Chapter 4 Remembering Lost Landscapes in Cambodia

摘要

This chapter narrates a short history of agricultural and environmental change in the village of East Big Lake in southern Cambodia. Primarily based upon villagers' memories of place, it explores the changing relationship between people and their local environment over the second half of the twentieth century, during which the country gained independence from France and then later became embroiled in civil war, genocide, and national reconstruction. People's memories of the environmental past are retold through the landscape, drawing upon their personal experiences. The information retold in this historical narrative was learned through a yearlong ethnographic research project, in which the author carried out participant observation, interviews, and structured surveys with a group of 26 families. This chapter provides a local, village-based perspective on Cambodia's agricultural and environmental history, about which relatively little has been written. It also demonstrates how place, memory, and landscape can contribute to environmental histories.