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- Angkor Workshop II, Heidelberg, May 8-10, 2011
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2nd International Angkor Worshop, Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe", Heidelberg University (8-10 May, 2011)
"Rebirthing Angkor?" Heritage between Decadence, Decay, Revival and the Mission to Civilize
- “Dossier Angkor 1982”, issued by the Délégation Permanente du Kampuchea Démocratique auprès de l’UNESCO (source: National Library, Phnom Penh)
Presentation
"Representing heritage without territory – The Khmer Rouge at the UNESCO in Paris during the 1980s"
In the modern history of Cambodia, the temples of Angkor were constantly (ab)used for identity constructions by the actual ruling powers. In this game, the years between 1979 and 1989 represent a unique case study: While the Cambodian territory itself was occupied by the Vietnamese Heng Samrin-regime, the resistance movement around the Khmer Rouge were recognized by the United Nations as the legal Khmer government under the name of Democratic Kampuchea. As a clever political strategy and in coalition with the former King Norodom Sihanouk, its political leaders around Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary appropriated the western discourse on national cultural heritage: with its Permanent UNESCO-Delegation in Paris, the “safeguarding of Angkor” was promoted as inseparable part of the diplomatic struggle towards national independence.
This presentation tries to analyse the ways and means of the “Angkor-as-heritage discourse” of the Khmer Rouge/Democratic Kampuchea in the 1980s, including the reactions of UNESCO and the international community.
