Khmer Institute

Khmer American: Identity and Moral Education in a Diasporic Community
Nancy Smith-Hefner
University of California Press, 1999
207 pp.

In the book Khmer American: Identity and Moral Education in a Diasporic Community, Nancy Smith-Hefner presents the results of her extensive study of Khmers in the Boston-area of Massachusetts. The author's intention appears not to be to write an in-depth analytical text, but more or less a primer to introduce readers to practices and issues within the Cambodian American community. The book does so successfully by exploring how customs, traditions and cultural values shape Khmer adaptation to American society.
       Although the book is an excellent learning tool, as a Khmer American I found myself concerned that some portions of the book could be misconstrued by even those with some knowledge about Cambodians. For instance, early in the book Smith-Hefner goes into quite a bit of detail discussing Khmer spirit beliefs. I feel the significance of these beliefs is somewhat overemphasized. While inherent in the culture and taken quite seriously by many individuals, it is not as all-pervading an influence as an uninformed person might assume from reading the book. One is left with the feeling that Cambodians walk the streets looking over their shoulders to see if spirits are following them. Rather, I think Khmer belief in spirits may be, and maybe should have been in the book, compared to the Christian belief in angels and devils. Also, the performance of rituals for dead ancestral spirits could have been compared to the not-uncommon American practice of placing flowers on and speaking at the grave of deceased loved ones. Rather than making these Khmer rituals appear strange or exotic, I think comparisons with American rituals would help place them in a more familiar context and help the reader get a better feel and understanding of their real significance to Cambodians.
       A second misconstrual worth noting is Smith-Hefner's discussion of a Khmer wedding pratice where a groom is suppose to give the bride's family a sum of money as a gift (something like a reverse-dowry). Smith-Hefner terms this a "bride-price" and states that "the idioms used in marriage negotiations clearly refer to the groom's 'paying' for the bride." This is incredibly misleading. Inherent in the term "bride-price" is the notion that the bride is being bought; but, in fact, this is an inaccurate term the author herself devised and inappropriately uses. The actual expression used to describe the groom's payment of money to the bride's family is "house price." Smith-Hefner mentions this in passing, but fails to see or point out its significance. In fact, the concept of "house price" is in reference to an historic Khmer practice in which the groom had to prove himself worthy to marry his bride by demonstrating to his future in-laws that he would be capable of providing for her. This entailed being able to construct or purchase her a home. Later, the practice evolved to where the prospective groom did not actually have to procure a house, but instead simply gave the amount of money equivalent to the cost of one to his future in-laws. To support her suggestion that the woman is being "bought," Smith-Hefner points out that the value of money offered is often based on the prospective bride's reputation - i.e., the better her reputation, the more the groom has to pay her family. In fact, the amount of money to be paid is often as much a reflection of the groom's desirability to his prospective in-laws as it is the bride's.
       One last misinterpretation I would like to clarify is Smith-Hefner's observation that Khmer parents "exhibit ambivalence toward their youngsters' academic lives" - meaning while they have professed to her their concerns for and support of their children's academic pursuits, she has observed otherwise. As proof, she points out that Khmer parents do not permit their youngsters to go on school outings or do after-school activities, or even go to the homes of school friends. The last of these is clearly non-academic, while the former two are not a part of Khmer conceptions of academic life. School-related activities, such as field trips, after-school athletics, or parent-teacher conferences, were generally not a part of schooling in Cambodia; consequently, Khmer parents do not understand their value to student learning. Hence, lack of student and parent participation in these activities should not be construed as indicative of ambivalence - rather, it is indicative of a different conceptualization of what is and is not a part of academics.
       Despite such misinterpretations (there are actually relatively few), Smith-Hefner should be applauded for her general thoroughness and attention to detail. For example, to her credit she points out to the reader when certain Khmer rituals or beliefs are specific to particular socio-economic classes. Her analyses of education and gender issues in the last few chapters, although not as detailed as her journal articles, are especially worthwhile reading. In these chapters, Smith-Hefner demonstrates an intimate understanding of and insight into the intersection between Khmer cultural values and adaptation to American society, particularly regarding academic attainment and social development. As one of only a handful of books published within the last decade that attempts to present a study of the Cambodian community in America, this book is a valuable contribution to the emerging field of Cambodian American studies and will be for some years to come.

CHAPTER SYNOPSIS
The book is divided into seven chapters:

Chapter 1 very briefly reviews the historical backdrop from which Khmers in America have emerged, and discusses issues related to Smith-Hefner's research methodology.
Chapter 2 goes on to discuss the role of Buddhism in the community, how this role has been affected by transplant of the religion in America, and the influence of Buddhist doctrines on Khmer identity and world view.
Chapter 3 delves into the function and values of the nuclear Khmer family and how it struggles to maintain its traditional characteristics in America.
Chapter 4 addresses expectations Khmer parents have of their children and explores parent-child dynamics.
Chapter 5 considers the impact of Khmer culture, traditions and values on the educational attainment level of Khmers in the Boston area.
Chapter 6 describes a Khmer-American wedding and the double standard of moral behavior to which Khmer women are subjected.
Chapter 7 is basically a review of the points Smith-Hefner makes throughout the book and presents some proposals and predictions concerning adaptation patterns and their impact on the future of the Khmer American community.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Massachusetts at Boston
Conducted ethnographic and sociolinguistic studies in Indonesia 1978-80, 1985
Studied Khmer immigrants in the Boston-area since 1987

OTHER RELEVANT WORKS BY THE AUTHOR
*The following articles are of exceptional quality, and I would highly recommend them for anyone interested in the particular topics.

"Language and Identity in the Education of Boston-Area Khmer." Anthropology and Education Quarterly 21(3):250-268, 1990.
"Education, Gender, and Generational Conflict among Khmer Refugees." Anthropology and Education Quarterly 24:135-158, 1993.
"Ethnicity and the Force of Faith: Christian Conversion among Khmer Refugees." Anthropological Quarterly 67(1):24-37, 1994.
"The Culture of Entrepreneurship among Khmer Refugees." In New Immigrants in the Marketplace: Boston's Ethnic Entrepreneurs, edited by Marilyn Halter. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1995.

Reviewed by Sody Lay
Lecturer, Cambodian American Experience, UCLA

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