2013/03/19 by Shawn McHale · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Vietnamese History and Culture Studies #Cambodian History and Society #Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies #Vietnamese #Mekong delta #Ethnic group #CONTEST #Sovereignty #Vietnam War #History #Period (music) #Ancient history #Gender studies #Political science #Ethnology #Geography #Sociology #Anthropology #Politics #Law #Art #Linguistics #Archaeology #Philosophy #Aesthetics
paper · doi:10.1017/s0021911813000016
openalex publication_date 2013/03/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/11
This essay argues that to understand twentieth-century Khmer-Vietnamese ethnic antagonism, the contest for the lower Mekong Delta (in today's Vietnam) since the mid-eighteenth century has been key. It argues, however, that while this pre-1945 background can explain antagonism, it cannot sufficiently explain the violence between Khmer and Vietnamese that occurred after 1945. For that, the First Indochina War (1945–54) and decolonization marked a turning point. This period saw the creation of a dynamic of violence between Khmer and Vietnamese that hardened ethnic antagonisms, shaped the character of the war, and affected arguments over sovereignty. This dynamic of violence also contributed, in the long run, to a common Cambodian antagonism to the Vietnamese, including that of the Khmer Rouge.