Rethinking Cambodian political discourse on territory

Genealogy of the Buddhist ritual boundary ( sīmā)

Bibliographic Data

ID7212420
AuthorsIan Harris (0000-0003-2037-9284, Institute of Religious Studies, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume41
Issue2
Pages215-239
Publication date2010-05-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Southeast Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-4634 • E-ISSN: 1474-0680
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022463410000032
OpenAlexW2112271893
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited42

Despite their profound differences all of Cambodia's post-independence regimes have exhibited a unique obsession with protecting the country's borders from the depredations of neighbouring states. Some of this is fall-out from the colonial inheritance but this paper argues that older indigenous categories related to Theravada Buddhism have also played a significant role in the aetiology of modern Khmer territorialism. By showing how the traditional maṇḍala arrangement of space was being eroded at around the same time as the old monastic conception of a ritual boundary was purified, rationalised and extended under the influence of Buddhism modernism the author seeks to provide a Southeast Asian illustration of Carl Schmitt's insight that certain important elements of the modern state are, in fact, secularised religious concepts

Archaeology · Buddhism · Colonialism · Ethnology · Genealogy · Independence (probability theory · Indigenous · Inheritance (genetic algorithm · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Anthropology · Cambodian History and Society · History · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

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