Stereotypes

The previous section portrayed the relation of Khmer and Kinh groups varying from cooperation to hostility and tension over history. This section further presents different depictions Khmer and Kinh people have toward each other grounded in their historical relations. The relations of Khmers and Vietnamese were very tense and hostile under the Nguyen Dynasty. The Nguyen’s Dynasty’s maltreatment of Khmers saw Khmer people build up a hatred toward Vietnamese, calling them yuon (barbarians of the north) and in turn the Khmer were discriminated as ‘stupid’, ‘ignorant’ and ‘lazy’ and were called tho

(men from the earth) by Vietnamese (Brocheux, 1995, p. 95; Phan An, 1991).

Recently, the common discourse in official development reports is that Khmers are ‘overwhelmingly poor’, ‘backward’ and ‘deficient’ compared to the ethnic majority. Their poverty is pervasively linked to their primitive agrarian livelihood, insularity and marginality. Their economic activity, which is small-scale, mono-cultivation, non- diversified, technically backward and strongly dependent on nature and not adapted to the modern market economy is also said to be the result of poverty (Phan An, 1991, p. 109; Taylor, 2014b, pp. 14-15). Taylor (2014b) also points out common views held by Vietnamese of their Khmer neighbors as lazy, earn their living for their immediate needs and live day by day, lack calculation and foresight and never save their earnings or making provision for the future (p.117). Reflecting this kind of socially pervasive discourse, Mr. Ly, one Khmer elderly living in the center in Tri Ton district, also described Khmers as not as competent as Vietnamese neighbors in making productive investments or doing business as Vietnamese are more civilized/advanced and adapted/integrated into mainstream society. He further explained that language barrier and low cultural level limited Khmers from accessing and applying new cultivation techniques in their agricultural production. To him, being too honest was the reason for their failure in doing business. I expressed my uncertainty of his explanation for I saw many Khmer dealers in the town market and even

many of them had lived from the profits of their business for decades. Mr. Ly explained that to some extent most of these people had nuptial relationships with the Hoa (ethnic Chinese)—an ethnic group well known for their competence in trading.

Official reports also explain Khmer’s religious orientation and superstition as the roots of their poverty. As the temple plays an important role in the life of Khmer people, they spend a lot of time, energy and money on their temple refurbishments. Khmers are also depicted as wasting time and money on community festivals and ceremonies. Their livelihood would be much better if they save these resources for productive investments (Phan An, 2008; Taylor, 2007, pp. 9-10). In line with Taylor’s analysis of the pejorative stereotype from the majority toward Khmer, Mrs. Ngan, a former provincial official who had long-term work experience in development programs with the Khmer community often told me that her main impression of the Khmers was their low educational level and overwhelming poverty. Despite her unfavorable comments to Khmers as ‘incapable in schooling’ (hoc khong noi) she did not analyze the reasons for their failure in the Vietnamese state school system. She attributed Khmer people’s poverty to their laziness in earning a living/production, to their habit of spending excessive time and money on many community festivals, and to their tendency to look to the government for financial support. Even though Vietnamese neighbors underestimate Khmers as lazy and unintelligent, they also appreciate Khmers for their knowledge and power in magic and esoteric knowledge of medicinal plants and ask for amulets and other forms of magical protection from Khmer monks (Taylor, 2004a, p. 62).

In the Kinh-dominated city where I live and work, I often heard from Kinh elderly residents that Khmers were very ‘aggressive’ and ‘violent’. Many of them recalled Pol Pot’s war when talking about Khmer. Even though I have been married to a Khmer man for more than ten years, the mother of my high school friend still worried for my security. On an occasion I visited my friend, her mother was very curious about my family. She asked constantly ‘How is your family-in-law?’ and ‘How are they treating you?’, ‘How often do you visit them?’, ‘Were you scared when you were in a Khmer community?’. She also advised me to be careful as Khmers were very brutal and reminded me of Pol Pot’s war. Even though I explained that my family-in-law were very kind, that I was well treated

every time I visited them and that the Khmer community was very placid, she still advised me to be careful when I was in Khmer community and if something happened, tell them that I had a marital relationship with Khmers.

However, not all Vietnamese have harsh comments about Khmer’s poverty. Some Vietnamese also expressed their sympathy and compassion toward Khmer’s poverty. Once when I went to her shop to buy some groceries, I had a chat about charity with Mrs. Tien, a small retailer in a market in Long Xuyen city. Mrs. Tien told me that Khmer’s livelihood was so miserable (kho lam) (toi lam) and overwhelmingly poor (ngheo lam) and we should do some charity to help these minority people in the border and mountainous areas. I asked her if she did anything to help these people, she told me that she contributed money to one representative to buy rice and they distributed rice parcels to the most deficient households through a local Khmer temple.

In addition, some Vietnamese also value the ideal life of the Khmer people living in mountainside regions as less crowded, closure to nature and simpler, being away from the influences of the complicated, competitive and crowded cities of the southern plain (Taylor, 2014b, p. 177). In addition, Khmer people are also highly esteemed for their moral richness—being faithful spouses and self-controlled, hard-working employees (Taylor, 2007, p. 28). Mrs. Nhung, an elderly Vietnamese woman with a Khmer spouse, cheerily expressed her normal but ideal life in her Khmer in-law village. She enjoyed the simpler life in her Khmer husband’s hometown because local Khmer people were very honest (thiet tinh), and she could stay away from the complicated and crowded cities that were full of cheating and rationality. In contrast to the pejorative stereotype that Khmers are very aggressive and hate Vietnamese, and her relatives’ warning that Khmer aggression could result in them beheading (cap duon) any one, women or children, Mrs. Nhung told me that local Khmers were very placid (hien lam) and she was beloved by her Khmer neighbors. Even though she could not speak Khmer, her Khmer neighbors tried to communicate in Vietnamese with her when they approached to her.

In turn, Khmer people mistrust and stereotype Vietnamese as ‘dishonest, disloyal and too calculating’ so they are hesitant and very careful in economic transaction with Vietnamese

(Taylor, 2004b, p. 263). However, they also admire their calculating capacity and are attracted by the white skin color of Vietnamese. Even though he had worked in the Kinh- dominated city for many years, Mr. Ri frankly expressed his mistrust toward Vietnamese. During the conversation, it seemed to me that Mr. Ri had a negative attitude toward Kinh people. Even though he knew that I had married a Khmer spouse, Mr. Ri, showed his distrust of Vietnamese. To him, Vietnamese are rational in everything even in selecting a spouse. He was dubious of the reason for Kinh people marrying a Khmer spouse and recalled King Nguyen Phuc Nguyen’s underlying purpose to encroach Chan Lap territory in a peaceful way through his daughter’s arranged marriage. He further stated that educated Kinh men migrating to the mountainous region married well-off or educated Khmer women, not a Khmer farmer, in order to get profit from their wealthy in-law family. He further expressed his disappointment:

The arising current trend is that socially successful Khmer men prefer having a Kinh wife to a Khmer wife because Kinh women are more beautiful with their white skin, cleverer [lanh loi] and subtler [ma giao] while Khmer women are so naive [chat phat].