asia study tour

a case study of my experiences in south east asia

Tessa Lathrop December 2013
Overview:
The tour was a layered
experience. We were
observing each countrys
religion, history, economy,
political system, and over
arching culture.
Traveling from Vietnam, to
Cambodia, to Malaysia; I
could see how each country
influenced each other in
some way, yet held their
own histories and present
culture.
By observing the local
peoples emotions,
behaviors, and routines,
I was able to map the
experience of many different
types of people in each
segment of the population.
reflecting on experiences
From Child to Soldier
An Analysis of the Psychosocial Process
Underlying the Cambodian Genocide
Tourist at a Temple
analyses of the
Asian cultural
context
asia study tour
final photo
presentation
contents:
Understanding Culture through food
Cultural Traditions Surrounding Cuisine
and Drinks.
Executive Summary
The aim of this analysis is to understand
the perpetrators of the Khmer Rouge, who
were simple rural people, and young Cambo-
dian children (Solpy, personal communica-
tion, 2013). Using previous psychological
research on obedience and authority, this
paper focuses on the basic psychosocial
processes that the ordinary Cambodian
child experienced as they transform into a
perpetrator of genocide.
Introduction
Episodes of mass violence and incidents
of genocide have been studied from a so-
cial scientific perspective (Owens et al,
2013). Many of these studies retrospec-
tively try to understand the perpetrators
motives behind these massacres. Partic-
ipation in the mass killings primarily
[resulted] from psychological patholo-
gies rooted deeply in our psyche (Owens
et al, 2013). On the surface, the random-
ness of such brutal violence can simply
be explained away as acts of mass killing
performed by psychopaths. However, some
believe there is an underlying psycholog-
ical phenomenon that explains the dras-
tic transformation of common people into
murderers. For example in Hannah Arendt
in Eichmann in Jerusalem argued that pure
anti-Semitism or psychological damage
could not account for why normal citizens
turned into hateful Nazis capable of in-
humane violence (Arendt, 1963). She offers
the concept of the banality of evil to
explain that great evils throughout his-
tory, like the Holocaust, were not exe-
cuted by sociopaths and psychopaths. She
argues that these evils occur when ordi-
nary people are manipulated by the state
and convinced that their actions are nor-
mal within the twisted environment theyre
immersed in (Arendt, 1963).
So how does one explain the Cambo-
dian Genocide that occurred from 1975 to
1978? Were the Khmer Rouge child soldiers
all sociopaths and psychopaths acting on
deeply disturbed psychological patholo-
gies? Or is this a case of the banality
of evil, where ordinary people are so-
cialized to accept state rule as legit-
imate moral authority? This paper uses
this concept of the banality of evil in
an attempt to understand the psychosocial
process underlying the historical cir-
cumstances of the Cambodian Genocide, in
particular the Khmer Rouge child soldiers
(Worldwithoutgenocide.org, 2013).
The definition of genocide includes
important elements such as killings that
include all acts bringing about physical
destruction, victimization directly from
perpetrators sustained actions over time,
and group based killing style (Owens et
al, 2013). When the Khmer Rouge overthrew
Lon Nol regime in 1975, they organized a
Democratic Kampuchea under communist rule
(Hinton & Laban, 1998). Calling it Year
Zero, Pol Pot aimed to deconstruct Cam-
bodia back to a primitive rural civiliza-
tion; targeting teachers, professionals,
Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and Viet-
namese as enemies of the state (Solpy,
personal communications, 2013). The Khmer
Rouge was responsible for shooting, blud-
geoning, stabbing, and torturing scores
of their people (Hinton & Laban, 1996).
In just three years, starvation, overwork,
execution and disease killed over one and
a half million Cambodian inhabitants (Hin-
ton & Laban, 1998). Whereas Adolf Hit-
ler used the Nazi Regime to eliminate the
Jewish population during the Holocaust,
Pol Pot used child soldiers in his Khmer
Regime to commit acts of genocide against
the Cambodian people.
It seems that the concept of the
banality of evil may be an accurate
description to explain why these child
soldiers committed such awful crimes of
humanity. Because of their age and their
eagerness to obey authority, child sol-
diers were easier to manipulate and be
trained to kill by the Khmer Rouge (Sol-
phy, personal communications, 2013). Child
soldiers have a couple of distinctive
characteristics; they have been called
killing machines, many of them have
grown up within an armed movement, and
they may have joined the movement out of
fear rather than fundamental loyalty to
the cause (Verhey, 2001). The UN Conven-
tion on the Rights of the Child requires
15 years as the minimum age for soldier
recruitment. These children became the
killing tool for the Khmer Rouge during
the Cambodian genocide.
So if these children were once just
normal people, how did the Khmer Rouge
convince them that their acts of violence
were normal and how did they motivate
them to follow orders within a culture of
violence? Several psychological studies
have shown various influences that mediate
the level of conformity ordinary people
may experience. Milgram (1974) used influ-
ential experiences of authority and group
pressures to be factors that socialize or-
dinary people to partake in disturbing or-
ders (Owens et al.2013). Ross and Nisbett
(1991) saw the effect of situational in-
fluences dictate human behavior, explain-
ing how normal people turn into genocidal
perpetrators (Owens et al. 2013). The most
important study to this analysis was Hin-
ton & Laban (1996) psychosocial research
study of how the Khmer Rouge turned Cambo-
dians into obedient soldiers.
Hinton and Laban argued that ordi-
nary people have a genocidal self that
emerges in certain situations (1996). This
particular psyche is promoted when a per-
son is able to dehumanize victims, use
euphemisms to subdue violent acts, experi-
ences moral restructuring, and when he or
she is able to become acclimated to kill-
ing (Hinton & Laban, 1996). All of these
elements reducs pre-existing cognitive
dissonance a person may experience when
caught between old existing morals and
the new morals provided by the state rule
(Hinton & Laban, 1996). Cambodian child
soldiers were separated from their homes
and families, thus forcing them to identi-
fy with a group instead of their own per-
sonal identity. This new group mentality
was created and ruled by the Khmer Rouge.
This element of exclusion, along with ex-
posure to Khmer Rouge propaganda made it
easier for the Cambodian child soldiers to
become dehumanized.
The Khmer Rouge child soldiers un-
derwent desensitization processes where
they would be required to attend propa-
ganda meetings and ideological training,
all in order to instill a proper revo-
lutionary spirit (Hinton & Laban, 1996).
One cadre remembers being brainwashed to
cut off [his] heart from the enemy, to be
willing to kill those who had betrayed the
revolution, even if the person was a par-
ent, sibling, friend or relative (Hinton
& Laban, 1996, pg. 825). The child sol-
diers were forced to recognize Khmer Rouge
as authority that was morally right and
legally based; this legitimacy of author-
ity figure facilitated their uniformity to
the Khmer Rouges orders (Mcleod, 2013).
This desensitization process allowed for
the dehumanization of victims to seem more
normal.
(Continued on next page...)
From Child to Soldier:
An Analysis of the Psychosocial Process Underlying the Cambodian
Genocide
In addition to the dehumanization
process of the child soldiers, a dehuman-
ization process of prisoners helped the
child soldiers morally justify their vio-
lent actions (Hinton & Laban, 1996). En-
emies of the Khmer Rouge would be sent to
security prisons and be chained together
in extremely horrible conditions (Solpy,
personal communications). Excrement,
blood, and close quarters would surround
the prisoners as they were tortured until
their health deteriorated them into inhu-
man like bodies. This dehumanization of
the victims made it easier for the child
soldiers to torture victims because they
were just torturing dirty prisoners who
needed to confess to crimes committed
against the Revolution (Hinton & Laban,
1996). By placing the child soldiers ac-
tions within a frame work of legitimate
law and moral, violence was necessary.
Other circumstances created a pro-
cess of asocialization; where these child
soldiers were deprived of normal cultural,
moral, and value socialization due to the
isolation from their families and normal
community (Verhey, 2001). In addition to
being isolated from their natural culture,
they were also socially constructed within
a new culture of violence under the Khmer
Rouge rule (Woolf and Hulsizer, 2005). By
fundamentally exposing these children to
an environment of violence, compliance,
and aggression, these children adopt the
acts of genocide as a normal aspect of
life (2005, pg. 102). This allowed the
Khmer Rouge to reprogram the young mal-
leable minds of Cambodian children to use
aggression as a problem solving skill,
adopt an orientation towards threats and
conflict, and utilize an ideology of su-
premacy supported by institutionalized
dehumanization (Woolf and Hulsizer, 2005,
pg. 102). The Khmer Rouge involved young
children in violence through progressive
exposure, essentially neutralizing their
sensitivity to violence, and stripping
their past loyalties to their local commu-
nity (Wessells, 1999).
Further Considerations
In addition to understanding the makings
of child soldiers, it is also critical
to address how these children integrate
back into society beyond just an anecdot-
al analysis. Some local people of Cambodia
comment that after the end of the Cam-
bodian genocide the child soldiers just
reintegrated with society without issue
(Solpy, personal communications, 2013).
One Cambodian believed that the children
were too young to remember or be perma-
nently damaged by the violent acts they
committed (Solpy, personal communications,
2013). However, one must also remember
these child soldiers spent three years
utilizing various torturing techniques in
prisons such as S-21 in Phnom Penh under
Khmer Rouge rule (Solpy, personal commu-
nication, 2013). For this reason, many
scholars believe that demobilization and
reintegration of child soldiers is often
hopeless; especially in cases where the
children have been recruited by force and
made to participate in violent acts (Ver-
hey, 2001). Research suggests that a child
soldiers family and community life will
face major changes due to the increased
poverty, death, and resettlement (Verhey,
2001).
These major life changes are espe-
cially salient in the testimony of one
surviving Cambodian child soldier, Loung
Ung (2000). The trauma from her violent
acts during her early life has forced her
adult life to be one of redemption (Ung,
2000). Ung describes her life as surviv-
ing, constantly wondering why she acted
the way she did to survive (Ung, 2000).
The experiences in her young age prove
to have lasting repercussions of guilt,
shame, and depression in her adult life.
Future psychological research should in-
vestigate how psychological trauma man-
ifests in the present psyche of the now
grown child soldiers. Interesting to note
would be the presence of depression, con-
flict in family life, and wariness of
authority within communities of Cambodian
genocide survivors.
Conclusion
The most frightening realization
that emerges from this analysis is the
reality that there exists a obvious pat-
tern in the creation of mass killings.
Genocides do not occur randomly by unprec-
edented groups of psychopaths. It seems
logical to conclude that any normal ra-
tional person can be transformed into a
perpetrator of violence and torture. This
transformation seems to be mediated by a
set of very disturbing processes of dehu-
manization, isolation, desensitization,
socialization, and obedience to authority.
Using these psychosocial processes, the
Khmer Rouge regime was able to manipulate
a large portion of the Cambodian popula-
tion into a new framework of morals and
order. The banality of evil in the Holo-
caust was similar to the occurrences in
the Cambodian genocide. Both incidents of
great evil used normal people to commit
terrifying acts with the presumption that
these acts were normal under the current
ruling power. It is easy to walk through
the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum a for-
mer high school used as a security prison
during the Khmer Rouge and see the hor-
rible images as evidence of psychopaths
and unimaginable evil. However, these
places should be a reminder that these
events of great evil were provided by the
actions of normal people who were follow-
ing orders.
References
Arendt, H. (1963). Eichmann in Jerusalem.
New York: Viking Press.
Hinton, A. & Laban, E. (1998). A head for
an eye: Revenge in the Cambodian genocide.
American Ethnologist, 25 (3), 352--377.
Hinton, A. & Laban, E. (1996). Agents of
death: Explaining the Cambodian genocide
in terms of
psychosocial dissonance. American Anthro-
pologist, 98 (4), 818--831.
Mcleod, S. (2013). Milgram Experiment
- Simply Psychology. [online] Retrieved
from:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.
html [Accessed: 19 Dec 2013].
Owens, P., Su, Y. & Snow, D. (2013). So-
cial Scientific Inquiry Into Genocide and
Mass Killing:
From Unitary Outcome to Complex Processes.
Annual Review of Sociology, (0).
Ung, L. (2000). First they killed my fa-
ther. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers.
Verhey, B. (2001). Child Soldiers: Pre-
venting, Demobilizing and Reintegrating.
Africa Region
Working Paper Series No. 23. [report].
Wessells, M. (1999). Child Soldiers: The
Destruction of Innocence. Global Dialogue,
1 (2).
Woolf, L. & Hulsizer, M. (2005). Psychoso-
cial roots of genocide: Risk, prevention,
and
intervention. Journal of Genocide Re-
search, 7 (1), 101--128.
Worldwithoutgenocide.org (2013). Cambodian
Genocide | World Without Genocide. [on-
line]
Retrieved from: http://worldwithoutgeno-
cide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/cambodi-
an-genocide [Accessed: 18 Dec 2013].
Walking up the stairs to Angkor
Wat was nothing less than breathtak-
ing. This monumental temple, built by
the Khmer King in the early 12th cen-
tury, seemed to defy any of my previ-
ously held notions about the power of
architecture (Solpy, Personal Communi-
cations 2013). Gazing upon the incred-
ibly intact sandstone carvings of De-
vata and battle tales made me realize
just what was possible to conceive in
ancient eras. When I noticed the vari-
ous Buddhist followers visiting Angkor
Wat, it made me feel like I was in-
truding, an outside tourist misplaced
in a sea of authentic believers. This
feeling of uncomfortableness reminded
me of when I walked through the halls
of the Church of Holy Sepulcher in Is-
rael and saw all of the devout Chris-
tians and Catholics praying intensely
to various sacred relics.
Anyone with a Cambodian Tour-
ist Park Pass can trek through Angkor
Wat. When I walked up the stairs to
the center of Angkor Wat, I was met by
a statue of a Buddha, decorated with
silk garments and surrounded by burn-
ing incense. When I attempted to get
close to the Buddha to take a photo, I
realized I was in the way of two young
women trying to pray. I felt guilty
for interrupting their spiritual mo-
ment. As I looked around, I discovered
I was not the only one interrupting
this spiritual place. I noticed that
these praying Buddhists followers were
surrounded by a crowd of international
tourists with their smart phones ob-
noxiously trying to snap a photo. It
was almost impossible to dodge both
the tourists and the visiting Bud-
dhist followers, and I decided it was
best that I remained quiet and to sim-
ply observe the magic surrounding this
mysterious temple.
I felt out of place similarly
when I approached the Stone of Anoint-
ing, the alleged location of where
Jesus body was prepared for burial
within the Church of Holy Sepulcher.
I observed crying old women touching
the floor with their foreheads praying
so intensely one might think the floor
was going to cave in. I felt like I
was intruding on a special moment they
were having. I felt like a giant fly
on the wall with my obvious giant cam-
era and my casual clothing, surrounded
by sacred paintings and the smell of
burning incense.
Maybe I felt lost not knowing
much about the significant statues
and prayers being observed. Maybe the
enlightenment and magic within sa-
cred places like Angkor Wat and the
Church of Holy Sepulcher are reserved
for only the most pious of followers.
In present day society, both of these
incredible landmarks have become tour-
ist attractions, welcoming both seri-
ously committed believers and the ca-
sual tourist looking for interesting
attractions. Angkor Wat and the Church
of Holy Sepulcher are both symbols of
their prospective cultural time pe-
riod. The vastness of their architec-
tures and their symbolic history cre-
ate a great pride for their religious
followers. It was these cross cultural
experiences that force me to confront
uncomfortable questions.
What is it like to experience
Angkor Wat and the Church of Holy Sep-
ulcher in all of its vast rich lay-
ers that require a deep knowledge of
their cultural heritage to unveil and
uncover? If Angkor Wat is the temple
capital for Buddhists and Cambodi-
ans, and the Church of Holy Sepulcher
is the capital for Christians, where
is my spiritual center. Even though I
am a Christian, I still do not feel
like I have enough of a traditional
background to relate to such a his-
torical place like the Church of Holy
Sepulcher. That leaves me with anoth-
er daunting question. As my generation
becomes more connected to the inter-
net, social media, contemporary life,
are we loosing valuable traditions
that keep us anchored to our history
and past? If we are becoming discon-
nect to our rich histories, how can we
become reconnected? How can we enter
into spiritual places like Angkor Wat
and the Church of Holy Sepulcher and
closely experience the cultural back-
ground that we are snapping aimless
photos of? What place do these holy
spaces have in our contemporary life?
How can we not only maintain the phys-
ical landscape of these spaces, but
also the spiritual landscapes of these
spaces?

Tourist at a Temple
ASIA STUDY TOUR
CULTURAL TRADITIONS SURROUNDING CUISINE AND DRINKS
CREATED BY TESSA LATHROP
During the tour, we were tasked to create a portfolio of photos and connect
what we saw with an over arching theme. I am a foodie, and I wanted to
capture the experiencing of eating the Asian cuisine. As we moved further
west, I noticed the cuisine in each country was a reflection of the resources
they had in their economy, and also a reflection of deeper cultural elements.
I used the theme of food to show a unison between the countries and explore
economic implications for each type of food.
bnh m:
Vietnam
Originally, the French Colonists introduced the baguette into Vietnamese Cuisine. However
with the fusing of the two cultures, Vietnam now has its own distinct bread called Bnh M and
is more airy than the French baguette. Now, one can nd this bread lled with eggs or pork
being sold as a traditional Vietnamese sandwich both in local bakeries and on street carts. The
Bnh M is an example of how the French Colonists inuenced the culture of Vietnam, and
more importantly, how Vietnam has also diverged itself from that inuence to make a very
different cultural dish.
ceremonial wine:
Vietnam
The local people of Buon Me Thot use either rice or
snake wine for certain cultural ceremonies. This
wine might be consumed during weddings or
funerals. If the wine is consumed during weddings
or other happy holidays, it will be served in a dark
brown or dark purple vase. If it is consumed during
a funeral it will be served in a black vase. The wine
must also be drank until the traditional music stops
playing.
Rice is important to not only the food supply of Vietnam, but also plays a signicant role as a
agricultural export. Vietnam is the second largest exporter of rice and is the seventh largest
consumer of rice. Using the Mekong Delta as an irrigation system, rice paddy elds
dominated the rural country side of Vietnam.
rice: Vietnam
Khmer Cuisine is one of the oldest living cuisines in the world. Since its disappearance during the
Khmer Rouge Regime, it has made a comeback in contemporary Cambodian culture. In Khmer
Cuisine, black pepper is used to add heat to dishes. Similar to Vietnam, pepper is a popular
agricultural product for Cambodia. Known globally for its uniqueness, Khmer black pepper is
commonly produced in the fresh climate and soil type of southern Cambodia.
black pepper: Cambodia + Vietnam
Honey is growing to be a significant
export for Vietnam. Along the
Mekong Delta, one would not be
surprised to find a bee keeper who
farms honey. The Vietnamese
people add honey to their tea for
both the flavor and for its nutritional
benefits to their health. Honey is an
example of eastern medicine
influence within the Vietnamese
culture.
honey tea:
Vietnam
fruit:
Vietnam
Because Vietnams climate is sunny, has higher average temperatures,
with humidity year around; Bananas, Watermelon, Jackfruit, Star Apple,
and Longan fruit are popular food commodities within Vietnam. Various
fruits are offered both as a mid-afternoon snack, and as a dessert after a
long meal.
Often called Vietnams fast food, street food provide inexpensive
and easily accessible nutrition for both tourist and the local people
alike. Street food is a very different experience than eating in any
restaurant and it showcases the diverse range of Vietnams locally
grown fruit.
street food vendors: Vietnam
sh : Cambodia + Vietnam
Similar to Vietnamese Cuisine, Khmer cuisine of Cambodia is heavily inuenced by the
presence of the Mekong River. The Mekong River provides various freshwater sh to
Cambodians and is more commonly eaten than meat in Cambodian Cuisine. The popular
consumption of sh in both Vietnam and Cambodia illustrates how the Mekong River
inuences both countries cuisines. This geographic element acts as a cultural passageway
that transfers different ingredients within both cultures.
First introduced by the French,
coffee has become an important
aspect of both Vietnams
economy and its cultural lifestyle.
Concentrated in the central
highlands of Vietnam, coffee
production is the second highest
in the world. The popular
consumption of Vietnamese
coffee has embedded itself into
the courting process for
Vietnamese couples. Getting
coffee is another way of saying
going on a date in Vietnamese
culture.
coffee:
Vietnam
pork: Malaysia
Unlike in Cambodia and Vietnam, Malaysias unique Muslim population inuences its
cultural cuisine. Malaysian Malays and Indians do not consume pork because Islam and
Hindus restricts it from their diet. Even though Malaysia still produces pork, pork
consumption is still low in comparison to Vietnam. This is an example of how cuisine can
illustrate the various religious inuences within a culture.
Malaysian cuisine is the result of diverse cultures fusing together.
Malaysians population has three major ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese
and Indians. It is not uncommon to see this evident in a typical Malaysian
dish. A common dish is Nasi Berlauk that would include rice with various
other dishes inspired by mix of Indian spices with a Malaysian twist.
mix of cultures: Malaysia
food culture: Malaysia
According to the Australian
Consulate, the Malaysian
population has a high
obesity rate. This high
obesity rate is partially due
to the high sugar content
added to food, and also
due to the prominent food
culture. Malaysian social
culture deeply values food
and Malaysian cuisine is
supported partially through
the various holidays that are
celebrated throughout the
year.