Contested commemorations: violence and memory in Cambodia

2014-07-10Contested Commemorations examines representations of the Cambodian genocide in photography, journalism, film, and law. I particularly highlight commemorations that I believe authorize the heightened killing power seen during the current US War on Terror. This dissertation argues that memorialization of the Cambodian genocide has often resulted in both the forgetting of the US‐sponsored destruction of Southeast Asia, and the pacification of the political lives of Cambodian genocide survivors. I place this research in dialog with the ongoing UN/Cambodian tribunal against the Khmer Rouge, and caution against equating legal adjudication with narrative closure