"Forest Hermits, Harvest Festivals and a Leap of Faith: Imagination and Recovery in the Aftermath of the Khmer Rouge"

Eve Zucker, Visiting Scholar, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University at Newark

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the foothills of the Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia and insights from Graeber, Bloch, Bauchelard and others—this talk explores role of the imagination in recovery from in the aftermath of the war and genocide. It suggests that the generative quality of the imagination makes it a unique site for restoring humanity and remaking social worlds. Imagination is considered in both its transcendental and transactional forms through the stories, rituals and everyday lives.