ABSTRACT
Chronologically, we will traverse three decisive moments of culturo-political transformation in Cambodia’s modern history: French colonialism (1863-1953/4), Cambodia’s independence as a period of extensive cultural nationalism (1954-1970) and Cambodia’s globalised rebirth process after 1990 as Asia’s youngest nation state. Cambodia’s heritage landmarks, the temple of Angkor Wat and the Royal Khmer Ballet, as transcultural hybrids, with their colonially reinvented, postcolonially appropriated and globally commodified elements, will be contextualised along six parameters: the source material used to reconstitute cultural performances and re-enactments; the media used to develop them; the events of representation and their audiences; the specific sites and spatial components; the temporalities employed; and, most importantly, the concrete agency behind these scenarios, ranging from individual cultural brokers, national decision-makers, and elites and institutions, to the global heritage community and cultural heritage industry.
