Death in Cambodia, Life in America
Death in Cambodia, Life in America is a father-daughter podcast in which Dorothy Chow interviews her father, Robert Chau, about surviving the Khmer Rouge.[1][2] It follows his journey from a starving boy fleeing Cambodia to an American entrepreneur, and later widened to guests from across Cambodian creative and community life.[2][1]
Origins
Chow began the podcast during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.[3] Robert Chau was born in 1959 in Mongkol Borey, the youngest of five children. Because his parents were considered wealthy, the family was a target for the Khmer Rouge.[3] Under Democratic Kampuchea (1975 to 1979), the family was split up and forced to work in different labor camps for three and a half years. The collection's history gives the regime's toll as 25 percent of Cambodia's population.[3] The family escaped after Vietnam's 1978 invasion.[3] In the United States, Chau went into the donut business, opened more than 60 donut shops in Northern California and founded B&H Bakery Distributors.[3] Like many children of Cambodian donut families, Chow grew up working in the family shop.[3]
The series
The first episode, "Are You Ready?", was released on June 13, 2021.[4] The first season follows Chau's story in order, from his childhood through the labor camps, malaria and the jungle, the road to the Thai border and life in the Nong Chan camp, and ends with the finale "Reborn (America Here I Come)" on January 16, 2022.[4] The second season, which began on March 20, 2022, traces his life in America, from his first donut shop to the rise and fall of the Golden Bake business.[4] It includes a Khmer-language message from Chau to fellow survivors and closed with "Farewell to Robert" on September 11, 2022.[4]
Later seasons turned to conversations with members of the Cambodian refugee community and with journalists, artists and historians whose work addresses the genocide.[3] The fourth-season catalog includes guests in design, food, ceramics, fashion and other fields.[1] Guests from 2024 and 2025 include:
- Monica Sok, poet (July 14, 2024)
- Elizabeth Becker, war correspondent and author (September 8, 2024)
- Bunthoeun Real, director of Donut Boy (September 29, 2024)
- Chantha Nguon, author of Slow Noodles (October 20, 2024)
- Alexander Hinton, anthropologist (November 17, 2024)
- Judy Ledgerwood, anthropologist (December 8, 2024)
- Sin Setsochhata, singer and songwriter (January 19, 2025)
- Patricia McCormick, author of Never Fall Down (February 9, 2025)
- Jean-Baptiste Phou, French-Cambodian artist (March 30, 2025)
- Loung Ung, author of First They Killed My Father (April 13, 2025)
- Caylee So, filmmaker (May 25, 2025)
- Amara Goel, performer and policy analyst (June 22, 2025)
- Chef Nak, chef and culinary author (July 27, 2025)
- James Taing, author and director (August 19, 2025)
- Li-Da Kruger, cofounder of Reconnecting Cambodia (August 31, 2025)
- Nite Yun, chef and founder of Nyum Bai (September 28, 2025)[4][5]
As of September 2025 the podcast appeared monthly and had published 87 episodes.[2] Its episodes include accounts of genocide and survival.[1]
Archive
The Death in Cambodia, Life in America Podcast Collection, 2020 to 2023, holds 119.38 gigabytes of raw and edited episodes, transcripts, images and promotional materials. It also includes music and sheet music composed for the podcast by Chow's brother, two folders of notes taken by Chow and her father while recording, and the transcript of a speech Chow gave at Bryn Mawr.[3] The collection is held in Malibu, California.[3]
Access
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Death in Cambodia, Life in America, Apple Podcasts
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Rephonic, Death in Cambodia, Life in America
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Online Archive of California, Death in Cambodia, Life in America Podcast Collection, 2020-2023
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Podcast Republic, Death in Cambodia, Life in America
- ↑ TuneIn, Death in Cambodia, Life in America