S01E16: Y-Dang Troeung on Redefining the Refugee Narrative
Y-Dang Troeung, an expert on critical refugee studies, joins Kalina Christoff to discuss what’s missing from the global refugee narrative – and the more complicated history revealed through combining scholarship and personal experience. Dr. Troeung is a professor of English at UBC and a 2020 Wall Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. Her book, Refugee Lifeworlds: Aphasia and the Afterlife of the Cold War in Cambodia, is forthcoming by Temple University Press.
This episode was produced remotely with Troeung and Christoff recording from separate locations. Listen to Episode 16 below.
Links to content mentioned in this episode:
Montreal Gazette story featuring Dr. Troeung and her mother. A human interest story from 1980 commemorating the “last refugee” to arrive as part of the Canadian government’s Southeast Asian refugee sponsorship program.
More information about the history of the U.S. Bombing of Cambodia.
More information about the kapok tree.
More information about the Cambodian proverb featuring the kapok tree.
More information about writer Anthony Veasna So and filmmaker Rithy Panh .
Remembering Cambodian Border Camps, 40 Years Later, an exhibition at Bophana Audiovisual Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, runs July 1 to July 31, 2021. Click here for more information about online event.
For more information about Dr. Troeung’s research and her forthcoming book, visit her website.
