This is Sunday and in the morning I go at about 8:40 am to the Phnom Penh Moto Shop to rent a decent cross bike (Honda CRM two stroke), as well as suitable protection, glasses, and gloves. Next thing is I ride the bike to Dara’s Bike Shop, where I arranged to meet with Vuth and John to go on a moto cross trip. Vuth is already here but we are still waiting for John. So I hang out for some time.
Today was Saturday and I though after this exhausting week I should have a lazy day. However, I have serious difficulties determining what activity would fit this intention. So I sleep long and go at about 10 am to the Java Café, which is one of my favorites at Hun Sen Park, close to the Monument of Independence. Great food, not even overpriced. One can sit on the veranda and look at the busy street. Or read the newspaper. I do both extensively.
Again, the travel to Cambodia is sort of exhausting and affects the sleep (or the lack thereof) of three nights. Although it was more chaotic too, I was happy to have the chance to spend one day in the vibrant city state of Singapore.
Continue reading Back to Cambodia: Berlin, Frankfurt, Singapore, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh
I should have mentioned here that I left Cambodia already about five weeks ago. Yet among other things I keep writing on various papers on indigenous peoples and decentralization in Cambodia. This is happening somewhat slowly, as I have other obligations, too. I decided to split my report into two parts: a research report and a final report. The research report summarizes the results of the empirical study, that is, interviews in the field. The final report is supposed to put those findings into the context of international law, political theory and development debate. I just finalized the first draft of the research report and thought I should make it available here. Any feedback is highly welcome. And I should mention that I intend to travel to Cambodia again in about three weeks from today.
This is the research report:
Continue reading Research Report: Indigenous Peoples and Decentralization in Cambodia
Today is Saturday. As usual we do not care much about the weekend and intend to visit another indigenous village. So after we had breakfast we take a taxi and travel about half an hour north to meet the Chairman of the associated Commune Council.
We meet this guy and than drive together another thirty minutes before we reach the place where we take a boat.
This is on the way.
Continue reading Forth Day of the Field Trip to Kratie Province
This is the view from the balcony of the hotel at one of the pagodas in town in the morning.
Continue reading Second Day of the Field Trip to Kratie Province
Phnom Penh
I took the following pictures a few weeks ago prior to my third field trip to Kratie. However, I did not find time yet to make them available here.
Those pictures are taken at the riverside when it is about to get dark. I promise that I did not add additional color. This really is how it looks like. Those pictures are taken without flash, long exposure times and a stand.
Today I finalized a short summary of my final report. I thought I should make it available here. Of course it is tempting to continue writing on this one but I thought I better make it available soon so that I have the chance to incorporate concerns and recommendations from anybody willing to provide feedback. Any considerations are greatly appreciated.
Continue reading Executive Summary: Commune Council in the Vernacular. Indigenous Peoples and Decentralization in Cambodia
We spend the night in the house of a family. This is rather simple but lovely and it is nice to keep in touch with the local population. After we got up and have a Khmer style shower in the garden we have some breakfast. This is the kind of breakfast place frequented by Khmer people. Those places can be found all over the country and Phnom Penh is no exception. They offer good and very cheap food and this is the way most Cambodians have breakfast.
It is sort of difficult to get to the areas in which indigenous peoples live in this province. One of those areas is Siem Pang in the north, directly at the border to Laos. The other area is in the east and we learned that it would be very difficult to get there in the rainy season and impossible to get there within our tight schedule. So we decide to visit various communes and villages in Siem Pang. There is no road to this area and the boat it the only way to make it. At the same time it is about 100 km from Stung Treng town and we do not have much time. So what we need is a fast boat. We are lucky, because what is available here is called fast boat and really deserves the name.
Those are fast boats. They are imported from Thailand and Laos and designed for maximal speed. Those boats have powerful engines and can easily make 60 km per hour. However, they are extremely sensitive when it comes to waves. They are mostly used to cross the border to Laos and this is what most tourists do when they come here.
There are not many options for us to go to Stung Treng, particularly when considering our tight schedule. So we decide to rent a pick up and start very early in the morning, which costs us about $40 for the four hour ride. However, we thought this way we can meet the government representative there before the extensive lunch break and start conducting interviews as early as the afternoon of the same day.
We start at about 5 am, which really is very early for me. I do not get much sleep anymore anyway. So as soon as we sit in the car I try to go back to sleep again. Surprisingly the car is the same with which I made the trip from Strung Treng to Banlung when I came here the first time.
After we have been driving for some time we have some minor problems with the car.
This is Saturday. In the morning we went to see the guy who is working as education advisor for CARE. He has been working in indigenous education all his life and is actually from Australia. We had a long and very open discussion. I enjoyed having a discussion in English without translation, which makes the event much more delightful for me. I learned a lot about the education project, the governments approach to indigenous rights in general and indigenous education and the local situation in comparative perspective in particular. Furthermore he liked ‘my’ theory of indigenous rights. After a good discussion we agreed to keep in touch and provide each other with documents and information.
Even out here in Rattanakiri there are Pagodas and monks who are traveling the streets in the morning to collect food from the people.
Continue reading Day four and five of the Second Field Trip to Rattanakiri
I am out of office again starting Thuesday August 25 up to Friday. I am in Kratie conducting field work. It is highly uncertain whether or not I will have access to the internet.
I assume that I am back on Friday, but most likely only for very few days before I leave to Mondulkiri again to continue field work.
Continue reading Out of Office – Kratie
My work keeps me busy and I do not find time to more general reflection. I do not even find time to answer my mail. Sorry for that. I will be in Kratie for another week. However, I changed the schedule and will come back to Phnom Penh before I travel to Mondulkiri and continue fieldwork.
I thought it might be a good idea to provide my research outline and rational as well as the guiding questions that I use to conduct my (semi-standardized) interviews. However, I did not find time to update it dititaly and this reflects the situation rather three weeks ago. I will provide the update on this as soon as I get back from Kratie.
Continue reading Research Design
I am in Rattanakiri again and not easily available via email right not. I have spend about 5 days here and travel to Stung Treng Province tonight. After that I will return to Phnom Penh, most likely on Friday. Next week I intend to travel to Mondulkiri Kraties Province.
Just for information.
Continue reading Out of Office – Rattanakiri
