Cambodian-American Women: An Oral History Project
Created by the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma
Courage and Resiliency: the Cambodian-American Women Oral History Project at Schlesinger Library has had a long and distinguished history since its original conception in the early 1980s. At that time, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were being resettled in the United States. The American people know little about the Khmer Rouge and its murderous regime (1975-1979) that killed an estimated 2-4 million Cambodian citizens. Although Cambodian women were less likely than men to be executed, they suffered a great number of trauma events including starvation, incarceration, torture, the witnessing of the execution of family members, abuse and starvation deaths of their children and sexual violence. Upon arrival as refugees in America, these women faced the incredible task of building a new life for themselves and their remaining family members.
To read the rest of Dr. Mollica's statement, click here.
Recommended Books to Read
Healing Invisible Wounds: Paths to Hope and Recovery in a Violent World
By Richard F. Mollica, MD
A note from the Author:
"Healing Invisible Wounds reveals how trauma survivors, through the telling of their stories, teach all of us how to deal with the tragic events of everyday life. Mollica's important discovery that humiliation—an instrument of violence that also leads to anger and despair—can be transformed through his therapeutic project into solace and redemption is a remarkable new contribution to survivors and clinicians."
The book in English can be found on Amazon.
The book in Khmer can be found here.