Focusing on Cambodia as a microcosm of the rapid social change currently underway in many parts of the Global South, my research seeks to explore the manner in which primarily agrarian societies are adapting to conditions of mass internal labour migration. In doing so, it has sought to develop the theoretical and methodological linkages between the natural and economic environment, and the nature of the social relations which take place therein.

 

Via the employment of a social network perspective on community relations, and the use of both recently developed network mapping tools - such as Gephi - as well as more conventional statistics and qualitative methods, I am seeking new ways to bridge the gap between ethnographic and economic perspectives on Cambodian social change. In particular, I am concerned with the manner in which patriarchal power structures emerge and adapt to their changing environments, as well as the nature of their persistence in the face of labour movement and widespread economic opportunity.