Thursday, March 4, 2010

Revisionist history

My latest hang-up has been the Cambodian genocide under the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s--namely, the fact that I'd never known about it before this semester. We've been focusing a lot on Cambodia and the Khmer civilization in my Southeast Asia class, and while the bulk of it has been on the region in ancient times, a lot of the literature mentions the fact that Cambodia was inaccessible to researchers from the Western world for a significant portion of the 1960s and -70s because of the Khmer Rouge. I started researching it, and ended up writing the poem I had due for class last week about it; namely, about the fact that the Khmer Rouge killed people who wore glasses simply because they were stereotypical signs of intellect.

It just makes me feel really uncomfortable that virtually the only genocide ever taught about in public school was the Holocaust, which involved the killing of white Europeans rather than an ethnic group systematically categorized as an "other." While I'm not in any way insinuating that the Holocaust shouldn't be a focus of study, I think that making it the sole focus inevitably leaves out so many other gross crimes against humanity that really need to be addressed. History is subjective, and telling one story necessarily means that there are other, concurrent stories that don't get told. Rationally, I know that this is the unfortunate but necessary reality of telling history--or any story, for that matter--but the English major in me is clamoring for some sort of revisionist history that tackles the phenomenon of genocide in a more broad, comprehensive way.

On a less gloomy note, and to continue in a way with revisionist history, read Eavan Boland's poetry. She's way into historical revisionism from a feminist standpoint, and is just generally cool. She read at the Yeats School this past summer, accompanied by a harpist . . . the reading took place in this old chapel with stained glass windows, and I sat in the front row of the balcony peering over the edge at the top of her head, listening to her wonderful brogue and her wonderful words. Oh, to have a cup of Irish tea right now . . .

2 comments:

Julie said...

You make an excellent point about the subjectivity of history... ooh, could I smell an honors capstone project? ;)

As important as the issue is, though, I hope you're not losing sleep over it - 2:53am?!

As always, miss you to pieces!

christian louboutin uk store sale said...

nd tugged at her sleeve: "stay with your mother your aunt and sister to the room to sit, I'll go kill a chicken, to help you swallow."Heard, it seems like what Fang, startling look at the way the daughter nodded, alsoCoach Handbags Outlet washed her winking: "Xiaoyan Feng wing you to help, so look at his rare formal wear, while what the stain on the toss You have to Mai Tai him father. "This can only be felt with the

rohibiting the trademark of functional product features encourages competition by keeping producers from controlling a useful product feature. The Court in Qualitex explained that if functional product features wereprada bags outlet trademarked, than competitors would be put at a significant non-reputational disadvantage.The theory of aesthetic functionality states that consumers desire a specific feature that is

ng flats then, heels should be worn at least 3 4 times a week. If one is not a working woman and spends most of the time at home, then wearing the heels at home would be the way to get comfortable with these.The Christian Louboutin replica collection has a great line of shoes that meets every woman's wants. You just must know where to get them to ensure that not only do they look exactly the same,

hether the Red Sole Mark identifies and distinguishesGucci bags Louboutin as the source - but instead carved out a one-shoe-fits all exception that a single color for fashion items is never subject to protection. Under Qualitex, the court should have however inquired whether the particular mark at issue has been registered with the USPTO and whether the particular mark has acquired a secondary meaning. Give