Society

In 1939, the German sociologist Norbert Elias published his groundbreaking work The Civilizing Process, which has come to be regarded as one of the most influential works of sociology today. In this insightful new study tracing the history of violence in Cambodia, the authors evaluate the extent to which Elias's theories can be applied in a non-western context.

Prostitution is strongly embedded in local cultural practices in Cambodia. Based on extensive original research, this book explores the nature of prostitution in Cambodia, providing explanations of why the phenomenon is so widely tolerated. It outlines the background of the French colonial period, with its filles malades, considers the contemporary legal framework, and analyses the motivations for sex work, examining in particular how women become locked into debt bondage.

Grace after Genocide is the first comprehensive ethnography of Cambodian refugees, charting their struggle to transition from life in agrarian Cambodia to survival in post-industrial America, while maintaining their identities as Cambodians.

This is the story of the residents in a decaying slum in Phnom Penh called the White Building. It is a gritty dark story, full of the true struggles they face - hopelessness, unemployment and poverty. It is the story of the relationship between the honest, hard-working members of society and some on the seedier of the Building's inhabitants - gangsters, drug users, child abusers, pimps and prostitutes. This is a story based on the truth. Because as they say, the truth can often be stranger and more brutal than fiction.