Adding Spatial Context to the April 17, 1975 Evacuation of Phnom Penh: How Spatial Video Geonarratives Can Geographically Enrich Genocide Testimony

Abstract

Between 1975 and 1979, upwards of two million men, women, and children perished from starvation, disease, exhaustion, inadequate medical care, torture, murder, and execution during the Cambodian genocide. Within this context, the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh has figured prominently in the literature, especially with regard to the violence encountered on the route. To date, however, there has been no empirical reconstruction of the evacuation. Here we address this deficiency, while simultaneously presenting a novel geospatial approach that can be utilized to collect, map and analyze interviews in a more appropriate manner than by more traditional geographic information systems (GIS) use. We utilize a spatial video geonarrative to provide a geographically-supported reconstruction of the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh through the collection of first-hand accounts taken while retracing the route. We add previously unavailable, contextualized, spatial insights to this forced evacuation, including findings on why the bridges acted as choke points, leading to increased violence. Moreover, in some instances the direction of the march turned back towards the city because of the road configuration which again led to a choke point as two columns merged. In presenting these types of contextualized, spatial details we contribute to both the specifics of the Cambodian genocide, and to how thick mapping and inductive visualization can enrich similar research in the humanities

柬埔寨于1975年至1979年大屠杀期间，超过两百万名男女老幼死于飢饿、疾病、精疲力竭、不充分的医疗照护、虐待、谋杀，以及死刑。在此脉络中，金边的被迫撤离在文学中相当重要，特别是有关旅途中遭遇的暴力。至今，却仍未有对该撤离进行经验的重建。我们于此应对此一阙如，并呈现能够较传统地理信息系统（GIS）的使用更为适切的方法来搜集、製图并分析访谈的崭新地理空间方法。我们运用空间录像地理叙事，通过搜集重新追溯该路径的亲身说法，提供以地理支持的金边大撤退之重建。我们为此般强迫撤离增加过往无法取得、脉络化的空间洞见，包括有关为何桥樑作为阻塞点而导致暴力增加之发现。此外，在若干情况中，因为道路的结构，导致行进转为往城市方向后退，而当两纵队汇流时，则再次导致阻塞点。我们通过呈现这些脉络化的空间细节类型，同时对柬埔寨大屠杀的详情和深度製图与归纳视觉化如何能够丰富人文学科中的类似研究做出贡献。

柬埔寨大屠杀

Entre 1975 y 1979, más de dos millones de hombres, mujeres y niños murieron de hambre, enfermedad, agotamiento, descuido médico, tortura, asesinato y ejecución durante el genocidio camboyano. En este contexto, la evacuación forzada de Phnom Penh ha figurado de manera prominente en la literatura, especialmente en lo relacionado con la violencia que se desató en la ruta del desplazamiento. Sin embargo, hasta la fecha no se ha emprendido una reconstrucción empírica de esa evacuación. Aquí abocamos esa deficiencia, al mismo tiempo que presentamos un enfoque geoespacial novedoso que pueda ser utilizado para recoger, mapear y analizar entrevistas de manera más apropiada que el uso tradicional de los sistemas de información geográfica (SIG). Utilizamos un video geonarrativo espacial para lograr una reconstrucción sustentada geográficamemte de ese desplazamiento forzado de la capital camboyana por medio de la colección de relatos de primera mano obtenidos mientras se reconstruía la ruta. Incorporamos perspectivas espaciales contextualizadas de esta evacuación, no disponibles hasta ahora, incluso descubrimientos de porqué los puentes actuaron como puntos de atascamiento que generaron más violencia. Más todavía, en ciertos casos la dirección de la marcha se devolvió hacia la ciudad debido a la configuración de la carretera, lo cual llevó también al atasco cuando dos columnas se mezclaron. Al presentar este tipo de detalles espaciales contextualizados contribuimos tanto a las especificidades del genocidio camboyano como a mostrar cómo el mapeo pleno y la visualización inductiva pueden enriquecer investigaciones similares en las humanidades.

evacuación forzada

Key Words:

• Cambodian genocide
• forced evacuation
• GIS
• spatial video geonarrative

• 柬埔寨大屠杀
• 被迫撤离
• 地理信息系统
• 空间录像地理叙事

• evacuación forzada
• genocidio camboyano
• SIG
• video geonarrativo espacial

Acknowledgments

A. Curtis would like to thank the students of the GIS Health & Hazards Lab who have helped with various tasks in and around this project. He would also like to thank the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation and all attendees of the Digital Approaches to Genocide workshop for their valuable comments regarding an earlier presentation of this paper. All authors would like to thank the SVG participants who gave their valuable time. Their insights were extremely informative and moving. We would also like to thank the Cambodian Ministry of Environment (MoE), especially the Department of Geospatial Information Service (DGIS). J. Tyner would like to thank The College of Arts & Sciences at Kent State University for their support.

Notes

1. The “thick map” is a way to combine traditional mapping elements with other layers, such as video or narratives, that can enhance the experience and insight. This is a particularly relevant approach when different disciplines work together collecting and using a variety of data types, with the map being the connecting tissue allowing the researcher to drill down into what is known or has been witnessed at that location. In this way we can develop a more comprehensive understanding of what happened geographically for one or multiple periods of time as perceived/experienced/explained by different perspectives.

2. This does not mean we should dismiss the spatial approach, but rather understand (and debate) the limitations of a GIS, and then develop more appropriate tools. This is similar to the digiplace perspective (Zook and Graham 2007) which utilizes advanced computer coding as an alternative to more traditional spatial software. Indeed, this is just one example of how the humanistic perspective can help inform and create the paradigm shift needed in how we represent and visualize these complex spatial elements.

3. A further two SVGs were collected at the same time, a survivor from S-21, the notorious prison camp in the center of the city, and a rural village chief connected to a Khmer Rouge forced dam building project.

4. While the ability to code Wordmapper and its different evolving stages does obviously require considerable programming ability, the user version and its interface are extremely intuitive.

5. Search boxes, or GIS queries, tend to be linear in nature as the underlying inflexibility of the data structure means that our investigation is a progression of our own preconception. We query data based on what we expect (or hope) to find. This was raised as a discussion by Todd Presner in an opening address at the center for Advanced Genocide Research’ “Digital Approaches to Genocide Studies” conference in October, 2017 (https://sfi.usc.edu/cagr/conferences/2017_international/schedule).

6. Recent problems with the Contour company have led the research team to be concerned about the longevity of the storyteller software. As a result, we have written bespoke software to extract GPS coordinates not only from Contour devices, but a variety of other GPS enabled video cameras.

7. This sheet contains the camera name, the quality of the video, audio and GPS, notation regarding anything of interest occurring on the drive, any technical/data collection issues, and maps from each camera. These are vital for future cross comparison of different SVG, and to assess any deficiency in the data collection process.

8. This new query generates a fresh set of word clouds and mapped outcomes. The same type of query could have been run for sleep, food, sickness—all consistent themes through the narratives.

9. They entered the city at night and fired in the air. In the morning, they made announcement through loudspeaker that people had to move out for 3 days because they needed to wipe out the imperialist.

10. Despite arguments to the contrary, Phnom Penh (and other urban areas) was not an “empty” city. Rather, Phnom Penh and other key cities served as nodal points in the broader political economy of Democratic Kampuchea (see Rice and Tyner 2017; Tyner et al. 2014).

11. Indeed, in the first version of this paper sent to reviewers we concluded Future versions of wordmapper will have the ability to map and index the transcription according to theme, and whether each comment is spatially specific, fuzzy or inspired. The word cloud will also be spatialized, allowing the researcher to move seamlessly between subsections of the narrative, map and video. All of these are now available in the current version of the software.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew Curtis

ANDREW CURTIS is co-Director of the GIS, Health & Hazards Lab, and a Full Professor in the Department of Geography, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include developing new geospatial field methods for challenging environments, especially related to topics of health, disasters and violence.

James Tyner

JAMES TYNER is a Full Professor in the Department of Geography, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected]. Jim Tyner’s research centers on the intersection of political and population geography. His most recent work has addressed war, violence, and genocide, especially with a regional focus in Southeast Asia.

Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar

JAYAKRISHNAN AJAYAKUMAR is Lab manager in the GIS, Health & Hazards Lab, and a graduate student in the Department of Geography, Kent State University Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected], His research interests include developing new geospatial software for challenging environments.

Sokvisal Kimsroy

SOKVISAL KIMSROY is a graduate student in the Department of Geography, Kent State University Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests involve a political ecological consideration of the impacts of violence and genocide in Cambodia.

Kok-Chhay Ly

KOK-CHHAY LY is a graduate student in the Department of Geography, Kent State University Kent, OH 44242. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include spatial aspects of violence and genocide in Cambodia.