Socio-ecological transformations in a tributary region of the Mekong in Cambodia: Culture of resistance or resistance of culture?

Abstract

This paper highlights the evolution of the relations between highlanders and lowlanders that took place in one of the Mekong's riparian eastern territories in Ratanakiri province. It contributes to knowledge and debate on the impacts of landscape transformation and dispossession on indigenous peoples and their culture in upland Cambodia. The first section considers the legacy of the past and emphasises successive attempts of resistance. It contributes to an understanding of why highlanders opted to live in a forest milieu, not isolated from outsiders but careful to maintain some distance. The second section delineates the evolution of the interactions between natural ecosystems and social ecosystems in the changing tributary region. The last section documents major changes that have recently occurred under the guise of development. It questions the remaining possibilities for indigenous people to continue living with dignity in a shrunken territory in the present socio-political environment. The conclusion proposes research orientations focusing on some neglected dimensions of indigenous cultures dealing with new forms of resistances.