Welcome to the Cambodian Community History & Archive Project (CamCHAP)

The Cambodian Community History & Archive Project is a multilingual (English/Khmer), multimedia website presenting a historical ethnography of the Cambodians in Long Beach. Through photographs, historical documents, audio recordings, and video clips, this website situates the community’s growth within a particular historical moment at international, national, and local levels. It tells the story of how this came to be the largest community outside Southeast Asia, how Cambodian cultural practices have been recreated here, and the ways in which Cambodians have contributed to the economy, politics, and redevelopment of the Anaheim Street corridor of Long Beach.

A Garden Without Roots

“A Garden Without Roots” is a short ethnographic video featuring five Cambodian senior gardeners maintaining two community gardens in different locations of Long Beach, California. The gardeners are in limbo between a publicly funded plot subject to city-wide budget cuts, and a temporary backyard space rented from a Cambodian family. They need more cultivatable land in order to harvest enough food for the public Seniors Nutrition Program, which provides culturally appropriate food to the Cambodian senior population. The garden is like a second home to the seniors allowing them to interact with other Cambodians and the surrounding diverse community.

Co-producers: Katarina Spralja, Adam Neilson, and Brian Delas Armas.