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Research Problems

Cambodians have low dietary diversity and nutritional status while having access to exceptional amounts of edible plant biodiversity

The role and trajectory of Traditional and Complementary Medicine in Cambodia is unclear

Indigenous Khmer flora faces potential extinction and within the century and their documentation is sparse and fragmented

Scholarship on Khmer food, cuisine, and gastronomy is vastly understudied

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Research Question�In what ways do human ecological instabilities caused by seasonality, maternity, and the COVID-19 pandemic �shape how populations living in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia use and consume Traditional Khmer and �Khmer Folk (Food-)medicines?�

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Research Aims & Objectives

Aims

Aims	Objectives
Identify how surrounding human ecological changes may shape how populations, select, prepare, and consume Traditional Khmer Medicine (TKM) and Khmer Folk (Food-)medicines (KFM)	Capture qualitative data on the human ecological changes which occur among populations living in Siem Reap province due to seasonality, maternity, and the COVID-19 pandemic
Outline the relationships between food and medicine within the TKM system and KFM practices	Identify medicinal plants used in TKM and KFM remedies (food-medicines and not) and their recipes
Outline potential future trajectories of TKM and KFM usage in Cambodia	Identify common sources and vectors of TKM and KFM knowledge within contemporary Cambodia

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[A. Kleinman] Explanatory models (EM), Health sectors, & Health systems as cultural systems

[M. Shildrick] “Leaky Bodies”/ [A. Mol] “Body Multiple”/ [M. Douglas] “Social Bodies”/ [E. Hsu] “Body Ecologic” / [A. Pieroni et al.] “Food-medicine continuum”/ [I. Mandelkern] “Taste-based Medicine”

[J. Farquhar & M. Lock] Beyond the Body Proper / [N. Etkin] Eating on the Wild Side /

[A. Pieroni & L. Price] Eating and Healing / [J. Ovensen & I. Trankell] Cambodians and their Doctors

[C. Banwell, S. Ulijaszek & J. Dixon] When Culture Impacts Health

(Medical) Anthropology | Ethnobotany | Food Studies

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Structure & Timeline

Preparation

Fieldwork

Analysis & Writing

October 2018 – 2019

February 2020 – July 2020

August 2020 – November 2021

Phase 1: Library & archival research, research tools development, in-country networking, grant applications

Phase 2: Data collection, supplemental library & archival research, transcription, data analysis

Phase 3: Transcription, data analysis, writing of dissertation

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Methods

Anthropology

Ethnobotany

Food Studies

Ethnography (Rapid/Visual/Auto)

Semi-structured interviews

(Individual & Group)

Botanical voucher specimen collection

Recipe collection

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Research Collaborators

Ethnography & Interviews

Voucher Specimens

Recipes

Reth Sarom ★

Hang Chansophea ★

Youleang Peou & Hul Sovanmoly

Leang Darinah

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Methods

Ethnography & Interviews

Voucher Specimens

Recipes

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Findings: Sample Overview

In-person research activities from February 29^th, 2020 to March 27^th, 2020
Insights from 40 people living across 10 villages and 4 communes within the Siem Reap Municipality District 🡪 all had some knowledge of TKM/KFM remedies and practices

34/40 were women (ages 20-76) – 33/34 mothers
6/40 were men (ages 25-71) – 6/6 fathers
4/40 were TKM practitioners (healers, sellers, etc.)

Siem Reap Municipality District on

provincial map with Siem Reap City (★)

Study participants identified 130 different plant species

67 species matched with scientific names and the remaining 63 species with local Khmer names
Organised as “maternity only” (112), “general cures” (11), or “also food” (37)

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Findings: Unique Dynamics

Khmer Biologies

Healing Commensality

Khmer Taste-Based Medicine

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Overarching Themes

The beliefs and practices of the TKM and KFM systems are fluid

TKM and KFM beliefs are individual tailored and yet mutually intelligible between people during times of heighted or shared health threats

Food choices can be articulations of people seeking and experience care under TKM and KFM

TKM and KFM beliefs and practices are ubiquitous and heavily integrated into daily routines which may at times obscure them

TKM and KFM are not declining, they have evolved into newer forms and continue to do so through newer applications in response to health uncertainties

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Case Study: COVID-19

Most study participants would use TKM/KFM in order to prevent or treat COVID-19

12/23 out of 40 insights
Alone or with WBM, being sure to take the WBM first

COVID-19 conceptualized as a mosaic of commonly treated symptoms as opposed to a novel disease

6 TKM/KFM recipes for COVID-19 prevention (4) and treatment(2)

TKM/KFM plant remedies supplemented with rituals/activities

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TKM/KFM Approaches to COVID-19

Type of Remedy	Description
Prophylaxis	Hot water infused with garlic
Prophylaxis	Hot water infused with ginger
Prophylaxis	Boiled unfertilized/unhatched chicken egg
Prophylaxis	Following the “four Buddhist philosophies and practices”: sitting, walking, standing up, and sleeping
Treatment	Inducing diarrhea with TKM herbs, eating បបរ, and taking a warm bath
Treatment	Boil Kapok leaves (Ceiba pentandra) and wipe your body with the liquid to reduce fever

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Case Study: COVID-19

Participants became more flexible towards trying/using other medical systems’ remedies for COVID-19

Interested in collaging together prophylactic measures to ensure a continuance of preventative care since no definitive treatments were available

People have different categories of conditions they would prefer to use biomedicine over TKM/KFM and vice versa and COVID-19 is a split case

“You cannot mix biomedicine and traditional Khmer medicine. The medicines will be fighting”

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Findings: Care Shapers

Individual

Social support networks

Illness experience

Environments

Abilities and Resources

Family

Friends

Community members

“People with Experience”

Healing commensality

Khmer Biologies

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Findings: Care-seeking Rationalities

TKM/KFM

Thorough

Slow healing

Perfectly tailored

Natural

Cheaper

“Doesn’t expire”

Maternity

Fevers

Blood pressure reduction

Malaria

Skin conditions

Broken bones

Biomedicine

Superficial

Fast healing

Standardised

Imitating Natural

Expensive

Expires

Allergic reactions to TKM/KFM

Family history of biomedicine use

Time-sensitive conditions

Cancer

“Symptoms versus Source”

- Kimberly Dam, RN

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Findings: Khmer Biologies

Crossover of Douglas’ (2002) “social bodies”, Mol’s (2002), “body multiple”, and Niewöhner and Lock’s (2018) “situated biologies”

Towards healing in totality
Khmer bodies benefit from Khmer-informed medicine and care

Care choices as expressions of individual identities and relationships with different health systems

Trust within the familiar TKM/KFM systems - Hiegel (1981)

Biomedicine as incompatible or insufficient

“doesn’t work for our bodies” and providing “true healing”

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Suggested Actions

Encourage and support for TKM/KFM plant remedies to manage certain COVID-19 symptoms

Continued holistic study of plants and their roles within Khmer traditional and folk medicine

Continued development of health crisis management and care policies and interventions with a TKM component to maximise care access and use of resources

Research on community attitudes about collaging care between biomedicine and TKM/KFM

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Reflections & Future Research

Research period during rainy season

Further voucher specimen collections

“Post-pandemic” interviews

Khmer Food & Cuisine Digital Archive

Plant Planet Plate Garden

Turbulent Ecologies

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Publications & Outreach

Publications and Invited Media

Dam, Ashley T.K. “Cha: The remarkable role of stir-fries in Khmer gastronomy and healing”. The Recipes Project. November 2021. https://recipes.hypotheses.org/18178

Dam, Ashley T.K. “Curative Cuisines of Cambodia”. Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (SAFN). March 2021. https://foodanthro.com/2021/03/29/curative-cuisines-of-cambodia/

Pieroni et al., “Taming the pandemic? The Importance of homemade plant-based foods and beverages as community responses to COVID-19” in Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. December 2020, 16(75).

Dam, Ashley T.K. “Incense, Angkor, and a kilo of Trey Ngeat: Reflections on the materiality of Khmer culture in Cambodia and the Khmerican Diaspora”. Routed: Migration and (Im)mobility Magazine. August 2020. https://www.routedmagazine.com/incense-angkor-trey-ngeat

Dam, Ashley T.K. [Invited Contributor] “COVID-19: Views from the Field Roundtable”. A discussion with Baird Campbell, Caitlyn Dye, Kristina Jacobsen, Rebekah Ciribassi, and Sonia Qadir. Platypus. The Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing. American Anthropological Association. May 2020. https://blog.castac.org/2020/05/roundtable-covid-19-views-from-the-field/

Dam, Ashley T.K. “Cambodia in the Time of COVID-19: Conceptions, Perceptions, and Approaches to the Novel Coronavirus”. Platypus. The Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing. American Anthropological Association. April 2020. http://blog.castac.org/2020/04/cambodia-in-the-time-of-covid-19-conceptions-perceptions-and-approaches-to-the-novel-coronavirus/

Dam, Ashley T.K. and Ali Tadlaoui. [Invited Contributor]. Episode 45: Healing Meals. A discussion with Ali Tadlaoui and Ashley Thuthao Keng Dam. Talk To Me About Food (Podcast). https://op en.spotify.com/episode/7cV91KcY4b4nF9unOVSsuM?si=tpiFjNkHS1GG1P8ozy28gg

Conferences

Dam, Ashley T.K (2022, March). A Matter of Taste: Flavour and Form as Indicators of Humoural Ecological Effects of Traditional Khmer Food-medicines during Maternity. Presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS). Honolulu, Hawaii.

Dam, Ashley T.K. (2021, August.) Healing Commensality: Mealtimes as Sites of Collective Healing within Traditional and Folk Khmer Medicine Practices During Maternity. Presented at the International Conference on Food Studies “Culinary Evolutions”.

Dam, Ashley T.K (2021, March). A Matter of Taste: Flavour and Form as Indicators of Humoural Ecological Effects of Traditional Khmer Food-medicines during Maternity. Presented at the VI International Conference on Medical Humanities. London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research. Birkbeck, London, U.K.

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