Transnational migration of buddhist monks in mainland Southeast Asia

Abstract

This paper uses the word "transnational" to study a kind of informal human flow crossing borders in mainland Southeast Asia. In this sense, transnational does not refer to any kind of movements transcending the rule of state and nation. More specifically, this paper illustrates the situation of border crossing by Buddhist monks in contemporary mainland Southeast Asia, based on anthropological fieldwork in Cambodia and Thailand as well as the ongoing review of existing literature. My area of specialization is Cambodia studies. I conducted the anthropological fieldwork in a rural community, located in the eastern Tonle Sap region of central Cambodia, during 1999-2002. The fundamental concern of that research was examining the actual process of destruction and reconstruction of Cambodian rural communities after the rule of Democratic Kampuchea. It also aimed to illustrate what changed and what remained unchanged in the local people's lives and culture.