Reported by Dacil Keo
Since its establishment DC-Cam has benefitted greatly from the support of an international network of scholars and professionals who have contributed their expertise on matters such as law, business, accounting, history, education, and human rights advocacy. Key knowledge contributors include: David Ashley (MA, SOAS-London), Frank Chalk (PhD, Wisconsin), David Chandler (PhD, Michigan), Phala Chea (PhD, Massachusetts), John Ciorciari (PhD, Oxford and JD, Harvard), Susan Cook (PhD, Yale), Chris Dearing (JD, Seattle), Craig Etcheson (PhD, USC), Nereida Cross (University of New South Wales), Thomas Hammarberg (UN Ambassador, Sweden), Steven Heder (PhD, London), Alex Hinton (PhD, Emory), Julio Jeldres (PhD candidate, Monash), Ben Kiernan (PhD, Monash), Sambo Manara (MA - Cal State Long Beach), Judge Soeung Panhavuth (MA in law, State University of Ukraine), Jaya Ramji-Nogales (JD, Yale), David Scheffer (LLM, Georgetown), Ron Slye (JD, Yale), Gregory Stanton (PhD, Chicago and JD, Yale), Laura Summers (PhD, Hull), Heng Vanda (MA, Institute of Accounting-Cambodia), Beth Van Schaack (JD, Yale), Judge Huot Vuthy (MA in law, State University of Ukraine), and many others.
The Center has also benefited from the knowledge contribution of hundreds of outstanding students who visit for scholarly and outreach projects related to our work. In addition to our year-round university student volunteers from Cambodia, each summer the Center receives approximately 20-30 select university students, generally graduate and law students, from top universities outside Cambodia. The majority of these associates stay for the summer while some stay for one year or more to complete their PhD dissertation research. After completion of their research project, many continue on to become professors or lead other important positions in their field. These associates become an integral part of our international network of supporters, with some even taking on important positions at our Center as legal advisor, board member, and project consultant.
This summer DC-Cam will receive twice the number of associates who generally visit, in part due to the outreach efforts of the Center’s Director and other staff members. Below is a partial list of the new group of associates by institution for 2010:
Claremont College
Sovathana Sokhom
Columbia University
Libby Shutkin
Stephanie Wang
Georgetown University
Laura Vilim
National War College
CAPT Ryman Shoaf (US Navy)
COL Andrew Schweikert (US Army)
COL Paul Russell (US Army)
LTCOL Sherrie McCandless (US Air Force)
Mr. Jim Eaves
Mr. Eric Khant
Ms. Sharon O'Donnell
LTCOL Fred Williams (US Air Force)
CDR Mark Cooper (US Navy)
MAJ Zack Hohn
Rutgers-Newark
Yannek Smith, Political Science
Gassia Assadourian, Political Science
Raphael Smith, International Business
Dough Irvine
Rutgers University
Natalae Anderson
Santa Clara University
Gina Cortese
Seattle University
Krista Nelson
Stanford University Business School
Stanford University School of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science
Daryn Reicherter, M.D. and his team
Temple University
Aimee Haynes
Texas A&M University
Stephen Wilson, History major
Matthew Perieda, Political Science major
Daniel Caldwell, History major
Adam Haney, Political Science major
Doug Rohrabaugh, Political Science/History major
Kaycie Clark, Political Science major
Cassidy Harris, History Major
Kristin Lewin, Political Science major
Christina Clay, Documentary Film major/Political Science
Tulane University
Richard Kilpatrick
UC-Berkeley
Julia Thuy Underhill
UC-Irvine
Monica Sar
Susanna Young
Phanith Sovann
UCLA
Asiroh Cham, Asian Languages & Cultures
UCLA & YALE
Kalyanee Mam
UC-San Diego
Jennifer Ka, Psychology
University of Michigan
Jennifer Walker
University of South Florida
James Roberts
USC
Jessica Hinman
Alexandra Battat
Marilyn Katzman
Jessica Kwok
Francis Lo
Julia Mangione
Shoshana Polansky
Camille Waddell
Daniel Yu
UW-Madison
Dacil Keo, Political Science
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
US Exhibition Broadens Tribunal Awareness
Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer | Ohio, USA Thursday, 06 May 2010
Photo: Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/cambodia/
John Ciorciari, Assistant Prof. of University of Michigan's School of Public Policy.
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/cambodia/US-Exhibition-Broadens-Tribunal-Awareness-92979769.html
“I learned something that I didn’t know from books, and I got a much better perspective on how the tribunal came about, what the politics are, the composition of the court, and some other issues going forward.”
The UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal has put the atrocities of the regime at the forefront of much public discussion, but it has also created the space for reconciliation and education.
The Documentation Center of Cambodia has taken advantage of that space to hold a series of lectures and events in the US to explain the court, the Khmer Rouge and other facets of the process. The most recent was at Ohio University, in Athens, which included lectures and an exhibition of Khmer Rouge-era photographs.
The trials can bring about a sort of reconciliation that is “about personal healing and about spiritual, moral, emotional, psychological,” John Ciorciari, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, told a group during a recent lecture at the Ohio exhibition. “But it is the type of reconciliation that can only come at a deep, grass-roots, personal level.”
The tribunal is “a sort of watershed” that can “create space for education, for reconciliation activities,” he said.
The hybrid tribunal, which combines UN-appointed and Cambodian prosecutors and judges, has already tried Kaing Kek Iev, the Khmer Rouge torture chief better known as Duch, and it is now preparing to try four more senior leaders. Court proceedings have allowed thousands of victims come forward and contribute testimony.
As it continues, the court has spurred events like this one in cities across the US, where many Khmer Rouge survivors escaped or where Americans may be unaware trials are underway.
So Farina, a staff member for the Documentation Center of Cambodia and a graduate student at Ohio University, said she coordinated the exhibition and discussion here to broaden awareness of the tribunal and the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge.
“The event is a way to prevent genocide from happening again because we can speak out, we participate, and we discuss the topic,” she told VOA Khmer at the exhibition. “We chose Ohio University because there are students from every part of the world, a lot of international students. In addition there is a Southeast Asian studies program, which is relevant.”
Drew McDaniel, a professor at the university’s School of Media Arts and Studies who is also an expert on Southeast Asia, said the tribunal is still not well understood. The court rules are complicated, and there was a long run up to the creation of the court.
Exhibitions and talks can help people understand it, and understand the plight Cambodians faced when the Khmer Rouge came to power, McDaniel said.
“So, it has value to enlighten the intellectual community, the scholars on our campus, and in general to raise our awareness of what’s going on there,” he said. “I think this is a way of calling American attention to an important period in history, and making [the public] understand how the international community is responding to this important event. Even though it’s years and years later, it’s still very important.”
For Jeffery Shane, a librarian at Ohio University’s Southeast Asian collection, the discussions engendered by the tribunal show the process is ongoing, but they can also touch on international relations, law and human rights.
“First of all, Athens, Ohio, in particular is a very isolated, very small town, and events like this make people more aware of problems well away from Athens, Ohio, opens their eyes to event in the world at large,” Shane said. “In fact, we have a Southeast Asian program here. I think it allows students who might not learn about this at this depth in the classrooms to get a broader perspective on Southeast Asia, especially contemporary history, contemporary politics.”
Joanie Kraynanski, at the university’s Center for International Studies, said such presentations help explain the sophisticated circumstances surrounding the court.
For example, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith have all been charged with genocide, along with other atrocity crimes. But the genocide question is not that simple. Kraynanski said she did not consider the mass brutality of the Khmer Rouge genocide, but rather a severe atrocity.
Such discussions can also help researchers advance their studies. Cambodia has become an example of transitional justice, said Bruce Douglas, a graduate student at the university who is studying post-Khmer Rouge Cambodian history. Cases tried in Cambodia could help define future international law, he said.
“I learned something that I didn’t know from books, and I got a much better perspective on how the tribunal came about, what the politics are, the composition of the court, and some other issues going forward,” he said.
Photo: Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/cambodia/
John Ciorciari, Assistant Prof. of University of Michigan's School of Public Policy.
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/cambodia/US-Exhibition-Broadens-Tribunal-Awareness-92979769.html
“I learned something that I didn’t know from books, and I got a much better perspective on how the tribunal came about, what the politics are, the composition of the court, and some other issues going forward.”
The UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal has put the atrocities of the regime at the forefront of much public discussion, but it has also created the space for reconciliation and education.
The Documentation Center of Cambodia has taken advantage of that space to hold a series of lectures and events in the US to explain the court, the Khmer Rouge and other facets of the process. The most recent was at Ohio University, in Athens, which included lectures and an exhibition of Khmer Rouge-era photographs.
The trials can bring about a sort of reconciliation that is “about personal healing and about spiritual, moral, emotional, psychological,” John Ciorciari, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan, told a group during a recent lecture at the Ohio exhibition. “But it is the type of reconciliation that can only come at a deep, grass-roots, personal level.”
The tribunal is “a sort of watershed” that can “create space for education, for reconciliation activities,” he said.
The hybrid tribunal, which combines UN-appointed and Cambodian prosecutors and judges, has already tried Kaing Kek Iev, the Khmer Rouge torture chief better known as Duch, and it is now preparing to try four more senior leaders. Court proceedings have allowed thousands of victims come forward and contribute testimony.
As it continues, the court has spurred events like this one in cities across the US, where many Khmer Rouge survivors escaped or where Americans may be unaware trials are underway.
So Farina, a staff member for the Documentation Center of Cambodia and a graduate student at Ohio University, said she coordinated the exhibition and discussion here to broaden awareness of the tribunal and the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge.
“The event is a way to prevent genocide from happening again because we can speak out, we participate, and we discuss the topic,” she told VOA Khmer at the exhibition. “We chose Ohio University because there are students from every part of the world, a lot of international students. In addition there is a Southeast Asian studies program, which is relevant.”
Drew McDaniel, a professor at the university’s School of Media Arts and Studies who is also an expert on Southeast Asia, said the tribunal is still not well understood. The court rules are complicated, and there was a long run up to the creation of the court.
Exhibitions and talks can help people understand it, and understand the plight Cambodians faced when the Khmer Rouge came to power, McDaniel said.
“So, it has value to enlighten the intellectual community, the scholars on our campus, and in general to raise our awareness of what’s going on there,” he said. “I think this is a way of calling American attention to an important period in history, and making [the public] understand how the international community is responding to this important event. Even though it’s years and years later, it’s still very important.”
For Jeffery Shane, a librarian at Ohio University’s Southeast Asian collection, the discussions engendered by the tribunal show the process is ongoing, but they can also touch on international relations, law and human rights.
“First of all, Athens, Ohio, in particular is a very isolated, very small town, and events like this make people more aware of problems well away from Athens, Ohio, opens their eyes to event in the world at large,” Shane said. “In fact, we have a Southeast Asian program here. I think it allows students who might not learn about this at this depth in the classrooms to get a broader perspective on Southeast Asia, especially contemporary history, contemporary politics.”
Joanie Kraynanski, at the university’s Center for International Studies, said such presentations help explain the sophisticated circumstances surrounding the court.
For example, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith have all been charged with genocide, along with other atrocity crimes. But the genocide question is not that simple. Kraynanski said she did not consider the mass brutality of the Khmer Rouge genocide, but rather a severe atrocity.
Such discussions can also help researchers advance their studies. Cambodia has become an example of transitional justice, said Bruce Douglas, a graduate student at the university who is studying post-Khmer Rouge Cambodian history. Cases tried in Cambodia could help define future international law, he said.
“I learned something that I didn’t know from books, and I got a much better perspective on how the tribunal came about, what the politics are, the composition of the court, and some other issues going forward,” he said.
DC-Cam Reaches Outside Cambodia
Reported by Dacil Keo
Both inside Cambodia and among international circles focused on human rights, genocide studies, and international law, DC-Cam is known for its dedication to researching and documenting the Khmer Rouge era and for its outreach activities across the Cambodian countryside. In the past month alone, DC-Cam staff and volunteers traveled to the provinces of Strung Treng, Kampot, Preah Sihanouk, and Kratie to conduct local teacher trainings as part of its Genocide Education Project; organized meetings with civil party participants to educate them on Case 002 of the ECCC; conducted a seminar for 200 university students on accessing electronic Khmer Rouge resources; screened ECCC trial hearings and held discussions in villages in Pursat province; and traveled to several other provinces to assist Khmer Rouge victims file civil complaints to the ECCC. In the month of April, DC-Cam also expanded its global outreach efforts through lectures, photographic exhibitions, and community-based teaching initiatives. These efforts have led to an increase in the number of students who intern and conduct research in the summer at DC-Cam.
In the last two weeks, DC-Cam traveled across American universities to mount an exhibition on the Cambodian genocide and to promote its work. DC-Cam Director Youk Chhang traveled to several schools in the UC system including USC, UCSD, UCLA, and UC-Irvine, in addition to Stanford University, Cal State Long Beach, and Rutgers University to give presentations on the current state of Cambodian society in regards to the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge era. His visit was organized by Penny Edwards, Chair of the Center for Southeast Asian Center at UC-Berkeley, and Barbara Gaerlan, Assistant Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA, and funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
Mr. Chhang’s lecture tour of American universities began on April 19 in New Jersey at Rutgers University where Alexander Hinton, a scholar of the Cambodian genocide, leads the university’s Center for Conflict Resolution and Human Rights. A few days later on April 21, Director Chhang was in California to give a public lecture at UC-Berkeley. As UC-Berkeley and UCLA’s biannual Distinguished Visitor from Southeast Asia, Mr. Chhang gave a compelling presentation on the work of DC-Cam, his personal motivations, and the complicated issues of justice, reconciliation, and healing in Cambodian society. Following his hour-long presentation, Mr. Chhang spent another hour answering questions from audience members concerning human rights in Burma, the justifications for a tribunal in Cambodia, reactions of children of perpetrators, educational outreach, rule of law, and other complex questions. On the next day, Mr. Chhang was at Stanford University to present at the Graduate School of Business. Then on April 26, Mr. Chhang gave a talk at UCLA that was funded by the university’s International Institute. This lecture, similar to the others, focused on the difficulties of trying to mend the “broken pieces of Cambodian society.”
During his two weeks of visiting American universities, Mr. Chhang met with many students and professors to discuss in greater depth the issues he raised in his presentation. At UC-Berkeley, he worked with professors and library staff on the preservation of the classical Khmer poem, Tum Teav. This literary classic tells the story of a monk, Tum, and a young woman, Teav, who fall in love. Their relationship ends tragically however with the deaths of both Tum and Teav. This story is widely known and read in Cambodia and has been adapted into feature-length films. In 2005, DC-Cam published an English translation by George Chigas. At UC-Berkeley, the text has been used in courses on Southeast Asia.
Mr. Chhang attended a play by the Cambodian Student Association of UC-San Diego called Unspoken Words by third-year Cambodian-American student Jennifer Ka. The play by Ms. Ka made a great impression on Mr. Chhang due its strikingly similar in theme and tone to DC-Cam’s own Breaking the Silence. Both plays deal with the hardship of having open dialogues on the Khmer Rouge era among survivors. Breaking the Silence, directed by Amrita Performing Arts in Phnom Penh, has already undertaken two national tours and in April began airing its radio version on Voice of America-Khmer, a very popular radio program in Cambodia. The radio version of Breaking the Silence is available on VOA-Khmer’s website for public download.
DC-Cam photo exhibitions were mounted at USC on April 14 and Ohio University on April 30. At USC, the exhibition was held in mid April and sponsored by the Soah Foundation and the Levan Institute. Directors of both organizations, along with International Relations Lecturer and DC-Cam Deputy Director Mr. Kosal Path, and Cambodian genocide survivor Mr. Danny Vong, gave opening remarks at the exhibition. The exhibition at Ohio University accompanied a lecture on the ongoing Khmer Rouge Tribunal by Dr. John Ciorciari, Assistant Professor at Michigan University and DC-Cam’s Senior Legal Advisor. The lecture was organized by DC-Cam project leader Farina So and Ohio’s Southeast Asian Center’s Haley Duschinski.
Also in the month of April, several DC-Cam staffs concluded their three-month long internship at Lowell High School in Lowell, Massachusetts where they assisted teachers in teaching about Khmer Rouge history to students. The city of Lowell contains the second largest population of Cambodian immigrants and Cambodian-Americans after Long Beach, California.
Dr. Phala Chea, coauthor of Teacher’s Guidebook: the Teaching of A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979, helped organized this internship and worked with the textbook’s author, Khamboly Dy to facilitate the internship.
These outreach efforts in America have helped to nearly double the number of students (usually graduate and law students) who normally intern and conduct research at DC-Cam during the summer from 30 to 60 students. This summer, DC-Cam plans to host students from the following universities: Texas A&M, Seattle, Tulane, Rutgers, Colombia, Michigan, Temple, Georgetown, UW-Madison, Santa Clara, USC, USD, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, UC-Irvine, and the National War College. Students from these schools cover a wide range of disciplines including history, political science, documentary film, law, psychology, and international business. Among the group are several Cambodian-Americans: Jennifer Ka (US-San Diego), Monica Sar (UC-Irvine), Phanith Sovann (UC-Irvine), and Dacil Keo (UW-Madison).
For specific articles regarding each event, please visit:
Dr. Ciorciari at Ohio University:
http://www.faculty-commons.org/atlab/?p=1562
Mr. Chhang at USC:
http://college.usc.edu/vhi/events/detail.php?nid=1084
Mr. Chhang at Rutgers:
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/kr-issues/Tribunal-Not-a-Cure-All-Experts-Warn-91823934.html
Mr. Chhang at UC-Berkeley:
http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/ihouse.html?event_ID=29878&
Mr. Chhang at UCLA:
http://www.international.ucla.edu/calendar/showevent.asp?eventid=8034
Mr. Chhang at Stanford:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/chhang-Cambodia.html
Lowell, Massachusetts:
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/kr-issues/For-US-Cambodians-a-Question-of-Healing-91913754.html
Breaking the Silence from VOA-Khmer:
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/special-reports/entertainment/Breaking-the-Silence--A-New-Cambodian-Play-91838704.html
A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979), Audio Reading from VOA-Khmer:
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/special-reports/politics/Democratic-kampuchea-90092047.html
Both inside Cambodia and among international circles focused on human rights, genocide studies, and international law, DC-Cam is known for its dedication to researching and documenting the Khmer Rouge era and for its outreach activities across the Cambodian countryside. In the past month alone, DC-Cam staff and volunteers traveled to the provinces of Strung Treng, Kampot, Preah Sihanouk, and Kratie to conduct local teacher trainings as part of its Genocide Education Project; organized meetings with civil party participants to educate them on Case 002 of the ECCC; conducted a seminar for 200 university students on accessing electronic Khmer Rouge resources; screened ECCC trial hearings and held discussions in villages in Pursat province; and traveled to several other provinces to assist Khmer Rouge victims file civil complaints to the ECCC. In the month of April, DC-Cam also expanded its global outreach efforts through lectures, photographic exhibitions, and community-based teaching initiatives. These efforts have led to an increase in the number of students who intern and conduct research in the summer at DC-Cam.
In the last two weeks, DC-Cam traveled across American universities to mount an exhibition on the Cambodian genocide and to promote its work. DC-Cam Director Youk Chhang traveled to several schools in the UC system including USC, UCSD, UCLA, and UC-Irvine, in addition to Stanford University, Cal State Long Beach, and Rutgers University to give presentations on the current state of Cambodian society in regards to the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge era. His visit was organized by Penny Edwards, Chair of the Center for Southeast Asian Center at UC-Berkeley, and Barbara Gaerlan, Assistant Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA, and funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
Mr. Chhang’s lecture tour of American universities began on April 19 in New Jersey at Rutgers University where Alexander Hinton, a scholar of the Cambodian genocide, leads the university’s Center for Conflict Resolution and Human Rights. A few days later on April 21, Director Chhang was in California to give a public lecture at UC-Berkeley. As UC-Berkeley and UCLA’s biannual Distinguished Visitor from Southeast Asia, Mr. Chhang gave a compelling presentation on the work of DC-Cam, his personal motivations, and the complicated issues of justice, reconciliation, and healing in Cambodian society. Following his hour-long presentation, Mr. Chhang spent another hour answering questions from audience members concerning human rights in Burma, the justifications for a tribunal in Cambodia, reactions of children of perpetrators, educational outreach, rule of law, and other complex questions. On the next day, Mr. Chhang was at Stanford University to present at the Graduate School of Business. Then on April 26, Mr. Chhang gave a talk at UCLA that was funded by the university’s International Institute. This lecture, similar to the others, focused on the difficulties of trying to mend the “broken pieces of Cambodian society.”
During his two weeks of visiting American universities, Mr. Chhang met with many students and professors to discuss in greater depth the issues he raised in his presentation. At UC-Berkeley, he worked with professors and library staff on the preservation of the classical Khmer poem, Tum Teav. This literary classic tells the story of a monk, Tum, and a young woman, Teav, who fall in love. Their relationship ends tragically however with the deaths of both Tum and Teav. This story is widely known and read in Cambodia and has been adapted into feature-length films. In 2005, DC-Cam published an English translation by George Chigas. At UC-Berkeley, the text has been used in courses on Southeast Asia.
Mr. Chhang attended a play by the Cambodian Student Association of UC-San Diego called Unspoken Words by third-year Cambodian-American student Jennifer Ka. The play by Ms. Ka made a great impression on Mr. Chhang due its strikingly similar in theme and tone to DC-Cam’s own Breaking the Silence. Both plays deal with the hardship of having open dialogues on the Khmer Rouge era among survivors. Breaking the Silence, directed by Amrita Performing Arts in Phnom Penh, has already undertaken two national tours and in April began airing its radio version on Voice of America-Khmer, a very popular radio program in Cambodia. The radio version of Breaking the Silence is available on VOA-Khmer’s website for public download.
DC-Cam photo exhibitions were mounted at USC on April 14 and Ohio University on April 30. At USC, the exhibition was held in mid April and sponsored by the Soah Foundation and the Levan Institute. Directors of both organizations, along with International Relations Lecturer and DC-Cam Deputy Director Mr. Kosal Path, and Cambodian genocide survivor Mr. Danny Vong, gave opening remarks at the exhibition. The exhibition at Ohio University accompanied a lecture on the ongoing Khmer Rouge Tribunal by Dr. John Ciorciari, Assistant Professor at Michigan University and DC-Cam’s Senior Legal Advisor. The lecture was organized by DC-Cam project leader Farina So and Ohio’s Southeast Asian Center’s Haley Duschinski.
Also in the month of April, several DC-Cam staffs concluded their three-month long internship at Lowell High School in Lowell, Massachusetts where they assisted teachers in teaching about Khmer Rouge history to students. The city of Lowell contains the second largest population of Cambodian immigrants and Cambodian-Americans after Long Beach, California.
Dr. Phala Chea, coauthor of Teacher’s Guidebook: the Teaching of A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979, helped organized this internship and worked with the textbook’s author, Khamboly Dy to facilitate the internship.
These outreach efforts in America have helped to nearly double the number of students (usually graduate and law students) who normally intern and conduct research at DC-Cam during the summer from 30 to 60 students. This summer, DC-Cam plans to host students from the following universities: Texas A&M, Seattle, Tulane, Rutgers, Colombia, Michigan, Temple, Georgetown, UW-Madison, Santa Clara, USC, USD, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, UC-Irvine, and the National War College. Students from these schools cover a wide range of disciplines including history, political science, documentary film, law, psychology, and international business. Among the group are several Cambodian-Americans: Jennifer Ka (US-San Diego), Monica Sar (UC-Irvine), Phanith Sovann (UC-Irvine), and Dacil Keo (UW-Madison).
For specific articles regarding each event, please visit:
Dr. Ciorciari at Ohio University:
http://www.faculty-commons.org/atlab/?p=1562
Mr. Chhang at USC:
http://college.usc.edu/vhi/events/detail.php?nid=1084
Mr. Chhang at Rutgers:
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/kr-issues/Tribunal-Not-a-Cure-All-Experts-Warn-91823934.html
Mr. Chhang at UC-Berkeley:
http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/ihouse.html?event_ID=29878&
Mr. Chhang at UCLA:
http://www.international.ucla.edu/calendar/showevent.asp?eventid=8034
Mr. Chhang at Stanford:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/chhang-Cambodia.html
Lowell, Massachusetts:
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/kr-issues/For-US-Cambodians-a-Question-of-Healing-91913754.html
Breaking the Silence from VOA-Khmer:
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/special-reports/entertainment/Breaking-the-Silence--A-New-Cambodian-Play-91838704.html
A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979), Audio Reading from VOA-Khmer:
http://www1.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/special-reports/politics/Democratic-kampuchea-90092047.html
Commune Teacher Training ProgramFrom 8 to 14 May 2010
Since the fall of Democratic Kampuchea (DK) in January 1979, various efforts have been made to teach the history of this regime to Cambodians, especially the younger generation, including at school as political propaganda and at home as stories passed from parents to their children. These efforts were neither sufficient nor persistent.
In 2007—28 years later—a new textbook was published: A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979), written by Kamboly Dy, a Cambodian researcher at the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), with financial support from the Endowment for Democracy and the Open Society Institute (OSI). The textbook was reviewed by the Government Reviewing Committee and three years later was approved as a supplementary material in secondary schools throughout Cambodia. Today, 300,000 copies have been distributed freely to students across the country.
In 2009, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Education, DC-Cam produced a Teacher’s Guidebook to help teachers teach DK history objectively and pedagogically. The guidebook also addresses reconciliation efforts such as the work of the Khmer Rouge tribunal (Extraordinary Chambers), and suggests how to think critically about and beyond that process. A student workbook is also being finalized to help students understand the textbook comprehensively.
From June 29 to July 7, 2009, DC-Cam, with support from Belgium, Sida (Sweden), USAID, OSI, Denmark and others, held a workshop to train 24 national teachers from the Ministry of Education and 15 DC-Cam staff members on DK history teaching methodology and related topics, such as mass atrocities in other countries and international law. International and national scholars participated in and assisted this workshop. In late 2009, DC-Cam with 39 national trainers conducted the second national training workshop through which 180 provincial teachers successfully received this training. At the end March 2010 all participants attended a three-day capacity building workshop to receive more comprehensive information and knowledge before they became teacher trainers for 1,627 commune history teachers.
The first commune teacher training was conducted successfully from April 5-11, 2010 in four provincial training centers: Kampot, Preah Sihanouk, Stung Treng and Kratie. Sixty-eight commune teachers from Kampot, eight from Kep, 28 from Preah Sihanouk, 17 from Koh Kong, 30 from Kratie, four from Mondul Kiri, five from Ratanak Kiri, 18 from Preah Vihear and 15 from Stung Treng provinces participated.
The second round of commune teacher training will be held from May 8-14 in three provinces: Takeo, Prey Veng and Kampong Thom. In total 348 commune teachers are expected to participate. The following highlights the program activity of the training.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Tekeo province, Kok-Thay Eng: 012 95 58 58
Kampong Thom province, Vanthan Peoudara: 012 84 65 26
Prey Veng province: Khamboly Dy: 017 88 39 67
In 2007—28 years later—a new textbook was published: A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979), written by Kamboly Dy, a Cambodian researcher at the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), with financial support from the Endowment for Democracy and the Open Society Institute (OSI). The textbook was reviewed by the Government Reviewing Committee and three years later was approved as a supplementary material in secondary schools throughout Cambodia. Today, 300,000 copies have been distributed freely to students across the country.
In 2009, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Education, DC-Cam produced a Teacher’s Guidebook to help teachers teach DK history objectively and pedagogically. The guidebook also addresses reconciliation efforts such as the work of the Khmer Rouge tribunal (Extraordinary Chambers), and suggests how to think critically about and beyond that process. A student workbook is also being finalized to help students understand the textbook comprehensively.
From June 29 to July 7, 2009, DC-Cam, with support from Belgium, Sida (Sweden), USAID, OSI, Denmark and others, held a workshop to train 24 national teachers from the Ministry of Education and 15 DC-Cam staff members on DK history teaching methodology and related topics, such as mass atrocities in other countries and international law. International and national scholars participated in and assisted this workshop. In late 2009, DC-Cam with 39 national trainers conducted the second national training workshop through which 180 provincial teachers successfully received this training. At the end March 2010 all participants attended a three-day capacity building workshop to receive more comprehensive information and knowledge before they became teacher trainers for 1,627 commune history teachers.
The first commune teacher training was conducted successfully from April 5-11, 2010 in four provincial training centers: Kampot, Preah Sihanouk, Stung Treng and Kratie. Sixty-eight commune teachers from Kampot, eight from Kep, 28 from Preah Sihanouk, 17 from Koh Kong, 30 from Kratie, four from Mondul Kiri, five from Ratanak Kiri, 18 from Preah Vihear and 15 from Stung Treng provinces participated.
The second round of commune teacher training will be held from May 8-14 in three provinces: Takeo, Prey Veng and Kampong Thom. In total 348 commune teachers are expected to participate. The following highlights the program activity of the training.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Tekeo province, Kok-Thay Eng: 012 95 58 58
Kampong Thom province, Vanthan Peoudara: 012 84 65 26
Prey Veng province: Khamboly Dy: 017 88 39 67
Cambodian Students Begin Learning about Khmer Rouge Atrocities
http://www.international.ucla.edu/cseas/news/article.asp?parentid=115153
Cambodian Students Begin Learning about Khmer Rouge Atrocities
Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, describes the challenges of teaching young people about the country's holocaust. Over the last two weeks of April, he met with students and faculty at UCLA, Berkeley, Irvine and San Diego.
Kevin Matthews
So now you have the classroom where there are children on both sides, and now you have the teachers on both sides. How would you teach this thing?
More than 30 years after the worst mass murder since World War II, Cambodian high school students are for the first time learning about Khmer Rouge atrocities at school, thanks to the work of an independent organization dedicated to documenting the genocide that occurred at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
The task of producing a 100-page textbook on the subject, getting it into classrooms in Cambodia and training 3,200 teachers on how to instruct students about this dark period in their country's history is among the latest achievements of the Phnom Penh–based Documentation Center of Cambodia, directed by "killing fields" survivor Youk Chhang.
With funding from the U.S. and Swedish governments, the center since the 1990s has assembled 600,000 pages of primary documents and 6,000 photographs, mapped out 189 prisons and 20,000 mass graves, and interviewed 10,000 people from the Khmer Rouge ranks. The center's archive has gathered in detail the names, faces and stories that give meaning to what are unimaginable numbers.
As many as two million people were murdered, starved or worked to death in the small country between 1975 and 1979, while Pol Pot's government was proclaiming an agrarian utopia. The archive is central to work begun in 2006 by a United Nations–backed special tribunal established to try the country's aging war criminals for the first time.
"We at the center believe that genocide is a part of us," said Chhang at a talk hosted by UCLA's Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Royce Hall on April 26. "It's our identity. Like a shadow, you can see it, and you don't see it. That shadow is memory. It belongs to all of us."
Chhang, who met over the last two weeks of April with students and faculty at UCLA, Berkeley, Irvine and San Diego, traveled to the campuses under a U.S. Department of Education–funded program to bring distinguished Southeast Asians to California.
One of the center's goals is to make rigorous education about this period in Cambodia's history a top priority. But not everyone agrees that it should be. Families of victims often are divided over how to remember this period, he said.
For example, Chhang said, his niece, a survivor who lives in Maryland, never saw the point of his campaign for a war crimes tribunal, which couldn't bring back her parents. Chhang's mother, a Buddhist, has said that she forgives the Khmer Rouge.
Chhang acknowledges that he began his work on documenting the atrocities in order to get back at the people who murdered his sister and other family members, and who beat him mercilessly in front of his mother. "Everyone wants justice on their own terms," he told the audience.
A Difficult Task
Chhang estimates that between 20-30 percent of the young students sitting in classrooms are children of the Khmer Rouge. "So now you have the classroom [where there are] children on both sides, and now you have the teachers on both sides. … How would you teach this thing?"
From his experience of taking groups of 200 students to see the tribunal in Phnom Penh, Chhang knows that young people have their own ways of dismissing the past. In class discussions, some argue aggressively that Cambodians should reconcile and "live together in harmony."
On at least one such occasion, he said, a teacher on the trip demanded the microphone. "He said, 'Look, all of you, you don't understand how I feel. I lost brother, sister, mother, parent. No food to eat. I lost a child. And now you want me to forgive?' The whole room was silent," Chhang said.
Silence fell again during another classroom discussion moderated by Chhang, when he introduced a prison chief and a survivor from the same prison. Initially, Chhang said, the students directed some questions to the survivor. Finally, a 16-year-old student accused the prison head of wanting only power over others. The student's remarks were applauded by his classmates. But Chhang insisted that the man be allowed to tell his story.
"The perpetrators also see themselves as victims," said Chhang. There have been stories of Khmer Rouge who joined the movement for status and protection and then lived in fear of punishment by superiors. Chhang advises teachers to allow students to play the roles of both the perpetrator and victim in class, and to interview their parents about the period.
While he was at UCLA, Chhang visited Professor Geoffrey Robinson's history seminar on political violence and genocide, and he spoke to students learning Vietnamese and Thai. He also visited the USC Shoah Foundation Institute exhibition on the Khmer Rouge Trial. At UC San Diego, he was moved by "Unspoken Words," a theater production by the Cambodian Student Association. In the play by Jennifer Ka, a U.S.-born Cambodian woman seeks to overcome her mother's resistance to talking about the past, a barrier to "a real relationship with her daughter," Ka wrote in an e-mail.
You can see a video webcast of a lecture given by Chhang at UC Berkeley on April 21.
Date Posted: 5/3/2010
©1999 - 2010. The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Cambodian Students Begin Learning about Khmer Rouge Atrocities
Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, describes the challenges of teaching young people about the country's holocaust. Over the last two weeks of April, he met with students and faculty at UCLA, Berkeley, Irvine and San Diego.
Kevin Matthews
So now you have the classroom where there are children on both sides, and now you have the teachers on both sides. How would you teach this thing?
More than 30 years after the worst mass murder since World War II, Cambodian high school students are for the first time learning about Khmer Rouge atrocities at school, thanks to the work of an independent organization dedicated to documenting the genocide that occurred at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
The task of producing a 100-page textbook on the subject, getting it into classrooms in Cambodia and training 3,200 teachers on how to instruct students about this dark period in their country's history is among the latest achievements of the Phnom Penh–based Documentation Center of Cambodia, directed by "killing fields" survivor Youk Chhang.
With funding from the U.S. and Swedish governments, the center since the 1990s has assembled 600,000 pages of primary documents and 6,000 photographs, mapped out 189 prisons and 20,000 mass graves, and interviewed 10,000 people from the Khmer Rouge ranks. The center's archive has gathered in detail the names, faces and stories that give meaning to what are unimaginable numbers.
As many as two million people were murdered, starved or worked to death in the small country between 1975 and 1979, while Pol Pot's government was proclaiming an agrarian utopia. The archive is central to work begun in 2006 by a United Nations–backed special tribunal established to try the country's aging war criminals for the first time.
"We at the center believe that genocide is a part of us," said Chhang at a talk hosted by UCLA's Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Royce Hall on April 26. "It's our identity. Like a shadow, you can see it, and you don't see it. That shadow is memory. It belongs to all of us."
Chhang, who met over the last two weeks of April with students and faculty at UCLA, Berkeley, Irvine and San Diego, traveled to the campuses under a U.S. Department of Education–funded program to bring distinguished Southeast Asians to California.
One of the center's goals is to make rigorous education about this period in Cambodia's history a top priority. But not everyone agrees that it should be. Families of victims often are divided over how to remember this period, he said.
For example, Chhang said, his niece, a survivor who lives in Maryland, never saw the point of his campaign for a war crimes tribunal, which couldn't bring back her parents. Chhang's mother, a Buddhist, has said that she forgives the Khmer Rouge.
Chhang acknowledges that he began his work on documenting the atrocities in order to get back at the people who murdered his sister and other family members, and who beat him mercilessly in front of his mother. "Everyone wants justice on their own terms," he told the audience.
A Difficult Task
Chhang estimates that between 20-30 percent of the young students sitting in classrooms are children of the Khmer Rouge. "So now you have the classroom [where there are] children on both sides, and now you have the teachers on both sides. … How would you teach this thing?"
From his experience of taking groups of 200 students to see the tribunal in Phnom Penh, Chhang knows that young people have their own ways of dismissing the past. In class discussions, some argue aggressively that Cambodians should reconcile and "live together in harmony."
On at least one such occasion, he said, a teacher on the trip demanded the microphone. "He said, 'Look, all of you, you don't understand how I feel. I lost brother, sister, mother, parent. No food to eat. I lost a child. And now you want me to forgive?' The whole room was silent," Chhang said.
Silence fell again during another classroom discussion moderated by Chhang, when he introduced a prison chief and a survivor from the same prison. Initially, Chhang said, the students directed some questions to the survivor. Finally, a 16-year-old student accused the prison head of wanting only power over others. The student's remarks were applauded by his classmates. But Chhang insisted that the man be allowed to tell his story.
"The perpetrators also see themselves as victims," said Chhang. There have been stories of Khmer Rouge who joined the movement for status and protection and then lived in fear of punishment by superiors. Chhang advises teachers to allow students to play the roles of both the perpetrator and victim in class, and to interview their parents about the period.
While he was at UCLA, Chhang visited Professor Geoffrey Robinson's history seminar on political violence and genocide, and he spoke to students learning Vietnamese and Thai. He also visited the USC Shoah Foundation Institute exhibition on the Khmer Rouge Trial. At UC San Diego, he was moved by "Unspoken Words," a theater production by the Cambodian Student Association. In the play by Jennifer Ka, a U.S.-born Cambodian woman seeks to overcome her mother's resistance to talking about the past, a barrier to "a real relationship with her daughter," Ka wrote in an e-mail.
You can see a video webcast of a lecture given by Chhang at UC Berkeley on April 21.
Date Posted: 5/3/2010
©1999 - 2010. The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Share Your Khmer Rouge Experience: Author
Parents should share with their children their experiences under the Khmer
Rouge, which can help heal old wounds and move the country forward, the
author of a groundbreaking history book said Monday.
Dy Kamboly, whose "History of Democratic Kampuchea" is being distributed
in Cambodia to help teach about the regime, told "Hello VOA" that digging
into the past can be painful, but it can also be helpful.
Saturday, April 17, will mark the 35th anniversary of the fall of Phnom
Penh to the Khmer Rouge guerrillas, who immediately emptied the cities and
began Year Zero, a communist experiment that led to the deaths of up to 2
million people.
Cambodians are still reticent to discuss their experiences with their
children, and many still live among those who followed the Khmer Rouge.
But authors like Dy Kamboly and others at the Documentation Center of
Cambodia encourage speaking out, claiming that sharing can be helpful,
even among victims and former perpetrators.
"In order to avoid negative consequences of bringing up the painful past,
the Documentation Center, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education,
has come up with a plan to teach more than 3,200 teachers around Cambodia
how to teach the history of Democratic Kampuchea," he said.
This is being done in a way that avoids "negative impact on society," he
said.
Rouge, which can help heal old wounds and move the country forward, the
author of a groundbreaking history book said Monday.
Dy Kamboly, whose "History of Democratic Kampuchea" is being distributed
in Cambodia to help teach about the regime, told "Hello VOA" that digging
into the past can be painful, but it can also be helpful.
Saturday, April 17, will mark the 35th anniversary of the fall of Phnom
Penh to the Khmer Rouge guerrillas, who immediately emptied the cities and
began Year Zero, a communist experiment that led to the deaths of up to 2
million people.
Cambodians are still reticent to discuss their experiences with their
children, and many still live among those who followed the Khmer Rouge.
But authors like Dy Kamboly and others at the Documentation Center of
Cambodia encourage speaking out, claiming that sharing can be helpful,
even among victims and former perpetrators.
"In order to avoid negative consequences of bringing up the painful past,
the Documentation Center, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education,
has come up with a plan to teach more than 3,200 teachers around Cambodia
how to teach the history of Democratic Kampuchea," he said.
This is being done in a way that avoids "negative impact on society," he
said.
Khmer New Year
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
April 11, 2010
On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I congratulate the
people of the Kingdom of Cambodia on the occasion of Khmer New Year.
This is an opportunity to honor Cambodia's culture and its accomplishments.
This past year, Cambodians marked a historic milestone when, for the first
time in three decades, a former Khmer Rouge official was held accountable
for his crimes before an internationally recognized court.
And over the last year, the partnership between our two nations has grown
stronger and deeper. Together we have expanded cooperation on law
enforcement issues, food security, the environment, and international
peacekeeping.
On this festive occasion, let me reaffirm our commitment to both the
partnership between our governments and the friendship between our people.
We especially look forward to the 60th anniversary of our bilateral
relations this coming July, a testament to our enduring bonds.
I offer best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous new year.
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
April 11, 2010
On behalf of President Obama and the American people, I congratulate the
people of the Kingdom of Cambodia on the occasion of Khmer New Year.
This is an opportunity to honor Cambodia's culture and its accomplishments.
This past year, Cambodians marked a historic milestone when, for the first
time in three decades, a former Khmer Rouge official was held accountable
for his crimes before an internationally recognized court.
And over the last year, the partnership between our two nations has grown
stronger and deeper. Together we have expanded cooperation on law
enforcement issues, food security, the environment, and international
peacekeeping.
On this festive occasion, let me reaffirm our commitment to both the
partnership between our governments and the friendship between our people.
We especially look forward to the 60th anniversary of our bilateral
relations this coming July, a testament to our enduring bonds.
I offer best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous new year.
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About Me
- Duong Dara
- Dara Duong was born in 1971 in Battambang province, Cambodia. His life changed forever at age four, when the Khmer Rouge took over the country in 1975. During the regime that controlled Cambodia from 1975-1979, Dara’s father, grandparents, uncle and aunt were executed, along with almost 3 million other Cambodians. Dara’s mother managed to keep him and his brothers and sisters together and survive the years of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, when the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia, she did not want to live under Communist rule. She fled with her family to a refugee camp on the Cambodian-Thai border, where they lived for more than ten years. Since arriving in the United States, Dara’s goal has been to educate people about the rich Cambodian culture that the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy and about the genocide, so that the world will not stand by and allow such atrocities to occur again. Toward that end, he has created the Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, which began in his garage and is now in White Center, Washington. Dara’s story is one of survival against enormous odds, one of perseverance, one of courage and hope.