VISUALISING KHMER ROUGE HISTORY AND MEMORY: CONFIGURING PUBLIC HISTORY IN CAMBODIA SINCE 1979

This thesis utilises historical research and cultural translations to configure the formation of public history in Cambodia since 1979. Whilst the fall of Democratic Kampuchea (DK, or the Khmer Rouge) on the 7th of January 1979 is characterised as the key moment that precipitated the cultivation of public history as it uniquely exists in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979) is examined on a broader historical continuum, pre-dating 1975 and extending all the way into the present day. Within this framework, two distinct, but predominantly visual trajectories of public history are synthesised. The first, identified as ‘state-sanctioned public history,’ is situated alongside Cambodia’s tumultuous post-genocide nation-state development, contentious foreign relations, and the progression of historiographic debates surrounding the Khmer Rouge and the memorialisation of the atrocities under the DK period. The second form of public history is contextualised as a ‘grassroots public history movement,’ arising from initiatives at the community level to revitalise the Cambodian arts after the devastation brought on by genocide. In this capacity, ‘the West’ is effectively decentred as a locus for the field of international public history’s conceptualisation, advancement, and progress. What emerges is a portrait of public history within and along the national contours of Cambodia, imbricated with rudiments of cultural history and heritage indigenous to the region.