From Rice Fields to Killing Fields: Nature, Life, and Labor under the Khmer Rouge by James A. Tyner

In any quality-driven human geography study, it is imperative that the researcher suspend the culture-bound logic of his own thought process and strive to become aware, sensitive, and competent toward the target culture. In the Hindu-Theravada Buddhist–inspired psychic of the Khmer, observing this rule would prove extremely useful in discovering that society's cultural grounding, including the leadership of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). For example, knowledge based on Cambodia's ancient cosmology-inspired beliefs about "power, hierarchy, and leadership" would be extremely beneficial to the social science researcher.

No doubt, such cosmology-based insight would be useful in guiding human geography research through Cambodia's CPK experience, in no small part a consequence of France's association colonialism, America's domino theory, Sihanouk's modernization theory, Lon Nol's Khmerism, and the Khmer Rouge's Maoism. Understanding each of these past invasive influences is essential to an understanding of the deep structure of the CPK's thoughts and subsequent actions.

Within these parameters, James Tyner provides a unique perspective on one of the most brutal regimes of modern time. Serious political and economic scholars will welcome his solid logic coupled with the in-depth evidence he employs to connect the dots from tragic French colonialism to the atrocities of Democratic Kampuchea. Peering through the lens of state capitalism, Tyner has discovered a bastardized interpretation of Marxism as practiced by the CPK. In doing so, he artfully guides the reader through a minefield of the social and economic evidence that molded and seemingly justified the CPK leadership's peculiar ideology. Tyner then refocuses his lens to dissect the economic policies and practices of the CPK, and in doing so shines light on the economic-philosophical anatomy of that organization.

As the human species seems to be constantly reminded, Tyner moves the reader through the reality of the violent consequences (1.7 million perished out of a population of 7 million) bestowed on the Khmer culture by the CPK's misguided understanding of Marx. According to Tyner, Marxism and genocide as cojoined "engagement" issues have detoured many scholars from the challenge of researching their interrelatedness. Tyner suggests a sampling of four perception factors that may influence modern scholarship's resistance: "Marxist approaches have fallen out of favor," "mass killing tends to draw attention away from the everyday political economy involved in its production," "Marxism is intrinsically violent," and finally, in the case of Cambodia, "Marxist communism was actually a guise for state capitalism" (xvi–xviii).

Specifically, the author strengthens his principal argument by inverting the foundation of Western understanding of Marx and Engels. "It is not consciousness that determines life, but life that determines consciousness" (xi). He posits that the CPK leadership seemed to think that it was the degree of political consciousness that could be jammed into the proletariat that reflected the material success of the revolution. In short, by flipping dialectical materialism on its head, political consciousness determined life and those who were unable or unwilling to submit were disappeared. "Spare them, no profit; remove them, no loss" (Tuk min chammenh, dah chenh ka min khat) (xix).

In summary, Tyner's work provides a thought-provoking point of view for scholars to debate. As urged by the author, Cambodia watchers may also wish to interpret his message as a credible warning that in the kingdom of Cambodia, state capitalism policies and practices are still residing under the thinnest veil of democracy. Both Cambodian and world leaders are well advised to do the needful in avoiding yet another Thucydides' Trap. As demonstrated during the Khmer Rouge era, dialectic materialism can produce a strong temptation for the super powers to square off using dependent vassal states as their pawns. In exploring CPK revolutionary state capitalism as pure dialectical materialism under the guise of communism, Tyner makes a solid contribution to the canon while giving the critical thinker much to ponder.