Cambodians in France

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Cambodians in France
Total population

19,937 Cambodian only
35,850 naturalised French (1999 est)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
French, Khmer
Religions
Theravada Buddhism[2]

Cambodians in France consist largely of ethnic Khmer refugees who fled there during the Second Indochina War, though some Cambodians came to France while Cambodia was a French protectorate from 1863–1953.[citation needed] Further chain migration occurred in the 1990s, as the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia came to an end and the country reopened its borders; people who had remained in Cambodia rejoined their family members who had previously emigrated. Buddhism plays an important role in the community and is seen as a marker of ethnic identity; in contrast, the ability to speak the Khmer language is less emphasised. Though immigrant parents set up language schools for their children soon after migration, many children discontinued their language studies due to the difficulty of learning Khmer grammar and the Sanskrit-based Khmer alphabet.[2] Cambodians in France on average are older, more educated, and have higher incomes than Cambodian Americans.[3]

Numerically, the Khmer are the dominant group among Cambodians in France, but Cambodians of Chinese descent can also be found among the population; though interethnic marriages between Chinese and Khmers were common in Cambodia and remain so in France, the Chinese they have tended to organise themselves around dialect groups and remain somewhat separate from other Cambodians in France.[4] A small number of Cambodians in France consist of the wives and mixed-race children of French colonisers who repatriated to France between 1955 and 1965; regardless of their ethnicity, many of those used Khmer rather than French as their home language.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ [OECD http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/18/23/34792376.xls]
  2. ^ a b Simon-Barouh, Ida (2004). "Ethnicity and Diaspora: The Case of the Cambodians". Andreh Leṿi, Alex Weingrod Homelands and Diasporas: Holy Lands and Other Places: 247-269, Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804750793. 
  3. ^ D'Avanzo, Carolyn E.; Sasha A. Barab (June 2000). "Drinking during pregnancy: Practices of Cambodian refugees in France and the United States". Health Care For Women International 21 (4): 319–334(16). Routledge. doi:10.1080/073993300245177. ISSN 1096-4665. 
  4. ^ Christiansen, Flemming (2003). "Southeast Asia to France", Chinatown, Europe: An Exploration of Overseas Chinese Identity in the 1990s. Routledge, 56-59. ISBN 0700710728. 
  5. ^ Simon-Barouh, Ida (2003). "Assimilation and ethnic diversity in France". D. Juteau, Ch. Hartzig The Social Construction of Diversity: Recasting the Social Narrative of Industrial Nations: 15-39. ISBN 1571813756. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Nann, Stéphanie (January/February 2007). "Les Cambodgiens en France, entre l'image et la réalité" (in French). Migrations Société 19 (109). 
  • Simon-Barouh, Ida (1989). "Les Cambodgiens en France: une identité retrouvée et transformée" (in French). Migrants-Formation (76). 
  • Simon-Barouh, Ida (2002). "Bouddhisme et ethnicité cambodgienne en France: l'exemple de Rennes" (in French). Les Cahiers du Ceriem 10: 19–36. 
  • Simon-Barouh, Ida (2003). "Les réfugiés du Cambodge en France. Eléments d’une diaspora cambodgienne?" (in French). Les Cahiers du Ceriem 11: 15–39. 
  • Simon-Barouh, Ida (2003). "Pourquoi apprendre? Une approche à travers l'exemple des Cambodgiens réfugiés en France". A. Hiroko Actes du colloque Pourquoi apprendre et comment?, Rennes: Presses de l'Université de Rennes.