Memory construction of former Khmer Rouge cadres: resistance to dominant discourses of genocide in Cambodia

Abstract

In the context of post-genocide Cambodia, this article explores resistance as the product of knowledge derived from the entanglement of official and personal memories of the Khmer Rouge (KR) period. By examining two public exhibitions produced by the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), namely, Forced Transfers: The Second Evacuation of the Khmer Rouge Regime and Life Experiences of Former Khmer Rouge Cadres, the article argues that narratives of the KR period as portrayed by the exhibits have the potential to destabilize official narratives by disrupting the homogeneity of dominant narratives and challenging reductive dichotomies of victim and perpetrator.