Fragmented Pasts: Transgenerational Memory in the Cambodian Australian Diaspora

In the aftermath of Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia (1975-1979), over half a million Cambodians sought refuge through immigration abroad. Through interviews with second-generation Cambodian Australians in Melbourne, I explore the processes through which the descendants of survivors learn about their family histories and make meaning of narratives of Democratic Kampuchea, migration and settlement in Australia. I argue that this process is a fragmented one, further nuanced by the second generation’s personal, cultural, temporal and spatial distance from their family histories.