Culture Matters: My experience of Cambodian Culture

I've been asked about my experience with Cambodian culture. It's been two weeks since I arrived and I thought it was finally time set forth some observations, without trying to make grand claims about Cambodia as a whole.

My experience is limited by: the shortness of my stay, geographical location in Phnom Penh and lack of time in the rural "provinces", inability to speak or understand the Khmer (pronounced Khmai by local speakers who aren't French), main experience working at Digital Divide Data (an NGO/company with a somewhat Western-centric business model).

The standard approach to Khmer society and culture is that the "collective" is a, if not the, central organizing principle of social interaction.

My experience has validated this approach, generally. Some examples, with comments:

-When I eat lunch or dinner with my professional colleagues, we order multiple dishes for the table and share, sometimes eating directly from the same plates. I greatly prefer this style, as is reduces boundaries and allows me to sample multiple dishes. Eating is an important social ritual, (as in many cultures), perhaps especially so here. It's not customary to talk about work at meals when with professional colleaugues. In fact, I've been told that Cambodians are often silent during meals. I asked about this, and was told that the silence has roots in Cambodia's agrarian past: eating was a rest period.

-Many Cambodians go home for lunch, to be with their families. Family is clearly very important to Cambodians: people continue to live with their families until marriage, spend a lot of leisure time with their families, and make economic/professional decisions with others in mind more so than in United States.

-H, my closest professional counterpart, told me that Cambodian parents name their children with similar phonetic sounds to other family members, reducing differences and building linguistic unity.

-Social interaction (talking, joking around, etc) is enormously frequent and important. People are constantly talking to me (and to each other), and want to converse, ask me questions, answer my questions, share jokes. Cambodians have a fantastic and constant sense of humor, which is used to build trust, deal with tension, and enjoy existence. As as result, I feel as if I am constantly talking, making jokes, and laughing. This is a good influence.

Principle #2 of the Standard Approach: Cambodian society is hierarchical.

Examples:

-I am afforded a great deal of respect as a foreigner "baaraang = foreign, not Khmai." People assume that I am deeply knowledgeable, professionally experienced, and of serious authority.

-People watch for status. I sometimes sense that I am being carefully examined and sized up when I meet Cambodians, with a verdict about my relative position in the world rendered by the middle or end of the conversation. I tend to play it safe, and downplay my respective worth, as modesty seems to be an important cultural norm interaction.

-People have enormous respect and interest for "the boss." Cambodians who perceive themselves to be of lower status are extremely loyal, complimentary, and deferential when dealing with me. This is a complicated thing to deal with personally and professionally, since it clashes with my egalitarian ideals but can be very easy to slip into and accept.

I'll add other cultural observations in further posts. There is a saying that Khmer culture rests on three central pillars: faith, food, and family. I've seen the latter two at work, and sense that the third maybe more evident once I travel outside Phnom Penh. Small Buddhist shrines are everywhere, and monks quietly roam the city.

I'll post some appropriate pictures shortly.