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Violence from another angle
Even in 2020, in Southeast Asia the ongoing effects of the Cold War are inescapable. Wars fought in the East as part of the ideological conflict against communism caused mass death across many countries, and the ongoing consequences continue to affect understandings of kin, religion, politics, and sociality in many areas. In Cambodia, the Cold War contributed to the rise of the Khmer Rouge, a millenary Maoist regime that between 1975 and 1979, caused the death of an estimated 1.7 million people, through starvation, exhaustion, disease, and execution. The ongoing effects of that genocide are still felt today, not least in the political sphere, where impunity and a hybrid, or illiberal, democracy, have enabled an autocratic rule by the current ruling party and the Prime Minister, Hun Sen. Drawing on moments in my research when political violence became evident, and later considering the way I altered my practice in response to the same challenges, I consider how one of the ongoing legacies of the Cold War in Cambodia is a political sphere of distrust and insecurity, of violence and repression. Using Kuan-Hsing Chen’s urge to re-centre stories of the Cold War as part of the deimperialization project in Asia, I consider how this legacy is a result of both internal and external influences, that have yet to be fully untangled. Thus they continue to have an influence on contemporary Cambodia. As researchers in Asia, it is our duty to bring these entanglements to the fore, and show how the wounds of the cold war are still weeping in Cambodia.
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Publication status
- Published
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- Published version
Publisher
Rowman & LittlefieldPage range
43-64Pages
314.0Book title
Methods, Moments, and Ethnographic Spaces in AsiaPlace of publication
LondonISBN
9781786612489Department affiliated with
- Anthropology Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Editors
Nayantara S Appleton, Caroline BennettLegacy Posted Date
2023-02-15First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2023-02-15Usage metrics
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