Genocide Education in Cambodia

A graduate student helps train Cambodian teachers on how to teach the genocide

By Justin Hubbard

Durham, NC -- At a recent teacher workshop in Cambodia, Nguol Sophal submitted her essay "The Human Heart," unveiling painful memories of an entire family, including all her children, lost under the Khmer Rouge regime. Her story of a Khmer Rouge cadre who helped her recover from a deathly illness led her to proclaim the perpetrators were not all monsters, but "humans with human hearts."

For Sarah Jones Dickens, a Duke doctoral student in the department of art, art history and visual studies historical narratives such as these are the foundation of her work with the Cambodian Genocide Education Project (CGEP).

Dickens works with the Cambodian Ministry of Education and Documentary Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) to implement genocide education into all Cambodian high schools and universities. She trains history teachers so they can teach genocide education in their schools.

Dickens received a Fulbright scholarship in 2007 for her work on visual art and trauma in Cambodia. Since then, she has continued work with DC-Cam and has made three trips back to Cambodia during winter and summer breaks.

Dickens, who is now in Durham, hopes to connect with Duke alumni, returned Peace Corps volunteers and other students at the upcoming Duke in Depth weekend, Feb. 24-26. She says she looks forward to learning from their firsthand experiences working on similar issues in the world.

"I think the panels specifically on the roles of art, education women and religion dovetail with my work in Cambodia," Dickens said.

CGEP aspires to promote national reconciliation and individual healing by implementing genocide education in all Cambodian high schools and universities by 2013.

"This is the first time Cambodia has implemented this history since the genocide occurred and teachers are teaching younger generations, who often minimize the stories of their parents," Dickens said.

Between 1975-79, an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians were killed under the Khmer Rouge regime. The trauma was such that afterwards the society experienced what has been termed "a wave of amnesia."

"You need that history in instances of mass trauma. If not, when you say there is no history, no identity, then you have a past that is completely vague. How can you heal or how can you rebuild your identity?" Dickens said.

At the Cambodian workshop this past December, DC-Cam director Youk Chhang, unveiled his "Land and Reconciliation-Building a Peaceful Society through Education" model. The model contains more Cambodian-specific notions for national reconciliation and healing and emphasizes a ground up approach through education and teachers.

Teachers are respected throughout Cambodian society regardless of religious or ethnic differences and are the primary actors in gathering historical narratives.

"They have proven to be highly effective and efficient in collecting these stories. At the training we asked all the teachers to collect two stories from their villages so they can write the people's history to then be disseminated across the country in monograph forms, " Dickens said.

Another important component of CGEP is government support. In addition to its efforts with the international community to conduct the Cambodia genocide tribunals, the Cambodian government has also set aside land for DC-Cam's Sleuk Rith Institute, a permanent center that will function as a museum, research institute and a university for master degree programs in human rights and law.