Speaking private memory to public power

Conflict-related sexual violence has come to be recognized as one of the most horrific weapons of war, an instrument of terror usually targeted against women, but that affects entire societies. This chapter focuses on an independent self-funded research initiative, the “Cambodian Women’s Oral History” project (CWOHP), conducted between 2012 and 2016. ¹ The collection of 21 life-story narratives is among the first cohesive set of publically accessible oral histories that relay the distinct experiences of women in armed conflict and mass atrocity scenarios, a growing area of interest in international relations and security studies. ² Particularly noteworthy is the candid ways that narrators detail accounts of sexual and gender-based violence committed largely with impunity during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Collectively, the narratives represent a watershed moment, dispelling a long-held belief that sexual crimes were not a distinct element of the Cambodian atrocity, and that women would not tell their stories. Without the existence and preservation of these life stories, this aspect of the Khmer Rouge’s brutal history may have faded into oblivion.