Abstract
The geographical and historical analysis of mass violence, such as genocide, has been limited by incomplete data sets. Accordingly, geographers and other social scientists have in recent years attempted to synthesize disparate sources of information in order to provide more robust analyses of the patterns and trends of mass violence. In this article we explore the limitations and opportunities of a unique data set associated with the Cambodian genocide (1975–1979). Specifically, we detail the development of a database using information from a security-center (S-21) associated with the Cambodian genocide (1975–1979). Our intent is to highlight both the challenges and benefits of data analysis in the context of genocide, thus contributing both to the epistemological issues associated with the rigorous analysis of inchoate data sources and also to our concrete knowledge of atrocities associated with Cambodia.
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Notes
The ‘S’ designated sala, or hall, while the ‘21’ was the code number for this particular center.
Quoted in Chandler (1999, 42).
Santebal is a compound word that combines the Khmer words santisuk (security) and nokorbal (police).
According to Chandler (1999, 139) the Khmer Rouge began using the site at Choeung Ek in 1977. Prior to this time, executions took place and corpses were buried in the surrounding area of S-21.
The Defense Unit included two sub-units; the ‘Guard Unit’ was responsible for guarding the prisoners within the security-center and for overall defense of the compound; the aforementioned ‘Special Unit’ was tasked with making arrests, transferring prisoners, and carrying out executions. The Interrogation Unit consisted of at least eleven six-person interrogation groups which, over time, evolved into ten six-person units which were further divided into three-person teams; each team included a chief, an annotator-deputy, and a guard. For an extended discussion, see Chandler (1999).
Upon discovery, the archives at Tuol Sleng were in considerable disarray. Many biographical records of prisoners, for example, did not have matching photographs; likewise, many photographs have no corresponding biographers. It is not known for certain if this mis-match is the result of poor documentation; poor archiving by S-21 staff; poor archiving by subsequent individuals; or simply because some people were photographed without biographical information being obtained, and vice versa. No doubt a combination of factors is at play, although the implications are significant.
Caswell (2014) notes that the Bertillon system was introduced in Cambodia by French colonialists. Evidence strongly indicates that this system was adopted, at least in part, by the Khmer Rouge at S-21 and possibly other prisons.
Many hundreds of confessions are archived at the Documentation Center of Cambodia and the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide. Transcripts of these confessions range from only a few pages to more than one hundred pages; very few have been translated into English, and even fewer have been digitized.
Staff at DC-CAM estimate that at least 179 prisoners were released between 1975 and 1978 (Keo and Yin 2011).
A reviewer of an earlier draft of this manuscript correctly noted that for statistical purposes, the ‘sample size’ is not acceptable. However, we caution that these figures do not constitute samples but rather the population of usable records. This reviewer also correctly notes that the records are non-random; this is accurate. We are confronted with an incomplete population, not a sample, based on Khmer Rouge practice. We can make valid descriptive conclusions on the total number of men and women, for example, whose records are complete; we are not able to ‘generalize’ from these to the total number of 12,273 detainees at S-21. This is a crucial observation, in that scholar’s unaccustomed to statistical analyses may erroneously generalize from the inchoate data set provided by the ECCC.
In his analysis, Chandler calls attention to broad periods of purges, e.g. September 1975 through September 1976. Our analysis does not dispute Chandler’s claims, but instead provides a greater level of detail.
At this point it is not possible to disaggregate the records based on ‘position’ (e.g. soldier, official, or spouse), as the numbers for any given category would be too small for analysis.
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This work has been supported by the College of Arts and Sciences, Kent State University. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Kent State University.
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Tyner, J., Ye, X., Kimsroy, S. et al. Emerging data sources and the study of genocide: a preliminary analysis of prison data from S-21 security-center, Cambodia. GeoJournal 81, 907–918 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-016-9741-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-016-9741-z