The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia

Download The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131756782X
Total Pages : 614 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia by : Katherine Brickell

Download or read book The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia written by Katherine Brickell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering a comprehensive overview of the current situation in the country, The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia provides a broad coverage of social, cultural, political and economic development within both rural and urban contexts during the last decade. A detailed introduction places Cambodia within its global and regional frame, and the handbook is then divided into five thematic sections: Political and Economic Tensions Rural Developments Urban Conflicts Social Processes Cultural Currents The first section looks at the major political implications and tensions that have occurred in Cambodia, as well as the changing parameters of its economic profile. The handbook then highlights the major developments that are unfolding within the rural sphere, before moving on to consider how cities in Cambodia, and particularly Phnom Penh, have become primary sites of change. The fourth section covers the major processes that have shaped social understandings of the country, and how Cambodians have come to understand themselves in relation to each other and the outside world. Section five analyses the cultural dimensions of Cambodia’s current experience, and how identity comes into contact with and responds to other cultural themes. Bringing together a team of leading scholars on Cambodia, the handbook presents an understanding of how sociocultural and political economic processes in the country have evolved. It is a cutting edge and interdisciplinary resource for scholars and students of Southeast Asian Studies, as well as policymakers, sociologists and political scientists with an interest in contemporary Cambodia.

The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia

Download The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1317567838
Total Pages : 456 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia by : Katherine Brickell

Download or read book The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia written by Katherine Brickell and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering a comprehensive overview of the current situation in the country, The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia provides a broad coverage of social, cultural, political and economic development within both rural and urban contexts during the last decade. A detailed introduction places Cambodia within its global and regional frame, and the handbook is then divided into five thematic sections: Political and Economic Tensions Rural Developments Urban Conflicts Social Processes Cultural Currents The first section looks at the major political implications and tensions that have occurred in Cambodia, as well as the changing parameters of its economic profile. The handbook then highlights the major developments that are unfolding within the rural sphere, before moving on to consider how cities in Cambodia, and particularly Phnom Penh, have become primary sites of change. The fourth section covers the major processes that have shaped social understandings of the country, and how Cambodians have come to understand themselves in relation to each other and the outside world. Section five analyses the cultural dimensions of Cambodia’s current experience, and how identity comes into contact with and responds to other cultural themes. Bringing together a team of leading scholars on Cambodia, the handbook presents an understanding of how sociocultural and political economic processes in the country have evolved. It is a cutting edge and interdisciplinary resource for scholars and students of Southeast Asian Studies, as well as policymakers, sociologists and political scientists with an interest in contemporary Cambodia.

Contemporary Cambodian - Glossary

Download Contemporary Cambodian - Glossary PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Samurai Media Limited
ISBN 13 : 9789888405152
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (51 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Contemporary Cambodian - Glossary by : Lim Hak Kheang

Download or read book Contemporary Cambodian - Glossary written by Lim Hak Kheang and published by Samurai Media Limited. This book was released on 2016-03-18 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary Cambodian - Glossary is part of the Contemporary Cambodian. FSI Courses are language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute and were primarily intended for US government employees.This courses are very intense to let a learner achieve proficiency as fast and as efficient as possible. Keep in mind that most of the courses were developed during the cold war area between 1960 and 1990 and the type set in this book is therefore not as accurate as you might expect.

Cambodia

Download Cambodia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351756508
Total Pages : 628 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (517 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Cambodia by : Sorpong Peou

Download or read book Cambodia written by Sorpong Peou and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-12 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2001. This text offers a comprehensive view of controversial issues surrounding Cambodia's past, present and possible future development. It brings together a selection of journal articles about the wartorn country to examine critical issues concerning change and continuity in contemporary Cambodian politics. The book covers violence, war and peace, the Constitution, human rights and the pursuit of justice, democratic development and dilemmas, gender and ethnic relations and economic development and problems. These themes should be instructive for scholars, policymakers and interested individuals dealing with what has been termed "triple transition": from armed conflict to the end of violent hostility, from political authoritarianism to liberal democracy and from socialist economic systems to market-driven or capitalist ones. The book shows that the trajectory towards peace, democracy and sustainable development is complex, full of dangers and in need of careful management.

Youth Culture and the Music Industry in Contemporary Cambodia

Download Youth Culture and the Music Industry in Contemporary Cambodia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000984109
Total Pages : 93 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (9 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Youth Culture and the Music Industry in Contemporary Cambodia by : Darathtey Din

Download or read book Youth Culture and the Music Industry in Contemporary Cambodia written by Darathtey Din and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-08-01 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores young Cambodians’ perceptions of their place in today’s society and how they interact with the country’s arts and culture scene. The popularity of Cambodian hip-hop among youth presents an opportunity for research to dive deeper into the roles of popular music in society and how these roles, in turn, shape Cambodian cultural identities. Research on the above-mentioned topic by local researchers is scarce. There is a gap in the research on the topic of identity, its connection to arts and culture, and how these two are positioned in a broader context of Cambodian identity politics and cultural economy. This book aims to provide a starting point for observation and conversation about youth cultural identities and the subtexts of certain narratives disseminated through music. The book contributes to the global research agenda by adding to the few voices in academia looking at localised models of cultural economies and trying to understand them based on local phenomena observed through local lenses. Utilising the author’s perspective and social experiences as a Cambodian researcher growing up and living in Cambodia, the book provides a unique perspective of the country’s cultural landscape. This will make the book of interest to all scholars of international cultural policy and the global creative economy, especially those with a particular interest in Cambodia.

Home SOS

Download Home SOS PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118898435
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (188 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Home SOS by : Katherine Brickell

Download or read book Home SOS written by Katherine Brickell and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-05-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on 15 years of fieldwork and over 300 interviews, Home SOS argues that the home is central to the violence and gendered contingency of existence in crisis ordinary Cambodia. Provides an original book-length study which brings domestic violence and forced eviction into twin view Offers relational insights between different violences to build an integrated understanding of women’s experiences of home life Mobilises the crisis ordinary as a critical pedagogy and imaginary through which to understand everyday gendered politics of survival Positions domestic violence and forced eviction as manifestations of intimate war against women’s homes and bodies located inside and outside of the traditional purview of war Reaffirms and reprioritises the home as a political entity which is foundational to the concerns of human geography

The Handbook of Contemporary Animism

Download The Handbook of Contemporary Animism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317544501
Total Pages : 544 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Handbook of Contemporary Animism by : Graham Harvey

Download or read book The Handbook of Contemporary Animism written by Graham Harvey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-11 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook of Contemporary Animism brings together an international team of scholars to examine the full range of animist worldviews and practices. The volume opens with an examination of recent approaches to animism. This is followed by evaluations of ethnographic, cognitive, literary, performative, and material culture approaches, as well as advances in activist and indigenous thinking about animism. This handbook will be invaluable to students and scholars of Religion, Sociology and Anthropology.

"Just a Human Being"

Download

Author :
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781482086355
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (863 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis "Just a Human Being" by : Teri Shaffer Yamada

Download or read book "Just a Human Being" written by Teri Shaffer Yamada and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cambodian writers represented in this collection of short fiction depict the social, political and economic challenges of life in contemporary Cambodia. The various tales provide humanistic insight into Cambodia's world of rapid modernization since the 1990s as the country recovers from decades of political and economic instability. Among the stories. "Just a Human Being," plays on memories of the Khmer Rouge embedded in contemporary bureaucratic practices of the early 1990s. Other stories, like "Lord of the Land" and "The Boat," are allegories about the lingering traces of the Khmer Rouge era on contemporary social relationships and politics. They explore a theme found in many of these stories: the need to overcome karma and reclaim compassion in a desperate world of poverty and sheer survival. Many of the short stories are ethnographic and provide a snapshot into life in contemporary Cambodia.

The Handbook of Asian Englishes

Download The Handbook of Asian Englishes PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118791657
Total Pages : 928 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (187 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Handbook of Asian Englishes by : Kingsley Bolton

Download or read book The Handbook of Asian Englishes written by Kingsley Bolton and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-09-14 with total page 928 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first volume of its kind, focusing on the sociolinguistic and socio-political issues surrounding Asian Englishes The Handbook of Asian Englishes provides wide-ranging coverage of the historical and cultural context, contemporary dynamics, and linguistic features of English in use throughout the Asian region. This first-of-its-kind volume offers a wide-ranging exploration of the English language throughout nations in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Contributions by a team of internationally-recognized linguists and scholars of Asian Englishes and Asian languages survey existing works and review new and emerging areas of research in the field. Edited by internationally renowned scholars in the field and structured in four parts, this Handbook explores the status and functions of English in the educational institutions, legal systems, media, popular cultures, and religions of diverse Asian societies. In addition to examining nation-specific topics, this comprehensive volume presents articles exploring pan-Asian issues such as English in Asian schools and universities, English and language policies in the Asian region, and the statistics of English across Asia. Up-to-date research addresses the impact of English as an Asian lingua franca, globalization and Asian Englishes, the dynamics of multilingualism, and more. Examines linguistic history, contemporary linguistic issues, and English in the Outer and Expanding Circles of Asia Focuses on the rapidly-growing complexities of English throughout Asia Includes reviews of the new frontiers of research in Asian Englishes, including the impact of globalization and popular culture Presents an innovative survey of Asian Englishes in one comprehensive volume Serving as an important contribution to fields such as contact linguistics, World Englishes, sociolinguistics, and Asian language studies, The Handbook of Asian Englishes is an invaluable reference resource for undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and instructors across these areas. Winner of the 2021 PROSE Humanities Category for Language & Linguistics

Routledge Handbook of Civil Society in Asia

Download Routledge Handbook of Civil Society in Asia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 135158734X
Total Pages : 783 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (515 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Routledge Handbook of Civil Society in Asia by : Akihiro Ogawa

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Civil Society in Asia written by Akihiro Ogawa and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-27 with total page 783 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of Civil Society in Asia is an interdisciplinary resource, covering one of the most dynamically expanding sectors in contemporary Asia. Originally a product of Western thinking, civil society represents a particular set of relationships between the state and either society or the individual. Each culture, however, molds its own version of civil society, reflecting its most important values and traditions. This handbook provides a comprehensive survey of the directions and nuances of civil society, featuring contributions by leading specialists on Asian society from the fields of political science, sociology, anthropology, and other disciplines. Comprising thirty-five essays on critical topics and issues, it is divided into two main sections: Part I covers country specific reviews, including Japan, China, South Korea, India, and Singapore. Part II offers a series of thematic chapters, such as democratization, social enterprise, civic activism, and the media. As an analysis of Asian social, cultural, and political phenomena from the perspective of civil society in the post-World War IIera, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Asian Studies, Asian Politics, and Comparative Politics.

Home SOS

Download Home SOS PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118898354
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (188 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Home SOS by : Katherine Brickell

Download or read book Home SOS written by Katherine Brickell and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-07-13 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on 15 years of fieldwork and over 300 interviews, Home SOS argues that the home is central to the violence and gendered contingency of existence in crisis ordinary Cambodia. Provides an original book-length study which brings domestic violence and forced eviction into twin view Offers relational insights between different violences to build an integrated understanding of women’s experiences of home life Mobilises the crisis ordinary as a critical pedagogy and imaginary through which to understand everyday gendered politics of survival Positions domestic violence and forced eviction as manifestations of intimate war against women’s homes and bodies located inside and outside of the traditional purview of war Reaffirms and reprioritises the home as a political entity which is foundational to the concerns of human geography

Research-Based Art Practices in Southeast Asia

Download Research-Based Art Practices in Southeast Asia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3031095812
Total Pages : 285 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (31 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Research-Based Art Practices in Southeast Asia by : Caroline Ha Thuc

Download or read book Research-Based Art Practices in Southeast Asia written by Caroline Ha Thuc and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-10-05 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first overall study of research-based art practices in Southeast Asia. Its objective is to examine the creative and mutual entanglement of academic and artistic research; in short, the Why, When, What and How of research-based art practices in the region. In Southeast Asia, artists are increasingly engaged in research-based art practices involving academic research processes. They work as historians, archivists, archaeologists or sociologists in order to produce knowledge and/or to challenge the current established systems of knowledge production. As artists, they can freely draw on academic research methodologies and, at the same time, question or divert them for their own artistic purpose. The outcome of their research findings is exhibited as an artwork and is not published or presented in an academic format. This book seeks to demonstrate the emancipatory dimension of these practices, which contribute to opening up our conceptions of knowledge and of art, bestowing a new and promising role to the artists within the society.

Rethinking Urban Risk and Resettlement in the Global South

Download Rethinking Urban Risk and Resettlement in the Global South PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : UCL Press
ISBN 13 : 1787358283
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (873 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Rethinking Urban Risk and Resettlement in the Global South by : Cassidy Johnson

Download or read book Rethinking Urban Risk and Resettlement in the Global South written by Cassidy Johnson and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2021-06-10 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental changes have significant impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods, particularly the urban poor and those living in informal settlements. In an effort to reduce urban residents’ exposure to climate change and hazards such as natural disasters, resettlement programmes are becoming widespread across the Global South. While resettlement may reduce a region’s future climate-related disaster risk, it often increases poverty and vulnerability, and can be used as a reason to evict people from areas undergoing redevelopment. A collaboration between the Bartlett Development Planning Unit at UCL, the Indian Institute for Human Settlements and the Latin American Social Science Faculty, Rethinking Urban Risk and Resettlement in the Global South collates the findings from 'Reducing Relocation Risks', a research project that studied urban areas across India, Uganda, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. The findings are augmented with chapters by researchers with many years of insight into resettlement, property rights and evictions, who offer cases from Monserrat, Cambodia, Philippines and elsewhere. The contributors collectively argue that the processes for making and implementing decisions play a large part in determining whether outcomes are socially just, and examine various value systems and strategies adopted by individuals versus authorities. Considering perceptions of risk, the volume offers a unique way to think about economic assessments in the context of resettlement and draws parallels between different country contexts to compare fully urbanised areas with those experiencing urban growth. It also provides an opportunity to re-think how disaster risk management can better address the accumulation of urban risks through urban planning.

Unwritten Rule

Download Unwritten Rule PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501753630
Total Pages : 259 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Unwritten Rule by : Alice Beban

Download or read book Unwritten Rule written by Alice Beban and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-15 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2012, Cambodia—an epicenter of violent land grabbing—announced a bold new initiative to develop land redistribution efforts inside agribusiness concessions. Alice Beban's Unwritten Rule focuses on this land reform to understand the larger nature of democracy in Cambodia. Beban contends that the national land-titling program, the so-called leopard skin land reform, was first and foremost a political campaign orchestrated by the world's longest-serving prime minister, Hun Sen. The reform aimed to secure the loyalty of rural voters, produce "modern" farmers, and wrest control over land distribution from local officials. Through ambiguous legal directives and unwritten rules guiding the allocation of land, the government fostered uncertainty and fear within local communities. Unwritten Rule gives pause both to celebratory claims that land reform will enable land tenure security, and to critical claims that land reform will enmesh rural people more tightly in state bureaucracies and create a fiscally legible landscape. Instead, Beban argues that the extension of formal property rights strengthened the very patronage-based politics that Western development agencies hope to subvert.

Girls in Global Development

Download Girls in Global Development PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Berghahn Books
ISBN 13 : 1805394126
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (53 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Girls in Global Development by : Heather Switzer

Download or read book Girls in Global Development written by Heather Switzer and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2023-12-08 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many scholars have critiqued the neocolonial assumptions embedded in global development agendas. These often focus on the bodies and lives of poor, racialized adolescent girls in the global south as ideal sites for intervention based on these girls’ potential to multiply investment, interrupt intergenerational poverty, and predict economic growth. Girls in Global Development presents case studies from established and emerging scholars to collectively theorize and examine the concept of “Girls in Development” (GID), a distinctive way of approaching notions of girls and girlhoods in locations around the globe, at various points in history, through a critical feminist lens.

Handbook of Contemporary Education Economics

Download Handbook of Contemporary Education Economics PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1785369075
Total Pages : 464 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (853 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Handbook of Contemporary Education Economics by : Geraint Johnes

Download or read book Handbook of Contemporary Education Economics written by Geraint Johnes and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2017-12-29 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the modern economics of education literature, bringing together a series of original contributions by globally renowned experts in their fields. Covering a wide variety of topics, each chapter assesses the most recent research with an emphasis on skills, evaluation and data analytics.

Journey to the Kingdom of Cambodia

Download Journey to the Kingdom of Cambodia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Kalman Dubov
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Journey to the Kingdom of Cambodia by : Kalman Dubov

Download or read book Journey to the Kingdom of Cambodia written by Kalman Dubov and published by Kalman Dubov. This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Kingdom of Cambodia has an ancient pedigree, a time when its people first established small principalities which evolved in small kingdoms. These kingdoms merged, often violently, eventually establishing the great Angkorian kingdom of the Khmer. The great building complex known as Angkor Wat, an achievement of stupendous proportion, whose dimensions are still being determined, is a product of the Khmer Empire. The empire was subject to much tension, both internally from competing nobles who sought to ascend the powerful throne, to outside kingdoms who tried to invade and subjugate the Khmer. Vietnam to the east, and further south also to the east, was the Cham Empire, while to the west was the Thai. These three kingdoms warred with the Khmer, eventually reducing it from grandeur. After the Khmer Empire fell, Cambodia entered a Dark Ages, a period of 431 years, from 1431 to 1862, years of scant records. Historians today try to reconstruct why the empire fell and why its people moved from the Siem Reap area and why records from this time are almost entirely unknown. In 1862, France became Cambodia's protector, defending its autonomy from both Vietnam and Thailand (Siam) who were both nibbling at either end of Cambodia. The Protectorate ended in 1942 when the Japanese occupied the land, followed by the return of the French in 1945, after the end of the Second World War. As in other countries subjugated by colonist powers, the defeat of France encouraged Cambodian nationalists to fight for a return to independence and autonomy. It is in this crucible that the Khmer Rouge, a communist-inspired group, began an insurrection against the French, and later against the Cambodian government. The Khmer Rouge, inspired by nihilistic beliefs, came to power in 1975 and began the tragic genocide of the Cambodian people. Between a quarter to a third of the people were murdered, representing the best and the elite of its society. There were many actors in this saga, both ancient and modern. I review these persons, to the extent known and the roles they played in Cambodian history and the effect it has had on the country today. The character of Pol Pot, mastermind and leader of the Khmer Rouge, is of special importance. I review his strange way of not identifying with a leadership role until absolutely necessary. But the menace of this man went much deeper; through guile and bland smiles, he allayed fear about himself, though he ordered the murder of those closest to him. Yet, even as they were led away, they disbelieved the order for their deaths, believing that if they could but have a moment with him, all would be set right. Even those closest to him did not see him for the monster he really was. He was a master at guile and deception, with none seeing the man as the monster of terror and destruction. Even in the Far East where exhibiting emotion and genuine feeling is shunned to the nth degree, this man’s ability to remain hidden reflects the ultimate achievement. But he brought ruin to his nation, with today’s loss of the elite of the country. I spent two months in Cambodia, visiting and researching material for this review. During my time there, I visited the only synagogue in the country, the Chabad House in Phnom Penh. It was then that I became aware of an amazing fact: a granddaughter of royalty celebrated her Bat Mitzvah in the capital, attended by members of the royal family. The story of how a member of the Cambodian royal family became Jewish is itself an incredible development. Cambodia today is a Third World country, with many attractions, both superb and revolting. At core, its representations reflect the saga of humanity, whose pages are sometimes elevating and also horrific. I describe my journey to this corner of Asia, hoping I've done justice to its many contours and personalities.