2012-2013 - Center for Khmer Studies

CKS Programs
SUMMER JUNIOR RESIDENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
After a two year break occasioned by a loss of funding,
we are delighted to announce the return of the
immensely popular summer Junior Resident
Fellowship Program. Over the weekend of June 22, students
from Cambodia, France and the U.S., arrived in Siem
Reap for the beginning of the 2012 program. The unique
mix of students came from the Royal University of Phnom
Penh, Norton University (Phnom Penh), INALCO (Paris),
Université d’Evry­Vald’Essone, Bryn Mawr College,
University of California, Berkeley, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst and Oxford University. The program
is structured around an academic course, and
includes field trips and visits to government and non­governmental
agencies. Students spent the first two days visiting
the Angkor temples and absorbing the program’s
extensive reading materials. After the orientation sessions,
classes began. The academic part of the program is structured
around a 45 hour course entitled ‘Nation Building
after the Khmer Rouge’, led by course instructor Dr. Karen
Greene.
Karen received her PhD from the University of California
Berkeley, and has been living and working in Phnom Penh
for several years. Karen’s course investigates nation­building
as a complex, often contentious process driven by people
and organizations (supra­national, international, state
Students from the US, France and Cambodia listen to Long Sarou
of the Association of Buddhists for the Environment (ABE) during
the Summer Junior Fellowship Program
The summer junior fellows at Ta Prohm, outside Siem Reap
and non­state) with sometimes conflicting ideas, methods
and agendas. The focus is on change in Cambodia after the
Khmer Rouge fell from power from the perspectives of
economics, political science, and anthropology. The overall
purpose of the program is to give students a better understanding
of how contemporary Cambodian society has and
is being shaped. Students also have the opportunity to do
research in preparation for the presentation of a small
research paper at the end of the program. Karen was on
hand to guide and advise students as they work through
the challenges of doing research in Cambodia. As well as
undertaking a small research project all students attend
daily Khmer or English language classes. In the context of
the programs purpose, the two week field trip to Phnom
Penh is essential. Since the early 2000s Cambodia’s capital
city has been undergoing significant transformations.
Students were able to see first­hand how this transformation
is impacting the city and its residents.
After that, it’s back to Siem Reap to write up their research
findings and prepare presentations. Each year, feedback
from students has consistently praised the program’s
multi­cultural orientation and all that that entails in terms
of educational and cultural exchange. This year was no different.
We are very much looking forward to offering the
course again next year.
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