Exploring the limits of catharsis in transitional justice : the khmer rouge tribunal, victim elitism, and the reconfiguration of Cambodian memoryscapes
ASEAS-UK Conference 2011 at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. September 9-11, 2011
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2015
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th-mahidol.402162023-04-12T15:38:50Z Exploring the limits of catharsis in transitional justice : the khmer rouge tribunal, victim elitism, and the reconfiguration of Cambodian memoryscapes Oesterheld, Christian Mahidol University International College. Social Science Division Transitional justice The limits of catharsis khmer Cambodian ASEAS-UK Conference 2011 at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. September 9-11, 2011 The Khmer Rouge tribunal is expected to bring to justice former Khmer Rouge leaders and those “most responsible” for crimes committed during the Democratic Kampuchea regime, and by doing so to contribute to national reconciliation. During the 2009 proceedings of the Extraodinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), civil party lawyers have frequently invoked the importance of the public acknowledgment of their clients suffering to “heal the wounds of the past”. However, it is doubtful whether the selective acknowledgement of suffering is capable of initiating a wider process of catharsis in Cambodia society. The number of civil parties admitted to the proceedings is limited, and, more importantly, the number of indictments has been minimized by procedural considerations and repeated political interference from the Cambodian government. The ECCC’s Case 001 tries Kaing Guek Eav alias ‘Duch’, the director of the notorious Khmer Rouge security centre S-21,but other S-21 staff, including his deputy, have merely been summoned as witnesses. Moreover, S-21, despite its notoriety, was only one out of nearly 200 Khmer Rouge detention centres, some of them with notably greater number of executions. Its elevated position in the Cambodian memoryscape was fostered by its preservation during the Vietnam-backed People’s Republic of Kampuchea and its transformation into the Tuol Sleng Genocide, a fate denied to other former prisons which have been leveled and disappeared from the visible memoryscape of contemporary Cambodia. Although their significance is implicitly denied by the current Khmer Rouge Tribunal, they continue to exist in the memory of a large number of survivors and the family members of those who disappeared. This paper argues that reconfigurations of the Cambodian memoryscape since 1979 have contributed to the creation of two categories of victims, an “elite” whose suffering is publicly acknowledged, and a traumatized “mass” which is poorly served by the workings of the ECCC. Consideration that S-21 mostly detained former Khmer Rouge cadres from leading positions, often themselves involved in crimes against humanity prior to their detention, contributes further to the dilemma of transitional justice in ontemporary Cambodia. 2015-09-04T06:12:42Z 2018-12-25T04:04:13Z 2015-09-04T06:12:42Z 2018-12-25T04:04:13Z 2015 2011 Proceeding Book https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/40216 eng Mahidol University |
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Mahidol University |
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Mahidol University Library |
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Asia |
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Thailand Thailand |
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Mahidol University Library |
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Mahidol University Institutional Repository |
| language |
English |
| topic |
Transitional justice The limits of catharsis khmer Cambodian |
| spellingShingle |
Transitional justice The limits of catharsis khmer Cambodian Oesterheld, Christian Exploring the limits of catharsis in transitional justice : the khmer rouge tribunal, victim elitism, and the reconfiguration of Cambodian memoryscapes |
| description |
ASEAS-UK Conference 2011 at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. September 9-11, 2011 |
| author2 |
Mahidol University International College. Social Science Division |
| author_facet |
Mahidol University International College. Social Science Division Oesterheld, Christian |
| format |
Proceeding Book |
| author |
Oesterheld, Christian |
| author_sort |
Oesterheld, Christian |
| title |
Exploring the limits of catharsis in transitional justice : the khmer rouge tribunal, victim elitism, and the reconfiguration of Cambodian memoryscapes |
| title_short |
Exploring the limits of catharsis in transitional justice : the khmer rouge tribunal, victim elitism, and the reconfiguration of Cambodian memoryscapes |
| title_full |
Exploring the limits of catharsis in transitional justice : the khmer rouge tribunal, victim elitism, and the reconfiguration of Cambodian memoryscapes |
| title_fullStr |
Exploring the limits of catharsis in transitional justice : the khmer rouge tribunal, victim elitism, and the reconfiguration of Cambodian memoryscapes |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Exploring the limits of catharsis in transitional justice : the khmer rouge tribunal, victim elitism, and the reconfiguration of Cambodian memoryscapes |
| title_sort |
exploring the limits of catharsis in transitional justice : the khmer rouge tribunal, victim elitism, and the reconfiguration of cambodian memoryscapes |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/40216 |
| _version_ |
1781416619416748032 |