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K uy alterities: The struggle to conceptualise and claim Indigenous land rights in neoliberal C ambodia
Author(s) -
Keating Neal B.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
asia pacific viewpoint
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.571
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8373
pISSN - 1360-7456
DOI - 10.1111/apv.12026
Subject(s) - indigenous , cognitive reframing , state (computer science) , politics , identity (music) , indigenous rights , political science , ethnic group , land law , land tenure , environmental ethics , political economy , geography , sociology , law , archaeology , ecology , psychology , social psychology , philosophy , physics , algorithm , computer science , acoustics , biology , agriculture
Based primarily on fieldwork with K uy peoples in R ovieng District, P reah V ihear Province, this article examines contemporary Indigeneity in C ambodia as an emergent heterogeneous and polythetic identity vis‐à‐vis the changing nature of the state, and suggests that a more substantive political engagement with Indigenous identity and history offers a pluricultural reframing of the world heritage of C ambodia and a possible source of alternative land regimes that are more sustainable and equitable than the current dominant neoliberal model of land concessions. Although the 2001 C ambodian National Land Law holds critical significance for Indigenous Peoples in pursuit of communal land rights, it has largely failed to protect rights because of (i) persistent discrimination against groups now claiming I ndigenous identities, embedded in state procedures of Indigenous identity and land registration; and (ii) the state's demonstrated embrace of land concession regimes as the preferred strategy of economic development. The D elcom mining concession of K uy lands provides one example of the destructive impacts of this strategy. An examination of the evidence of K uy peoples' history suggests that their classification as ethnic minorities is of recent origins, and that in the past they played more active roles in C ambodian state‐building projects.