Hi everyone. As I've mentioned in some previous posts, I'm in the process of designing a website about Cambodia, much of it based on my November trip to Phnom Penh and Angkor. The website is intended to be used by American high schools in two ways: first, as an exploration of Angkor and the Khmer empire for world history and Asian studies classes; second, for history and literature classes investigating the Khmer Rouge autogenocide as part of schools' Holocaust/genocide studies curriculum requirements.
I've been researching Khmer history for the better part of a year now, but no matter how much study I do on the subject, I will never have the first-person perspective of those Khmers who lived through the Khmer Rouge. Therefore, I'd like to see if anyone on s.c.c. would be willing to share their stories with me. I'd be happy to give people credit or post them anonymously on the website, depending on the author's comfort level. My web efforts are entirely volunteer, so I wouldn't be able to compensate authors, but my current website, EdWeb (http://edwebproject.org) is used by thousands of schools each year, so I can guarantee that the end product will be read by many young people. I feel it's very important for kids to learn from individual stories as part of their studies; otherwise, their education in genocide studies is impersonal and academic at best.
If you'd be interested in sending me your story, feel free to reach me at acarvin@gsn.org. I don't have a deadline for rolling out the site yet, but I'd like to get a sense of who would be interested in submitting an essay. I'd also be willing to edit and html anyone's writing if they wish, even transcribe audio recordings. Anything ranging from a poem or a few paragraphs to a detailed accounted would be gratefully appreciated. The more people learn, the harder it will be to forget.
Posted by acarvin at January 9, 1998 02:07 PM | TrackBack