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David P. Chandler

Portrait of David P.  Chandler

David Porter Chandler (b. 1933, New York City, USA) is an American historian and academic noted for his work on Cambodia’s modern history — in particular French colonialism​’s impact on the Kingdom and later the 1970s-1980s civil war — with a deep connection to Cambodian oral and written traditions.

A young member of the US Foreign Office — who wanted to be a poet, and later did write poetry -, he volunteered to be posted in Cambodia, where he lived from October 1960 until November 1962 as a ​‘language officer’ at the US Embassy, traveling around the country and visiting Angkor by himself several times. At the end of this experience, he reckoned he didn’t know ​“whether [he] would ever return to Cambodia or that
[he} would become a Cambodian scholar or what to do next,” but: ​“I did know that something wonderful had happened to me.” David Chandler, ​‘Coming to Cambodia’, in At the Edge of the Forest: Essays on Cambodia, History, and Narrative in Honor of David Chandler, 2008, p 21 – 29].

After a stint in Colombia, he came back to Washington in 1965 to take charge of orientation courses for junior diplomats and aid officials going to Southeast Asia at the Foreign Service Institute, and resolved after one year to devote himself to higher Southeast Asian studies at Yale University, encouraged to do so by respected journalist Bernard Fall (1926−1967), soon to be killed in Hue as he was reporting American war in Vietnam, and inspired by the work of unconventional researchers like Paul Mus. After completing his PhD at University of Michigan in 1974 (Cambodia before the French : Politics in a Tributary Kingdom, 1794 – 1848), Chandler furthered his research on ancient and modern Cambodia, publishing important contributions that led to the reference A History of Cambodia (1983 and multiple reprints; translated into Khmer in 2015 as ប្រវត្តិសាស្រ្តខ្មែរ​).

 

David Chandler at Banteay Srei, 2004 [from At the Edge of the Forest: Essays on Cambodia, History, and Narrative in Honor of David Chandler, Cornell University Press, 2008.]

David Chandler at Banteay Srei, 2004 [from At the Edge of the Forest: Essays on Cambodia, History, and Narrative in Honor of David Chandler, Cornell University Press, 2008.]

Critical of the US involvement in Southeast Asian affairs and of the political choices made by King Norodom Sihanouk, David Chandler became a leading expert in the history of the Khmer Rouge régime, publishing in particular The Tragedy of Cambodian History (1991), Brother Number One (1992), Facing the Cambodian Past (1996), Voices from S‑21: Terror and History in Pol Pot’s Secret Prison (1999). He has been residing for many years in Australia, where he is an emeritus professor at Monash University. In 1992, he came back to Cambodia for an Amnesty International mission. In Angkor, he mused that ​“coercion, violence, and megalomania, it seemed, had always been features of Cambodian governance.” [“Coming to Cambodia”, in At the Edge..., 2008, op. cit., p. 24]. Since then, he has visited the country several more times, contributing to the foundation of the Center for Khmer Studies in 1998.

Historians of Cambodian culture Anne Ruth Hansen and Judy Ledgerwood remarked in 2008:

David Chandler’s innovative use of unusual sources for constructing Khmer history encompassed treatments of geographical toponyms, folktales, Buddhist poetry, and accounts of merit-making ceremonies. Standing alongside his use of more ​“standard” historical documents, including inscriptions and diplomatic letters, Chandler’s use of such sources projects a distinctive historical voice into his work, one that is ultimately concerned with engaging the humanity of the historical subject and of representing — as much as is accurately possible — the emotions and experiences of his subjects [Introduction to At the Edge of the Forest…, 2008, op.cit., p 3]

Publications

  1. “Changing Cambodia,” Current History 59 – 352, Dec. 1970: 333 – 338, 364.
  2. “An Eighteenth Century Inscription from Angkor Wat”, Journal of Siam Society (JSS) 59 – 2, July 1971: 151 – 9.
  3. The Land and People of Cambodia, New-York, Lippincott, 1972; repr. Harper Collins, 1992, 210 p. ISBN: 9780060211 295.
  4. Cambodia before the French : Politics in a Tributary Kingdom, 1794 – 1848, Ann Arbor, Michigan University, 1974, 212 p.
  5. “Royally Sponsored Human Sacrifices in Nineteenth Century Cambodia : the cult of Nak Ta Me Sa (Mahisasuramardini) at Ba Phnom”, JSS 62 – 2, July 1974 : 207 – 221.
  6. “An Anti-Vietnamese Rebellion in Early Nineteenth Century Cambodia: Pre-Colonial Imperialism and a Pre-Nationalist Response”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (JSEAS) VI‑1, March 1975 : 16 – 24.
  7. “The duties of the corps of royal scribes : an undated Khmer manuscript from the colonial era”, JSS 63 – 2, July 1975: 343 – 8.
  8. [with Ian Mabbett] ​“Introduction,” in Paul Mus, India Seen from the East: Indian and Indigenous Cults in Champa, trans. Ian Mabbett, ed. Ian Mabbett and David Chandler, Monash Papers on Southeast Asia, no. 3, Monash: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies 1975, pp. xi-xii.
  9. “Maps for the Ancestors : Sacralized topography and echoes of Angkor in two Cambodian texts”, JSS 64 – 2, July 1976: 170 – 187.
  10. “Folk Memories of the Decline of Angkor in Nineteenth Century Cambodia: The Legend of the Leper King, “, JSS 67 – 1, 1979: 54 – 62.
  11. “The Tragedy of Cambodian History”, Pacific Affairs (PA) 52 – 3, 1979: 410 – 419.
  12. “Cambodian Royal Chronicles (Rajabangsavatar), 1927 – 1949 : Kingship and Historiography at the end of the colonial era”, in Anthony Reid & David Marr, Perceptions of the Past in Southeast Asia, Singapour-Hong Kong- Kuala Lumpur, Asian Studies Association of Australia, Southeast Asia Publications Series n°4, 1979.
  13. [from a paper prepared for a symposium on Southeast Asian intellectual history sponsored by the Social Science Research Council, Ithaca, New York, August 1978] ​“Songs at the Edge of the Forest : Perceptions of Order in Three Cambodian texts,” in David K. Wyatt & Alexander Woodside (eds) : Moral Order and the Question of Change: Essays on Southeast Asian Thought, New Haven, Yale University, Southeast Asia Monographs 24, 1982: 53 – 77; rev. ed. in At the Edge of the Forest: Essays on Cambodia, History, and Narrative in Honor of David Chandler, Ann Ruth Hansen & Judy Ledgerwood eds., Ithaca, Cornell University, 2008: 31 – 47.
  14. “The Assassination of Resident Bardez (1925) : Premonition of Revolt in Colonial Cambodia?”, JSS 70, 1982 : 35 – 49.
  15. Favourite Stories from Cambodia, Singapore, Heinemann in Asia, 1983. ISBN13‏:‎ 978 – 9622251601.
  16. [with Ben Kiernan] Revolution and its Aftermath in Kampuchea : Eight Essays, New Haven, Yale University, Southeast Asia Monograph Series, 1983.
  17. “Seeing Red : Perceptions of Cambodian history in Democratic Kampuchea”, in Revolution and its Aftermath...op.cit., 1983 : 34 – 56.
  18. “Revising the past in Democratic Kampuchea : When was the Birthday of the Party?”, Pacific Affairs (PA) [Vancouver], 56 – 2, Summer 1983: 288 – 300.
  19. “Going through the Motions: Ritual and Restorative Aspects of the Reign of King Duang of Cambodia”, in Centers, Symbols, and Hierarchies: Essays on the Classical States of Southeast Asia, ed. Lorraine Gesick, Monograph Series no. 26 (New Haven, CT: Yale Southeast Asia Studies, 1983; repr. in Facing the Cambodian Past…,1996.
  20. A History of Cambodia. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1983; 2nd expanded edition, 1992; updated, paperback ed.; 1996; 3rd edition, 2000; Thai tr, 1998; Khmer tr.: ប្រវត្តិសាស្រ្តខ្មែរ​, Siem Reap, CKS, 2005.
  21. “Normative Poems (Chbap) and Pre-Colonial Cambodian Society,” JSEAS XV‑2, September 1984 : 271 – 279.
  22. “Kampuchea: End Game or Stalemate?”, Current History 83 – 497, Dec. 1984: 413 – 417, 433 – 434.
  23. “Cambodia in 1984 : Historical Patterns Re-asserted?,” Southeast Asian Affairs, 1985: 177 – 186.
  24. “A Revolution in Full Spate: Communist Party Policy in Democratic Kampuchea, December 1976,” International Journal of Politics 16 – 3, Fall 1986: 131 – 49.
  25. “The Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia): The Semantics of Revolutionary Change,” PA 49 – 3, Fall 1986: 506 – 15.
  26. “The Kingdom of Kampuchea, March-October 1945: Japanese-Sponsored Independence in Cambodia in World War II,” JSEAS XVII‑1, March 1986 : 80 – 93.
  27. [co-ed. with David Joel Steinberg, et al.] In search of Southeast Asia : A modern History, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1987 (2nd ed., first published in 1971).
  28. “A Revolution in Full Spate : Communist Party Policy in Democratic Kampuchea”, International Journal of Politics (IJP)16 – 3, Cambodia: Politics and International Relations, 1986: 131 – 149.
  29. [editor with M. C. Ricklefs] Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Indonesia: Essays in Honour of Professor J. D. Legge, Clayton, Australia: Monash University Centre of Southeast Asian Studies Monograph Series, 1986.
  30. [annotated translation with Ben Kiernan & Chanthou Boua] Pol Pot Plans the Future : Confidential Leadership Documents from Democratic Kampuchea 1976 – 1977, New Haven, Yale University, Southeast Asia Monograph Series 33, 1988.
  31. The Tragedy of Cambodian History: Politics, War, and Revolution since 1945, New Haven: Yale University Press/​Chiangmai: Silkworm Books, 1991, 408 p; corrected paperback ed.: 1993.
  32. Brother Number One : a Political Biography of Pol Pot, Boulder, CO, Westview Press, 1999; 2nd revised ed: 1999; FR tr.:1993, TH: 1994, JP: 1994, KH: 1998, RU: 2005, VN: 2006.
  33. Cambodia, vol. 2, issue 5, Asia-Australia Briefing Papers, Asia-Australia Institute, University of New South Wales, 1993, 41 p.
  34. “Epitaph for the Khmer Rouge?,” New Left Review I/205, May/​June 1994.
  35. [with Ian Mabbett] The Khmers, Oxford, Blackwells, 1995; Czech tr: Khmerové, NLN-Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2000.
  36. Facing the Cambodian Past : Selected Essays 1971 – 1994, Chiangmai, Silkworm Books/​Sydney, Allen & Unwin/​Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1996.
  37. Voices from S‑21 : Terror and History in Pol Pot’s Secret Prison, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press/​Sydney: Allen & Unwin/​Chiangmai: Silkworm Books, 2000; FR tr.: 2002, KH tr.: 2003.
  38. [with Norman G.Owen et al.] The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia: a New History, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 2005.
  39. [co-ed. with Christopher Goscha et al.], L’espace d’un regard: L’Asie de Paul Mus (1902−1969), Paris, les Indes Savantes, 2006, 335 p.
  40. “Coming to Cambodia”, in Ann Hansen and Judy Ledgerwood (eds), At the Edge of the Forest: Essays in Honor of David Chandler, Ithaca, Cornell University Southeast Asia Program, 2008.
  41. [co-ed. with Alexandra Kent], People of Virtue Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Morality in Cambodia Today, Stockholm: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Press, 2008.
  42. “Quelques souvenirs de Jacques Népote,“Péninsule 56, 2008 : 7 – 10.
  43. “Cambodia Deals with its Past: Collective Memory, Demonisation and Induced Amnesia”, in Totalitarian Movements & Political Religions, Sep. 2008, Vol. 9 Issue 2⁄3 : 355 – 369.
  44. “Paul Mus (1902 – 1969): A Biographical Sketch”, Journal of Vietnamese Studies 4 – 1, Winter 2009: 149 – 191.

David Chandler Cambodia Collection at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

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