Collection

Cambodian American Community of Oregon Oral History Project

The Cambodian American Community of Oregon Oral History Project recorded 17 video interviews with Cambodian Americans in Portland, Oregon, in spring 2009.[1][2] Known as the OH Project, it is held in Special Collections at the Portland State University Library.[1]

History

The Cambodian American Community of Oregon (CACO) is a nonprofit volunteer group that offers cultural activities and social support to Cambodian families and children.[1][2] In 2008 it won grant support to record interviews between generations.[2] The Northwest Health Foundation and the City of Portland's Vision Into Action program gave $60,000 in grants. Professor Christina Bethell of Oregon Health & Science University supported the work, and Spin Film donated equipment and expertise.[1][3]

CACO trained Cambodian American young people to interview their own parents and grandparents about life under the Khmer Rouge. Many of these elders had rarely, if ever, spoken about their past.[3] In workshops at Portland State University, the participants wrote questions, practiced interviewing, talked through working in two languages and reviewed informed consent.[2] CACO president Mardine Mao hoped the project would raise public awareness of Khmer Rouge atrocities, help young people understand where their families came from and bring relief to survivors. "The process of talking itself, the process of hearing the story – it's a healing process," Mao said in 2009.[3] The project's stated aims were to build community, pass heritage from the migrating generation to youth born in the United States, and help narrators heal from wartime trauma through storytelling.[2]

In 2009 the interviews were planned to become a 20-minute documentary.[3] The finished film, The OH Project: Healing from the Cambodian Genocide, was made by Spin Film and runs 35 minutes on DVD. Young people and survivors worked on it with a professional oral historian.[1][4] It has been shown at a range of public venues, and in 2010 the project received an honorable mention from the Oral History Association.[2]

In early 2014 CACO's leaders agreed to donate the project materials to the Portland State University Library.[2]

Material coverage

Each interview lasts about one hour. The young interviewers asked a fairly standard set of questions, so the interviews can be compared with one another.[2] Each narrator tells of family stress, separation and rebuilding during the civil war and conflict in Cambodia. Their accounts show how families resisted the Khmer Rouge attack on filial piety, the duty and respect owed to parents and elders, through choices made inside family life.[2] Much of what they describe took place in Battambang province in western Cambodia, on the border with Thailand. Each interview ends with the participants thanking one another and offering words of love and respect.[2]

Five narrators chose to share their stories publicly. Short video clips from their interviews are published with English transcripts, each marked with the interview date and the clip's timing, and the narrators describe life under the Khmer Rouge, separation from family and escapes across the Thai border.[2][5] These five interviews were in English, the narrators' second language, and Patricia Schechter transcribed them as a group in September 2014, as close to word for word as possible.[2][6] The published clips are:

  • Melanie Lim, interviewed by Lauro Lim on May 29, 2009[6]
  • Kakrona Khem, interviewed by Samantha Khem in May 2009[7]
  • SivHeng Ung, interviewed by Sophorn Cheang on April 4, 2009[5]
  • Chhunny Sok, interviewed by Melissa and Kimberly Im on May 31, 2009[7]
  • Chanty Chut, interviewed by Darith Chut on May 31, 2009[7]

Catalog and access

Only selected transcripts are online, and video access over the internet is limited, to balance the narrators' privacy with the value of the interviews for history and teaching. Further materials can be seen in person at Portland State University Library Special Collections.[2] Each clip has a persistent identifier, such as http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/12691. The access copies stream for personal, educational and non-commercial use within fair use, and they may not be reproduced, distributed or screened for commercial purposes.[6] As of 2014, Special Collections took questions at specialcollections@pdx.edu and (503) 725-9883.[6]

Selected recordings

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 PDXScholar project collection
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 Patricia A. Schechter, The OH Project: Healing from Cambodian Genocide, headnote (Portland State University Library)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Street Roots, Cambodian community talks about troubled past, looks to the future (April 1, 2009)
  4. ↑ Oral History Association newsletter, Spring 2011
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Clip from Interview with SivHeng Ung
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Clip from Interview with Melanie Lim
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 PDXScholar, Oral History Interviews
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This page was last edited on 26 September 2026, at 23:32.