Mapping Memories Cambodia (MMC) is a project implemented by the Department of Media and Communication (DMC) of the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), Cambodia. The project was made possible with support from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Civil Peace Service (CPS). This project was accomplished in partnership with the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam).

MMC is a mobile application and website that identifies places of significance related to the Khmer Rouge era and marks them on a map of Cambodia. Students at the Department of Media and Communication produced multimedia content that tells place-based stories. The app guides users to places where historical events occurred. The journey to the points of interest is led by storytelling through audio, video, text, and pictures, allowing users to listen to survivors and eyewitnesses and to experience history where it actually happened.

During their classes on Conflict and Sensitive Reporting students discussed ethical principles and followed journalistic standards. Then, DMC’s editorial team ensured the quality of produced elements. In addition, all content was factually verified by the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), a renowned research and archive center of Khmer Rouge history.

MMC also enables survivors to submit their stories to the project team, allowing the ongoing collection of survivor’s stories and mapping places of remembrance throughout Cambodia. It sheds light on individual memories of everyday life during the Khmer Rouge regime that seldom emerge in the common historical narrative. The project also aims to create space for public remembering.

Cambodia has a young population: one third was born after the Khmer Rouge regime. Most of these young people know very little about the regime. In the context of rapid social and economic development, the subject of the past is taken for granted. There is a possibility that (physical) evidence of Khmer Rouge history will not be remembered or discussed among the next generation. Providing a simple and accessible tool for young Cambodians is an important mechanism for such dialogue about Khmer Rouge history to continue.

1. To create an informative storytelling application that tells place-based stories of the Khmer Rouge era.

2. To trigger the interest of young Cambodians in Khmer Rouge history through recounting personal stories of survivors in relation to specific locations in Cambodia.

3. To widen access to Khmer Rouge historical information among the Cambodian youth.

1. The mobile and web application offers accurate and accessible information on Khmer Rouge history, particularly from everyday life experiences during the regime.

2. The mobile and web application, distributed online and via social media free of charge, has the potential to reach two thirds of Cambodia’s young population who have access to mobile phones and the internet.

3. The project uses popular communication tools in Cambodia, i.e., a mobile app and a website, to offer a complementary learning platform in addition to usual textbooks on Khmer Rouge history.

4. The project is interactive; it engages audiences on a social media platform and make possible the discussion about Khmer Rouge history among Cambodian youth.

5. The project is intergenerational, providing a platform for survivors of the regime, Cambodia’s elders, to share their stories with Cambodia’s youth, thus creating a mechanism to open up dialogue between the two of them.

6. The project creates a digital archive of stories and testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Khmer Rouge regime, preserving the testimonies and memories of that period to be passed down to the next generation.

7. Through data visualization on a Cambodian map, the project potentially opens up a new understanding about the scale of Cambodia’s past violence.

For media inquiries, please contact: cambodiammc@gmail.com

Project Director: Ung Bun Y, Acting Director, Department of Media and Communication (DMC)

Project Advisor/ Concept: Stefanie Duckstein, Advisor Civil Peace Service (CPS)/ Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (giz)

Project Manager/ Concept: Chan Muyhong, Department of Media and Communication (DMC)
 

Youk Chhang, Executive Director, Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM)

Stefanie Duckstein      Editor
Nov Povleakhena        Content Manager/ Editor
Ly You Y                      Audio & Video Editor
Pin Manika                  Editor
Chy Bormey                Editor
Chan Sovannnara       Editor
Aun Chhengpor           Editor
Sar Pisey                    Editor
 

Batch 15 students, Department of Media and Communication (DMC)
Batch 16 students, Department of Media and Communication (DMC)
DMC Alumni 
Multimedia Production Trainees

Tith Chandara,  Brother Branding Company
Kan Sopanha, Brother Branding Company
Ravy Sophearoth, students of Department of Media and Communication 
Luīze Sniedze, exchange student from Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences 

Keat Monnyrak, Kramuon Art Design and Mass Communication
Bun Somnang, Architect student from Royal University of Fine Arts  
Ly Puthirak, Architect student from Royal University of Fine Arts
So Vitou, Architect graduate from Royal University of Fine Arts

Pa Chanroeun, Khmer Proofreader
Maria Montello, English Proofreader
 

Kol Chanmakara, Department of Media and Communication (DMC)
Tech Many, Department of Media and Communication (DMC)
Mour Mengseng, Department of Media and Communication (DMC)
 

Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM)
Kdei Karuna Organization
Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center

Facebook page: Mapping Memories Cambodia

Address: DMC/CCI, RUPP, Toul Kork, Russian Blvd, Phnom Penh, 12156 Cambodia. Tel/Fax: (855) 23 88 44 08 l Email: cambodiammc@gmail.com