Abstract
The literature over the last three decades has been trying to account for the stories of resilience by Cambodians both in their homeland and diasporas through performance and literature, visual culture, and religion to undo the legacy of displacement and traumatic experience of the Cambodians during 1975–1979, known as the Khmer Rouge Genocidal period. The repatriation of Khmer refugees to their homeland during 1992–1993 poses a question of to what extent the physical return could replenish the richness of people’s lives deprived by war-time atrocities. Dhammayietra (peace march; 1992–2018) originated by and centered around the spiritual leadership of late Maha Ghosananda has, being an exemplar, tackled this challenge. Yet, are there any significant moral contributions and ethical leadership from other sources? This paper therefore seeks to highlight the under-recognized stories of ‘Dhammacārinī’ (Buddhist Woman Leader) of Cambodia in the light of the spirituality that emerged in the post-conflict reconstruction. Based on my ethnographic accounts and engagement with Dhammayietra (2009–2018), archival research and biographical and dharma books published by the two dhammacārinīs of Cambodia, I argue that these Buddhist woman leaders attempt to offer the people of Cambodia ‘rematriation’, where the ethics of care, nurture, interconnectedness and healing join forces to counter the legacy of devastation and desperation.
Highlights
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Displacement, the disintegration of family and its conundrum continues. They manifest themselves in refugee camps along Thai–Cambodian border over a decade (1979–1991), lasting civil war (1992–1999) and most notably in a Khmer concept of ‘baksbat’ or ‘broken body or form’ (Ly 2020b, p. 10) as a represented image of personhood charged with trauma—shared by Cambodians several decades later in the present. This devastated vision is palpably clear in the artistic and filmic representation of a female broken body, as a prominent Khmer art historian Ly (2020b, p. 125) further suggests that “resilient scarred female body began to resume her iconic role in the post-genocide Cambodia, not as a giver of birth, but as a female subject who is burdened with scars of war
Based on my ethnographic accounts and engagement with Dhammayietra (2009–2018), archival research and biographical and dharma books published by the two dhammacarinıs of Cambodia, I argue that these Buddhist women leaders attempt to offer the people of Cambodia ‘rematriation’, where the ethics of care, nurture, interconnectedness and healing join forces to counter the legacy of devastation and desperation
Summary
Despite the scarcity and the lack of attention on resilience literatures, over the last three decades, scholars have been trying to account for the stories of peace initiatives by Cambodians both in their homeland and diasporas through performance and literature (Ebihara et al 1994), visual culture (Ly 2020b) and religion (Chandler and Kent 2009) to undo the legacy of displacement and traumatic experience of the Cambodians during 1975–1979, known as the Khmer Rouge Genocidal period. This earth testimony scene is usually depicted as a Mother Earth figure who emerged from the ground, proving the meritorious deeds of the Great Being and subsequently subduing the troops of Mara This femaleprotector-of-religion image is widely reproduced in Buddhist monasteries of Mainland Southeast Asia, of Cambodia both in the form of mural paintings and statues as reminders of Dhamma Mother, the protector of Buddhism The Dhammika ruler is a cultural concept embedded in Khmer society believing in a messianic leader who will emerge in the wake of the crisis This concept is not designated as a prophetic movement in response to colonial rule such as the cargo cult among the Native people of North America and the Pacific Islands that links people of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds
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