inside the tourist ruts (literally), dont venture outside theill-defined safety zone and watch your step, Cambodia can be safe.Cambodia can also be brutal if you pass through the invisible safety

barrier and end up in the hands of the Khmer Rouge . . . One touristcan fly into Phnom Penh and Siem Reap on a modern jet, stay in afive star hotel, and see the temple complex, complete with ice coldPepsis, an air conditioned car and a good meal. Another tourist can

1111

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1011

1

2

3111

4

5

6

7

8

9

20111

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

30111

1

2

34

5

6

7

8

9

40111

1

2

3

4

45111

42 Tim Winter


8/18

find himself kneeling at the edge of a shallow, hastily dug grave, wait-ing for the rifle butt that will slam into his cortex, ending his brief butadventurous life. The difference between the two scenarios might be10km or lingering a few too many minutes along the road.

(W. Fieldings The Worlds Most Dangerous Places, 1998)10

It was suggested above that the re-working of a French colonial historyhas placed the idea of exploration at the heart of Angkorean tourism.Events in recent history have also led to a strong touristic narrative aroundthe idea of exploring a country that is once again opening up. In sucha context Cambodia is a land of discovery, a frontier territory, a placeembattled by war and political turmoil. Thanatourismtravel orientedaround sites of war and genocidehas received considerable academicattention in recent years (Adams 2001; Lennon and Foley 2000). Thistheme is pursued further here via the notion of the well-trodden path, anelement of landscape that is simultaneously kept to, and left, both inmetaphorical and literal ways.

An omnipresent feature of all guidebooks on Cambodia and Angkor isa Warning, Landmines! section. Although the text of these sections istempered with each new edition as more sites are cleared, readers arecommonly advised to not stray from well-marked paths under any circum-stances (Robinson and Wheeler 1992: 47). Not surprisingly, the very realdanger presented by unexploded ordinance has charged many visits toAngkor with feelings of apprehension and fear:

Ming (44, Chinese, in Cambodia for three days): Everything I heardabout Cambodia was like . . . stick to the path, do the safe things, ithas that reputation of landmines, Khmer Rouge, danger.

Michiko (60s, Japanese, two-day tour to Siem Reap via Bangkok):We talked to the villagers. They wanted to show us where their villagewas. We thought about it but we were too worried about landmines

to wander off.

Michikos response illustrates how a call to explore can be countered bya rational voice of caution. For many, though, the very allure of Angkordirectly arises from the close proximity of fear and trepidation, and adesire to unearth the secrets of the jungle:

Jacqueline (60, French, fourteen-day group tour of Vietnam andCambodia): We did not adventure ourselves into the jungle, we wanted

to, it feels slightly dangerous. Arent there animals, snakes in there?And there was no pathway marked. Its true there are landmines! Ourguide advised us not to go off the bigger tracks because there are stillsome landmines.

1111234

56789101112311145678920111123

4567893011112

3456789401111

23445111



9/18

Interestingly, this emotional tension has now become embedded within thenarrative accounts of Angkor presented by local tour guides, as this excerptfrom an interview with Sophong, a Siem Reap-based guide, illustrates:

Sophong (23, resident of Siem Reap, full-time guide): Yes manyJapanese tourists want to know what happened to Pol Pot. They alwaysask if the Khmer Rouge were hiding in the jungle, or in the librariesof Angkor Wat, which temples they mined. So I always talk aboutthat now. They want to know if there are still mines in Angkor, itsinteresting for them I think.

For certain visitors to Cambodia, the hidden danger of millions of unexploded landmines generates far more than merely a passing interestcounterbalanced by a sense of caution. Since the early 1990s, a game ofcat and mouse has been played between de-mining agencies and adven-ture-seeking tourists. Working geographically outwards from the Angkorworld heritage park, bodies such as the Halo Trust and the CambodianMine Action Center (CMAC) have endeavored to make numerous templecomplexesincluding Beng Melea, Koh Ker, and Banteay Chmaarsafeand accessible. The interweaving of travelogues and guidebooks with themore ephemeral, but equally potent, circuit of backpacker tales has createdan imagining of the Cambodian countryside bound up in the romance ofun-chartered, danger-ridden, territories (see Figure 3.1). It is not only unex-

ploded ordinance that lies in wait; tales of expeditions to remote anddangerous, jungle-buried temples also await their intrepid authors. Sittingat the heart of this desire to flirt with space (Crouch 2005) is the ideaofkairos, where it is not only important to be (among) the first to encountera landscape, but also to be there at a particular moment in history:

Marc (29, Belgian, Thailand and Cambodia for one week): We liketo travel to places after there has been some kind of insurrection, wethought Cambodia was stabilizing a bit too fast and if you dont come

here quickly it will be a normal country and boring. We want a senseof danger, not actual danger. We dont want actual danger, just perceived danger, and exploring all these remote temples gives youthat feeling.

Implicit here is a broader reading of the country as a whole. Cambodiarepresents an opportunity to explore a place that has yet to be incor-porated into the heavily populated tourist circuits of neighboring Thailand,Malaysia, and even, to some extent, Vietnam. More specifically, Marcs

response illustrates how there is a seduction of place in Cambodias land-scapes, both rural and urban, built around leaving the well-trodden pathof international tourism. In order to mark this spatial transition, both guide-books and tourists alike commonly present Cambodias border crossings

1111

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1011

1

2

3111

4

5

6

7

8

9

20111

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

30111

1

2

34

5

6

7

8

9

40111

1

2

3

4

45111

44 Tim Winter


10/18

as not merely territorial boundaries, but as frontiers of wilderness anddanger involving a rite of passage. To quote Marc again:

Marc: I have wanted to come here for years, a friend of ours camehere in 1995 and was telling us how the road is dangerous, and ifyou take the train it will get hijacked, so in my head I have all thesemaps. For me the border town of Poipet is a name that is utterlydangerous, my friend came across it by accident and he survivedcertain death . . .

Dani (30, Belgian, partner of Marc): It is now youre telling me allthis! In our guide books it says you cannot go anywhere apart fromthe temples. I was very scared, and we think its the same thing forPhnom Penh.

Marcs account indicates the allure Cambodia holds as a place of insur-rection and danger. Sales of T-shirts emblazoned with images of military

ordinance or the words I survived Cambodia illustrate how this framingis communicated to, and thus circulates across, the broader touristiccommunity (see Figure 3.2). However, while the quest for adventure andrisk often seems largely unabated for many young (male) travelers, other

1111234

56789101112311145678920111123

4567893011112

3456789401111

23445111


Figure 3.1 Postcard available in Phnom Penh, 2003

Monument Books Publishing, Phnom Penh.


11/18

visitorsincluding, it seems, Dani as she learns moresee Cambodia asa series of landscapes where desires for exploration are more temperedby concerns for personal safety:

Neal (45, American, trip to Thailand and Angkor, in Cambodia fortwo days): I had the feeling a guide would be assigned to you, thegovernment would be watching what youre doing, that you had tostay on the paths and that you couldnt linger anywhere. I was eventold to stay on the path in Angkor. They were kind of left over ideas,from American TV, because of the Khmer Rouge, that kind of thing.

Alex (32, German, living in Singapore, in Cambodia for three days):Cambodias dangerous, for sure. We heard even around Angkor itsnot safe, landmines, old Khmer Rouge cronies. We were recommended

by friends, that to be safe, take a guide, see the temples and get thehell out of here. So thats what were doing.

Considered together, these various responses once again indicate howvisions of an ancient Angkor have become deeply infused with narratives of

1111

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1011

1

2

3111

4

5

6

7

8

9

20111

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

30111

1

2

34

5

6

7

8

9

40111

1

2

3

4

45111

46 Tim Winter

Figure 3.2 T-shirts on sale in Phnom Penh market

Photo by Tim Winter.


12/18

turmoil, a political other and a fear for personal security. Adopting thenotion of the well-trodden path reveals how Cambodias ancient and modernpasts converge in particular ways to create a touristic encounter character-ized by negotiation, desire, and resistance. For some, leavingthe pathboth

metaphorically and literallyis inherently seductive, whereas for others, aperception of Cambodia as dark and dangerous means thatstickingto thatpath is eminently preferable and safera fact not lost on many local tourguides, who consistently reap financial reward by petitioning clients aboutthe dangers supposedly lurking beyond their net of security.

Revival and restoration

Inherent to the idea of history lying in the jungle is the notion of decline.A key part of Angkors allure as a tourist destination today relates to itsfall and supposed abandonment in the mid-fifteenth century, a narrativethat, once again, can be traced back to the diaries of Henri Mouhot. AsEdwards (2006) extensively illustrates, the publication of Mouhots accountof discovering Angkor in 1860 would come to play a pivotal role inshaping Frances political strategies in Indochina. Instrumental in moldingAngkor as a socio-political totem unifying the cultural, ethnic and nation-alistic histories of an emergent Cambodge, France would encapsulate therestoration of former glories within the larger political agenda of forminga protectorate. Reframed as national monument, Angkor symbolized a

nation in ruins, and the provision of restoration expertise in the form ofthe French conservation school, the Ecole Franaise dExtrme-Orient(EFEO) would be closely tied to the idea of restoring the politicalstrength of early-twentieth-century Cambodge. In other words, moving far beyond merely an architectural enterprise, the reconstruction of templeswas imbued with hopes of social and political restitution for a countrythreatened by conflict and potential subjugation from either side.

Interestingly, this bond between architectural and socio-political recon-struction would powerfully re-appear after the turmoil of the 1970s and

1980s. Designated as one of the worlds most endangered World HeritageSites, Angkor would become the recipient of a huge program of aid, withorganizations from more than twenty countries offering assistance. Giventhat Cambodia had suffered one of the most brutal social experimentsinflicted upon a nation in the twentieth century, restoration of a commoncultural heritage was, understandably, seen as a vital part of societal recon-struction.

Ongoing international media coverage of Angkors desecration andpurloin would also ensure this convergence of cultural and socio-political

restitution emerged as a prevalent theme within tourism. The followingthoughts left in the visitors book provided by the World Monument Fundat the Preah Khan temple complex indicate the role such a theme playsin the way many tourists reflect upon their visit to Angkor:

1111234

56789101112311145678920111123

4567893011112

3456789401111

23445111



13/18

Naoya (Japan): It has been my dream to come to Angkor for a longtime and finally I have come. I have felt a strong need for the restora-tion work you do. It is very important for this poor country and foreveryone.

Dominique (France): We are so glad this country is now open totourists, it allows us all to benefit from the splendor. Your efforts torepair and protect this magnificent temple are important for this sadcountry and the entire world.

Katia (Canada): Hoping that these marvels will give visitors andhumanity the will to live in harmony. The temples should counter- balance the destruction wrought by the Khmer Rouge. Keep up thegood work and feel proud.

Angkors omnipotence within Cambodian history and sense of nationalidentity would also mean efforts to rehabilitate more contemporary, vernac-ular, or non-material cultural forms would frequently seek their validitythrough an association with past glories. Not surprisingly, this connectioninvariably emerged because of the potential presented by a rapidlyexpanding tourism industry primarily trading upon the sites global fame.In this respect, tourism initiated a conflation of histories, where the ancientand modern converged within a single narrative of cultural rejuvenation.Crucially, however, the all-too-familiar cultural logics of the tourism

industry meant that the legacy of Pol Pot would principally gravitate aroundthe recovery of those traditions or knowledges that could be performed,wrapped or photographed.

Take dance for example. Edwards (2001, 2002) has argued that classi-cal Khmer dance played an important role in symbolically connecting late-nineteenth-century Cambodge with a former Angkorean period. Stronglyreminiscent of the carved apsaras lining numerous temples, the dancerrepresented an embodied and nationalized manifestation of a templed land-scape. Today, with the apsara dance now installed as the obligatory cultural

performance for visitors to the country, those values have been re-politicizedthrough tourism. Typically introduced as either the authentic Angkorean,traditional Khmer, or classical Cambodian dance, its ubiquity also stemsfrom its metonymic status within a process of national and cultural recov-ery. Captured within a richly costumed aesthetic of timeless beauty andgrace, performances by young dancers involve abstract and unfathomablehistories of war and genocide being feminized, domesticated and trans-formed into a narrative of progress and hope.

In addition to dance, the kudos and historical legitimacy attained by

associating endangered cultural forms with ancient glories has also ledto the restoration of Cambodias artisan skills being dominated by certaintextile or stone and wood-carving industries. As Dahles and ter Horst illus-trate in their chapter on the silk industry, this has largely happened through

1111

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1011

1

2

3111

4

5

6

7

8

9

20111

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

30111

1

2

34

5

6

7

8

9

40111

1

2

3

4

45111

48 Tim Winter


14/18

a non-governmental civil society deliberately targeting the tourist dollaras a way of marrying demands for community development with the reju-venation of traditional arts and crafts. The now annual Angkor Silk Fair,along with the Siem Reap-based carving school Les Artisans dAngkor,

are two examples of a well-established landscape of organizations invokinga theme of restitution, a landscape capitalizing on the interweavingsymbolic exchange values of Angkor and the Khmer Rouge within acontemporary economy of tourism.

Megalomania

In Cambodia today the grand narratives of the countrys history largely pass unquestioned. The sublime resplendency of an ancient past lies instark contrast to the demonic inhumanity of modern times. Invariably, theconstruction of these two historical narratives centers upon the idea of apolitical elite. As the master creator of some of Angkors most magnifi-cent structures, including Bayon and Ta Prohm, Jayavarman VII is nowwidely revered and celebrated as the apogee of Khmer history. Conversely,the name Pol Pot has become synonymous with an era of evil, destruc-tion, and brutality. While the polarization of the two figures isor wouldappear to beentirely natural, it does, however, mask certain parallels.

Closer attention reveals that both leaders shared agrarian-based ideolo-gies requiring the mobilization of vast amounts of enslaved labor. More

specifically, in pursuing their respective ambitions, both forged a socialstructure around a framework of communitarian politics. A quest foromnipotent power also meant their leaderships were characterized by strongmegalomaniac tendencies, traits that, unsurprisingly, contributed to theirdownfall. Despite Pol Pots claims of returning Cambodia to year zero,significant elements of his radical ideology drew inspiration from a visionof a glorious Angkor. In his examination of the party speeches of Demo-cratic Kampuchea, Chandler indicates how the temples were cited as anexample of the power of mobilized labor and national grandeur which

could be re-enacted in the 1970s (1996b: 246). An attempt to reproduceAngkors irrigation technology would, however, lead to horrific conse-quences for the population (Barnett 1990).

Interestingly, international tourism is one context where such parallelsare simultaneously hidden and revealed. In essence, the two figures havecome to personify their respective histories, linked by the common threadof megalomania, a theme that continually generates curiosity, awe, andfeelings of disbelief among visitors to the country. These feelings areinvariably compounded by the fact that such contrasting figures are

presented within a single national history.Within Cambodias post-conflict tourism industry, Jayavarman VIIremains a highly conspicuous motif. Depicted as the apogee of a Khmercivilization by both guidebooks and tour guides, his face also adorns

1111234

56789101112311145678920111123

4567893011112

3456789401111

23445111



15/18

numerous coffee-table souvenir books, postcards, and paintings. Mostnotably, however, is the predominance of his bust as the definitive souvenirof a visit to Angkor. Countless shelves in market stalls and souvenir shopsacross Siem Reap and Phnom Penh are burdened by the weight of tens

of thousands of miniature stone carvings. A weighty, yet portable, replicaof Jayavarman VII promises an enduring connection for tourists betweenthe very materiality of Angkors temples and the stories of empires andkingdoms received from guides and guidebooks.

Clearly, the circulation of such imagery serves to commemorateJayavarman VII as the megalomaniac leader of an exalted monumentalculture. In the case of Pol Pot, however, this celebratory tone is replacedwith a quest for understanding, explanation, and a certain level of fasci-nation in the macabre. Rather than filling the glossy pages of coffee-tablebooks, Pol Pot is more commonly consumed in the form of dense biogra-phies written by university-based academics or journalists. Along with theubiquitous Lonely Planetguide, these books have come to dominate therampant pirate publishing industry that has sprung up around the tourismindustry in the last decade.

As Wood extensively illustrates in his chapter here, Pol Pots death in1998 heralded the beginning of Anlong Vengs rise as an internationaltourist destination. Located in the far north of the country, the town hassteadily attracted a growing number of adventure tourists hoping to seethe house and grave of a notorious despot. The localized tourism infra-

structure now includes a market where tourists can purchase old KhmerRouge uniforms, grainy video CD documentaries or spent bullet cartridgesas evidence of a trip to Pol Pots final resting place. The Ministry ofTourism plans to develop a package tour combining trips to Angkor andAnlong Veng will also mean Cambodias two histories of megalomaniawill soon be consumed either side of lunch.11

Considered together, the examples provided here illustrate how bothAngkor and the Khmer Rouge weave in and out of a landscape of contemporary tourism that focuses on a megalomaniac political elite. The final

part of this chapter turns to consider some of the broader societal impli-cations arising from the convergence and interweaving of these twohistories within tourism.

The consequences of tourism

Lhistoire Caf(8am-11pm)Experience the Khmer Rouge lifestyle.

Staff Dressed in KR uniform. Khmer RougeMeals, drinks and the unforgettable Songs.Traditional Khmer show from 5 to 11pm.St. 130 (in front of Tuol Sleng Museum)12

1111

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1011

1

2

3111

4

5

6

7

8

9

20111

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

30111

1

2

34

5

6

7

8

9

40111

1

2

3

4

45111

50 Tim Winter


16/18

As one of Cambodias biggest industries today, tourism has become instru-mental in driving the reclamation of traditions, which invariably accom- panies modernity, urbanization, and (post-) industrialization. An era ofisolation and erasure, immediately followed by an extraordinary level

of global interest and investment, has produced extreme and seeminglycontradictory processes. Located at the heart of a highly interconnectedand competitive regional tourism industry, the Royal Government hassought to foster wealth and development by branding the country aroundclassical glories. The continual adoption of Angkors iconic temples bythe state and wider Cambodian tourism industry does, however, reflect amuch deeper anxiety to re-establish vital cultural, ethnic, and nationalidentity markers devastated by decades of turmoil.

The prevalence of Jayavarman VIIa situation that can be traced backto early-twentieth-century French historiographyillustrates how tourismis providing a vehicle for this process. Given that the demonic figure ofPol Pot still very much resides within the nations living memory,Jayavarman VIIs megalomania represents a source of much needed prideand strength. In a country seeking out past glories, Jayavarman embodiesa history beyond deprecation. This situation, however, raises major ques-tions concerning identity constructions and a state nationalism rooted ina static, if not timeless, vision of a glorious past. As the Cambodiangovernment carves out a brand in such terms to profit from the globaltourist dollar, it risks trapping the country in a mono-cultural, monolithic,

unchanging, and inflexible identity.The combination of this anxiety to reclaim former glories with the

touristic interweaving of the Angkor and Khmer Rouge eras also servesto erase the six hundred years of history in between. With Angkor domi-nating a post-conflict heritage industry, significantly less attention andfunding has been given to other aspects of the countrys socio-culturalpast, an issue explored in greater detail by Robert Turnbull here. Despiterecent efforts by bodies such as UNESCO to address this situation, tourismis contributing to the imbalance.13 Not only is it not helping to fill these

gaps, tourism is actively reinforcing the idea that there is little social orcultural history capable of filling the present voids and ruptures. The distil-lation of Khmer performance arts around the apsara dance, and materialculture around traditional silks or replicas of Jayavarman VII illustratesthis point. Moreover, as Turnbull highlights, the ongoing destruction of acultural heritage associated with the vibrant years after Cambodia achievedindependence is passing largely unnoticed in times of rapid urban regen-eration and with a national heritage industry consumed by ancient temples.

It should be stated that the one exception to the historical vacuum argu-

ment advanced here is the French colonial period. Nonetheless, as wehave seen, beyond the restoration of certain buildings in Phnom Penh, thememory of this episode is principally driven by its connections withAngkor. Somewhat problematically, such nostalgia for a golden era of

1111234

56789101112311145678920111123

4567893011112

3456789401111

23445111



17/18

European jungle exploration and discovery contrived for touristic consump-tion romanticizes, aestheticizes and strips Cambodias history of all itscontradictions, political conflicts, and complexities. More specifically, thenotion of a lost civilization reclaimed from the jungle and restored by

foreign experts has created a situation whereby indigenous perspectivesof that period are in danger of being denied or overlooked. This issueholds particular pertinence for a country that has faced major obstacles tothe cultivation of a postcolonial voice capable of critically addressing that period of its history.

Not surprisingly, critical reflections concerning the past have principallyfocused on more recent events. Although internationally sanctioned trialsof Khmer Rouge leaders are vital to ascertaining a sense of accountabilityand retributive justice, a broader societal understanding of this infamous period, and the tumultuous years either side, remains in its early stages.Marschall (2004) has illustrated how South Africas attempts to promotesocial healing and negotiate a national memory through the erection ofmemorials and preservation of symbolically charged structures has beenlargely driven by tourism. Anlong Veng, landmine museums, the killingfields of Choeung Ek, as well as the Tuol Sleng genocide centre in PhnomPenh, all present similar opportunities for Cambodia. However, as wehave seen in the contexts of Germany, Israel, and Japan the use of polit-ically sensitive memorials and their touristic commodification is inevitablyfraught with tensions and dilemmas. Apart from the Ministerial procla-

mations cited by Wood in his chapter, the level of public discussion ordetailed reflection concerning the role these sites can, and should, play inthe construction of a social memory for both Cambodians and foreignvisitors alike has remained extremely limited. Examples such as the KhmerRouge-themed cafe noted above illustrate the risk of this traumatic historybeing fetishized for lurid consumption. In a society characterized by highlevels of illiteracy, it is important that careful attention is given to theways in which material culture and heritage can simultaneously memori-alize tyrannical megalomania, but also allow a population to cultivate the

art of forgetting (Forty and Kchler 2001).The conflation of Cambodias history into two particular episodes, and

the resultant idea that great voids and barren periods lie in between, hasits spatial parallel in the geographical distribution of tourism. For the lastdecade or so the international tourist dollar has been a vital engine ofsocioeconomic growth for the country. While Phnom Penh and Siem Reaphave been the clear beneficiaries of this booming industry, the discursiverendering of the Cambodian countryside as jungle has helped forge theidea that these urban centers are highlights surrounded by a barren land-

scape, devoid of any attractions. Moreover, the commonly held notionamong tourists that leaving the well-trodden path comes with risk anddanger in Cambodia is also stifling the organic development of a morenationwide tourism industry. Since the beginning of the early 1990s, the

1111

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1011

1

2

3111

4

5

6

7

8

9

20111

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

30111

1

2

34

5

6

7

8

9

40111

1

2

3

4

45111

52 Tim Winter


18/18

average length of stay of tourists has failed to climb above a mere twoand a half days (Ministry of Tourism 2003). Very little of the millions ofdollars generated by tourism every year reaches the 85 percent or so ofthe countrys population that continue to live in the countryside today

(Ministry of Planning 2003). In this respect, tourism is significantlycontributing to the major social ills arising from the countrys everincreasing wealth inequalities.

By considering these various threads together, we can see that onlythose places, cultural forms, or moments of the past associated with eitherthe Khmer Rouge or Angkor, and their points of intersection, get promotedand consumed within an environment of tourism. By implication, thoseareas that have fallen outside the cultural logics of Cambodias post-conflict tourism industry remain neglected. International tourism is playinga major role in the countrys social and economic development. Thischapter has attempted to offer some insights into that process and high-light a number of implications arising from an industry dominated by anunlikely partnership between ancient glory and modern tragedy.

Notes

1 I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to Laavanya Kathiravelu,Keiko Miura, Thina Ollier, Nicola Piper, Jake Ramsey (FD), AmandaSummerscales, and Winnie Wong for reviewing earlier drafts of this chapter.

2 M. Stoessel (1999) 90 Days in Cambodia, JulyOctober 1998; www.stoessel.

ch/cambodia1.htm (accessed on December 12, 2005).3 From the 140 semi-structured interviews I conducted with international tourists,

the words tragic and glorious were the most commonly cited terms whendiscussing the Khmer Rouge and Angkor periods.

4 In using the term international tourism there is little attempt to claim this repre-sents a global/universal account. The examples of media coverage presentedhere are an attempt to represent the framings and representations that have domi-nated tourism in the post-conflict era. As will be seen, excerpts from interviewswith tourists spanning multiple countries, continents, and languages do suggesta strong sense of narrative and representational coherence.

5 These excerpts, and the ones that follow, are taken from interviews conducted

with tourists in Siem Reap during 200001 and 2004. Lasting between two andthree hours, interviews were semi-structured in nature, recorded on minidisk,and later transcribed.

6 See Rose 2002: 23.7 See Cambodia DailyWeekend(2004)Rebuilding a bygone era, July 34,pp. 89.8 See also Hartley 2002.9 For further details see Guardians of Angkor, www.nationalgeographic.com.

10 R. Pelton, C. Aral and W. Dulles (1998) W. Fieldings The Worlds Most Danger-ous Places, Redondo Beach CA: Fielding Worldwide. Cited in Adams 2003: 43.

11 For further details see A. Sipress (2004a) Tourism Plans for the Khmer RougeSite, Washington Post, April 28.

12 Advert from Phnom Penh Eating and Drinking(2005), free guide, July

September, Phnom Penh: Cambodia Pocket Guide Co Ltd.13 See for example UNESCO/Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts (2004)Inventory

of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Cambodia, Phnom Penh: UNESCO/Ministryof Culture and Fine Arts.

1111234

56789101112311145678920111123

4567893011112

3456789401111

23445111


Documents

Expressions of Cambodia: When ancient glory meets modern tragedy