“Profoundly moving and insightful in expanding different kinds of idioms and methods on what it means to `bear witness’ to genocide, war crimes, environmental in/justice.” • Jacqueline Siapno, University of California
“This book is an indispensable resource for those with an interest in the Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia, refugee studies, or human rights studies.” • Eve Zucker, Columbia University
“The oral histories are replete with tales of surviving famine, disease, executions, and profound trauma and loss, as well as of resilience, survival, and adaptation. Most notable about this collection is that it is also a visual ethnography—a ‘picture book,’ as described by authors Mamula, an ethnographic writer, and Sutton, a transmedia artist.” · Choice Recommended
Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge genocide claimed an estimated 1.7 million lives. Survivors faced starvation, torture, and dangerous journeys through mountainous and mine-filled jungles. Upon arriving at refugee camps, they faced uncertainty and hardship before eventually moving to the USA where they struggled to adapt to urban life. This book tells the survival stories of seven Cambodians who endured the Khmer Rouge Genocide, their escape to Thailand, and their difficult resettlement in the United States. It is a collection of first-person oral histories, supplemented by images of documents and photographs, highlighting journeys of resilience, survival, and adaptation amidst profound trauma.
Stephen Mamula is an ethnographic writer who specializes in the cultural ecologies of Cambodia and urban North America. He has held teaching positions at Columbia University, Fordham University, and Providence College. He contributed to the volume Figures of Southeast Asian Modernity (University of Hawaii Press, 2013) and has delivered lectures at the Library of Congress, Harvard University, Yale University, UCLA, Sapienza Universita di Roma, and elsewhere on his research.
Eva Sutton is a transmedia artist whose work explores the intersection of photography, archives, and installation. She is a former Professor of Photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been featured at Exit Art (New York City), Le Centre National de la Photographie (Paris) and Aperture Gallery (San Francisco), among many others. She has lectured on issues in art and technology at global venues including Princeton University, New York University, The Cooper Union, The American Museum of Natural History in New York, Hong Kong Center for the Arts and The Ludwig Foundation in Havana, Cuba.
LC: E184.K45 M36 2025
BISAC: SOC002010 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Anthropology/Cultural & Social; SOC007000 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Emigration & Immigration; SOC066000 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Refugees
