We Move Therefore We Are

Chapter 7 explores how translocal livelihoods have contributed to a rise in nationalistic discourse, national communitarian ideology and the ethnically mediated ‘othering’ of certain groups. The chapter begins by exploring the linkages between the domestic garment industry, the union movement and political opposition to the incumbent Cambodia People’s Party, before extending the analysis to explore these themes in relation to Cambodia’s two major international migration systems: those with Thailand and Vietnam. The first of these examines issues of national identity amongst translocal migrants to Thailand in order to interpret the impact of international household and community economies on political conceptions of the state. The second examines the perspectives of translocal migrants between Cambodia and Vietnam, in the context of Cambodia’s recent upsurge in anti-Vietnamese popular sentiment and political discourse. Chapter 7 concludes by drawing together the lessons of these case studies to consider both how mass translocal livelihoods have shaped national discourse and how national narratives of nationhood have contributed to structuring Cambodia’s international diaspora.