“Independent Cambodian Unionism: Caught Between Representation and Apathy”

I will be presenting a paper at the Association of Asian Studies‘ 70th annual conference, here in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii, tomorrow, Thursday March 31st.

The title is “Independent Cambodian Unionism: Caught Between Representation and Apathy,” and explores the dynamics of independent unions in Cambodia from the perspective of organizational form and institutional authority. I focus especially on the September 2010 strike, which brought an estimated 210,000 workers into the streets of Phnom Penh (out of an estimated, nation-wide total of 350,000 garment workers), and seemed about to win a massive victory, when it was suddenly called off.

The panel is organized by Samantha Christiansen of Northeastern University, and includes contributions from George Katsiaficas (also chairing), Na Kahn-chae, Shane Gunderson, and Helen Delfeld. It looks to be very good indeed.