Judy Ledgerwood

Professor Judy Ledgerwood is a cultural anthropologist whose research interests include cultural change in the aftermath of violence, new patterns of gender and social relations after the Cambodian revolution and war, and the politics of memory; she conducts research in Cambodia and with Khmer communities in the U.S. She currently serves as the director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Professor Ledgerwood has conducted research in Cambodia and in the United States with Khmer Americans. She has taught at the Royal University of Fine Arts, Faculty of Archaeology in Phnom Penh; and has had senior research fellowships from the Center for Khmer Studies. She has served on the board of the National Cambodian Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial in Chicago.

Professor Ledgerwood’s current book project is a history of one Cambodian village from 1960-2020, using research materials from her mentor May Ebihara, and collections of life history interviews conducted in the community from the 1990s through the 2010s. The book is co-authored with Kheang Un.

Judy Ledgerwood was able to briefly conduct research in Cambodia in May 2022 with a fellowship from the Center for Khmer Studies. She is completing a book manuscript on the history of one community near Phnom Penh from 1959 to 2022.

Selected Publications

Books

  • At the Edge of the Forest: Essays on Cambodia, History and Narrative in Honor of David Chandler. Edited volume with Anne Hansen, Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asian Studies Program, (Co-author, Introduction). 2008
  • Cambodia Emerges from the Past. Edited volume, DeKalb, IL: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, (Co-author, Introduction). 2002

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

  • Introduction, Svay, A Khmer Village in Cambodia by May Mayko Ebihara, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, pp. xi-xxxi. 2018
  • Rebuilding Temples after War: Grandfather Pait IN Figures of Buddhist Modernity in Asia. Jeffrey Samuels, Justin McDaniel and Mark Rowe, eds. University of Hawai’i Press, p. 48-50. 2016
  • Buddhist Ritual and the Reordering of Social Relations in Cambodia. Southeast Asia Research, 20(2): 191:205. 2012
  • A Tale of Two Temples: Communities and their Wats IN Village Community and the Transforming Social Order in Cambodia and Thailand: Essays in Honor of May Ebihara. John Marston, ed. Melbourne: Monash University. 2011

 


Professor

jledgerw@niu.edu

Education

Ph.D., Cornell University