Man or Monster? : The Trial of a Khmer Rouge Torturer
Hinton, Alexander Laban
Man or Monster? : The Trial of a Khmer Rouge Torturer - Durham NC Duke University Press 20161104
Open Access
During the Khmer Rouge's brutal reign in Cambodia during the mid-to-late 1970s, a former math teacher named Duch served as the commandant of the S-21 security center, where as many as 20,000 victims were interrogated, tortured, and executed. In 2009 Duch stood trial for these crimes against humanity. While the prosecution painted Duch as evil, his defense lawyers claimed he simply followed orders. In 'Man or Monster?' Alexander Hinton uses creative ethnographic writing, extensive fieldwork, hundreds of interviews, and his experience attending Duch's trial to create a nuanced analysis of Duch, the tribunal, the Khmer Rouge, and the after-effects of Cambodia's genocide. Interested in how a person becomes a torturer and executioner as well as the law's ability to grapple with crimes against humanity, Hinton adapts Hannah Arendt's notion of the "banality of evil" to consider how the potential for violence is embedded in the everyday ways people articulate meaning and comprehend the world.
Creative Commons
English
9780822373551 9780822373551
10.1215/9780822373551 doi
Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography
Anthropology Cambodia Chum Mey Khmer people Khmer Rouge Son Sen Sophea Duch Torture Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Man or Monster? : The Trial of a Khmer Rouge Torturer - Durham NC Duke University Press 20161104
Open Access
During the Khmer Rouge's brutal reign in Cambodia during the mid-to-late 1970s, a former math teacher named Duch served as the commandant of the S-21 security center, where as many as 20,000 victims were interrogated, tortured, and executed. In 2009 Duch stood trial for these crimes against humanity. While the prosecution painted Duch as evil, his defense lawyers claimed he simply followed orders. In 'Man or Monster?' Alexander Hinton uses creative ethnographic writing, extensive fieldwork, hundreds of interviews, and his experience attending Duch's trial to create a nuanced analysis of Duch, the tribunal, the Khmer Rouge, and the after-effects of Cambodia's genocide. Interested in how a person becomes a torturer and executioner as well as the law's ability to grapple with crimes against humanity, Hinton adapts Hannah Arendt's notion of the "banality of evil" to consider how the potential for violence is embedded in the everyday ways people articulate meaning and comprehend the world.
Creative Commons
English
9780822373551 9780822373551
10.1215/9780822373551 doi
Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography
Anthropology Cambodia Chum Mey Khmer people Khmer Rouge Son Sen Sophea Duch Torture Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum