Understanding the Cham Identity in Mainland Southeast Asia: Contending Views

The Cham people had established extensive and intense webs of relationships that encompassed activities in the economic, religious, cultural, and political spheres throughout maritime Southeast Asia. This article seeks to answer the question: What qualities do the Chams possess that allowed them to successfully participate in the cultural and social dynamics in societies other than their own? Throughout the course of this article, I attempt to locate Cham ethnicity in the context of several theories of Ethnicity. This will be followed by an attempt to address this issue through various means namely understanding the phenomenon of `Cham Ethnic mobility' throughout the perspective of `layers' i.e., the `historical' layer, the `religious layer', and the `oppressed minority'. I argue that by analysing the Chams through the perspective of these layers, one is able to garner a more nuanced view of the Chams especially in regard to their ability to negotiate cultural and national boundaries of nation states in Southeast Asia.