Cultural NGO-interventions in post-conflict contexts: The case of the CLA in Cambodia (2009-2016)

• Autor(a) principal: Höll, Benedikt Simon Petrus
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/18852
• topic: Arts-based peacebuilding; Genocide; Cambodia; NGO (Non-Governmental Organization); Cambodian Living Arts; Khmer Rouge; Preservação do património; Arte -- Art; Política cultural; História política; Genocídio; ONG Organização não-governamental; Estudo de casos; Camboja

The genocide in Cambodia, that lasted from 1975 until 1979, caused by the Khmer Rouge, left the Cambodian society completely devastated in a desolate state. The survivors of the genocide had to cope with many problems ranging from material poverty to physical and psychological injuries. In comparison to other conflicts, the most affected people during that four-year period were intellectuals and educated people. As a consequence the country lost 90% of its artists and therefore its rich artistic culture.1 After the genocide, mostly in the early 1990s, Cambodia witnessed an influx of hundreds of non-governmental organizations. Nowadays there are in total around 3.500 NGOs registered in the country.2 That means the second highest number of NGOs per capita in the world after Rwanda.3 The NGOs came with the aim to help the Cambodians in general, and genocide survivors in particular, in the course of the signings of the Paris Peace Agreements on October 23rd 1991, to put the Cambodian society back on its feet.4 The Paris Peace Agreements, which were signed by 19 governments, offered a comprehensive political settlement aimed at ending the tragic conflict in Cambodia.5 This work therefore, is a Case Study, which seeks to investigate the role of one specific Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) called Cambodian Living Arts. This NGO is working on the continuity and preservation of Cambodia´s artistic cultural heritage. The investigation also surveys the social and political background to the genocide. The assessment was carried out through the analysis of the conducted interviews, which have been complemented with secondary data from organizational project reports and websites related to that topic. One of the major challenges of the Case Study will be, to connect my own primary research with the broader theoretical themes of the existing literature.