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Posted by: | Posted on: September 17, 2008

Pride or shame ?

Tuol Sleng Museum applies for registration with Unesco intrigued the question that this initiative will bring shame or pride to Cambodian people? If we check in the listing numbers of world cultural heritages subscribed by Unesco, we seem not see any genocidal or brutal place being put as World Heritage. But if Cambodia can achieve her purpose to register Tuol Sleng Museum with Unesco, it would be possibly questionable to the intent of this orientation.

Conceivably, many foreign visitors have always laid their expectation when they visit Cambodia: to experience the well-known greatness of Angkor Wat and the horrible notorious legacy of Khmer Rouge. Weighting these two expectations rationally reflect the pride and shame of Cambodia. The reputation of Angkor Wat highly honors the Cambodian people in the past, present and future. But the legacy of Khmer Rouge and Tuol Sleng prisoners’ camp ambiguously construes Cambodian people.

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Posted by: | Posted on: September 16, 2008

P’chum Ben: Its Significance

Among Cambodian annual festivities, P’chum Ben and Kan Ben are considered very significant. Literally, P’chum Ben means the gathering of the pieces of cooked rice to offer to the deceased. It culminates in 15th of full moon day and ends in 15th of waning moon day in lunar calendar of the 9th month or September 14 to September 28. The values of this festival notably inscribed its universal similarity, traditional practice, Buddhist ethics, and social, economic, political driven-force.

Universally, the festivity occurs during the darkest night. During these 15 days, the night in Cambodia is so dark and humid allowed Cambodian people to accelerate their belief of ghosts who dare appear only in the very dark night. The belief coincides with some Western countries especially Canada and America that their Halloween Day also happens in the very dark night. The purpose of the festival is to refer to ghosts or spirit, but practice is in different formats. Cambodian Buddhists bring food to offer to the Sangha, but Canadians and Americans joyfully play “trick or treat” with each other by transforming themselves as the night ghosts. Thailand and Lao also celebrate this day for the gratefulness to their deceased called Kao Sarth.

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Posted by: | Posted on: September 10, 2008

Hierarchy of needs & fundamental human needs

There are criticisms the research of Abraham Maslow associated “the issues of human needs”. Maslow elaborated the basic human needs categorize like a pyramid named “hierarchy of needs”. He divided into five categories from the most primitive needs to the least needs: 1. physiological (breathing, food, water, sex, homeostasis, excretion, sleep), 2. safety (security of body, of employment, of resources, of morality, of the family, of health, of property), 3. love/belonging (friendship, family, sexual intimacy), 4. esteem (self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others), 5. self-actualization (morality, creativity, spontaneity, problems solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts). Read More …

Posted by: | Posted on: September 8, 2008

Reading Today: Social Research Strategies

Key Points:

  • Quantitative and qualitative research constitute different approaches to social investigation and carry with them important epistemological and ontological consideration.
  • Theory can be depicted as something that precedes research (as in quantitative research) or as something that emerges out of it (as in qualitative research).
  • Epistemological considerations loom large in considerations of research strategy. To a large extent, these revolve around the desirability of employing a natural science model (and in particular positivism) versus interpretivism.
  • Ontological considerations, concerning objectivism versus constructionism, also constitute important dimensions of the quantitative/qualitative contrast.
  • Value may impinge on the research process at different times.
  • Practical considerations in decisions about research methods are also important factors.
  • Feminist researchers have tended to prefer a qualitative approach, though there is some evidence of a change of viewpoint in this regard.

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