'Plates in a basket will rattle': Marital dissolution and home 'unmaking' in contemporary Cambodia

'Plates in a basket will rattle' is a Cambodian proverb which infers that for those who live in the same household, collisions and conflicts between one another are to be expected. Focusing on marital dissolution as one consequence of such discordance, this paper draws on in-depth qualitative research conducted in 2004-2005 and 2011 with ever-married women who have experienced abandonment, separation or divorce in Siem Reap Province. The paper contends that the paucity of scholarly and policy understanding surrounding marital dissolution in Cambodia can also be witnessed in Geography as a disciplinary neglect of theories and empirical instances of domestic rupture. The paper contributes to rectifying this lacuna by reading experiences of marital dissolution through material and symbolic dimensions of domestic space and by opening up discussion on the politics and practices of home 'unmaking'.

► There is little research or policy understanding of marital dissolution in Cambodia. ► Geography has shown a relative neglect towards domestic rupture. ► The paper advances the idea of home 'unmaking'. ► Experiences of marriage breakdown can be read through the home. ► Marital dissolution is politically and culturally significant.