Sun Lee (Interdisciplinary Studies Field Major)
“Transitional Justice, Cultural Memory, and Post Colonial Consciousness in Post Khmer Rouge Cambodia”
Sponsor: Professor David Cohen, Rhetoric and Classics
Project Description
Sun's project examines how cultural memory and postcolonial consciousness have shaped the notion of justice and reconciliation in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia. While the newly-established Special Court aims to establish international criminal justice 31 years after the tragic events, whether such justice can redress historical wrongs and bring about reconciliation remains questionable. Therefore an inquiry into the Cambodian social and political imagination, ideological development and notions of national identity and culture becomes appropriate. Through interviews, observations and review of historical evidence, Sun will unearth the non-dominant voice and seek to understand the sentiment regarding the nation's history of foreign occupation and colonial subjection. The hope is that this research would not only be significant in shaping Cambodia's memory of its past and future, but that it would elicit informed decisions and creative mechanisms to aid nations arising from violent pasts.
Scholar's Photo
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Sun floating down the river on the way to neighboring village in Cambodia
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Scholar's Journal
It’s another night of tuk-krah-lok-sipping under a makeshift food tent set up just outside my guesthouse in Phnom Penh. Finishing off the day and reflecting on it over these fruit shakes has become a regular and much valued ritual to cool off my brain cells and heightened senses that are needed during the day. Today I spent the afternoon at local NGO--Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC Cam) talking to the director and gathering documents that cover the Khmer Rouge period of Cambodian history. After several hours of searching the database and reading materials, I was smiling my way home with a happy bundle of documents strapped to the front of the moto(rcycle). Data collection on field research is kind of like a Christmas gift exchange -- without the time to read all the materials into detail I must choose what to take back based on a very superficial reading, and wait till I get home to see whether I chose the right wrapping paper or not. In any case, I felt pretty productive today.
Earlier in the day I also took a trip to the ECCC--Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia -- a UN-backed tribunal where the remaining former leaders under the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-79) would be tried. I walked through empty corridors and open spaces in various wings, speculating how different the place would look when the trial process actually begins. Although the Cambodian and international judges had been sworn in a few days ago, it’ll definitely not take place soon enough for me to observe during this trip! The final thought I took back from today’s trip was
just how important outreach would be in determining the success of this legal process. I had previously met with various NGOs that were coordinating their efforts to reach out to Cambodians of all various strata, which offers a basis for optimism despite a bad track record in
this area by other international tribunals in other parts of the world.
Discovering new knowledge and meeting interesting people has been a very enriching experience so far, particularly because of the curious social dynamic that characterizes this country. I find an intricate interweaving of various ideologies that traverse time and history, which allows contradictions to coexist with progressions that make perfect logical sense. For example, to say that Cambodia is deeply attached to its past -- both the infamous and glorious days -- is just as legitimate as describing it as a dynamic society in the process of gaining momentum toward development. There are further complexities that can’t be captured in a linear equation or a simple answer -- those that involve notions such as healing, revenge, forgiveness, memory, death and life -- abstract yet so overwhelmingly personal and sensitive themes. I think I will need a few more tuk-krah-loks and late-night pondering sessions before I can even begin try to unpack it all...
