Collection
Cambodian Oral History Project
The Cambodian Oral History Project at Brigham Young University holds more than 5,000 interviews that young Cambodians recorded with their own families.[1] Its aim is to keep the stories of Cambodia's older generation before they are lost.[2]
History
Family histories are uncommon in Cambodia. Many records were destroyed under the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, and the project notes that up to one third of the country's adults were killed in the purges.[2] Cambodia's population is young, and many younger Cambodians know little about their families' past.[2]
Professor Dana S. Bourgerie of the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages launched the project in January 2016.[3][4] BYU research students traveled to Cambodia to teach interviewing and technical skills to young people and leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the project gathered 40 interviews in its first six months.[5] Anonymous donors, a BYU ORCA grant and help from Cambodians carried it forward.[5] The Office of Digital Humanities designed its data model and the websites used to enter and view the interviews.[1]
The collection grew quickly. By August 2018 it held more than 1,700 interviews, or about 1,800 by Bourgerie's own count that month.[4][3] A BYU library guide listed more than 4,700 in May 2023, and by October 2023 the project had recorded more than 5,200 in video or audio.[6][7] Bourgerie calls it the largest collection of Cambodian histories in the world.[5]
By 2023 the project had reached Cambodian heritage communities in the United States, recording in California, Massachusetts and Washington state and working with communities in Long Beach and Oakland, California, Tacoma, Washington, and West Valley, Utah.[7][8] In April 2026 team members recorded interviews in Long Beach and attended the community's Khmer New Year celebration.[9]
Dr. Timothy Davis succeeded Bourgerie as project director in July 2025, and Bourgerie became Project Director Emeritus. In May 2026, after ten years under BYU's College of Humanities, the project moved to the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, directed by Dr. Stanley Benfell.[9]
How the interviews are made
Young people in Cambodia interview their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other relatives, with a focus on people aged 50 and older.[2][4] Youth teams work by province in their home areas, often during holidays when extended families gather. They record video or audio and collect family photographs.[2] Peer leaders trained by BYU faculty lead the teams, and they receive interview training and a stipend. As of October 2023 there were seven of them.[2][7] The project also records longer professional video interviews, made by experienced interviewers from Cambodia or BYU, in church buildings when possible.[2]
The questions cover birth dates and hometowns, hard experiences, the Khmer Rouge years and advice for descendants.[4] Only native Cambodians transcribe the interviews.[4] Keo Somaly was coordinator in Cambodia in 2018. As of October 2025 Pheaktra Phouen was in-country coordinator, and more than 400 interviews had come in through that coordination since January 2025.[4][9]
Material coverage
The project especially seeks the generation that came of age in the 1950s and 1960s.[3] Most interviews are in the speaker's first language, chiefly Khmer, with Chinese and Vietnamese also represented.[3] They include everyday life alongside testimony about the Khmer Rouge years, among them killings, refugee camp life and survival under occupation.[5] Families who take part receive printed and audio copies of their histories.[2]
Most interviews are available as audio on the project website, and the team is transcribing and translating them.[1] About 50 had been translated into English by October 2023, and finding translators with strong Khmer is a main challenge.[7] The translation team published its 50th translation in 2024, including the life history of Sok Tann, a refugee who settled in Utah after fleeing the Khmer Rouge.[8]
Researchers at BYU and other universities use the collection to study Asian history, trauma, folklore and differences among Khmer dialects. The database also serves families as a genealogical resource.[5]
Catalog and access
Interviews are browsed on the project website rather than through a numbered catalog.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 BYU Cambodian Oral History Project
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Cambodian Oral History Project, About the Project
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Dana Scott Bourgerie 白杰理, Cambodian Oral History Project (2020-05-18)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 BYU Daily Universe, BYU Cambodian Oral History Project connects generations (August 7, 2018)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 BYU Magazine, Saving Cambodian Stories
- ↑ BYU Library, Oral History Collections (May 2023)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 BYU Humanities, Checking in with the Cambodian Oral History Project (October 24, 2023)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 BYU Humanities, The Cambodian Oral History Project (2024)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Cambodian Oral History Project website