Abstract
Flowers have been used by women in collective action around the world in response to a range of social and political issues. The intervention explores how women are drawing on the ‘power’ of flowers to make their peaceful calls for social justice and redress in contexts of displacement. Four photographs explore Khmer women’s engagement with flowers to aid their message to stop displacement, first, in relation to forced eviction in Cambodia and, second, against the deportation of their menfolk from the United States. The use of culturally resonant flowers, namely the lotus and carnation, reflects women’s lead roles in resisting displacement in both instances and speaks to their desire to display ‘positive’ and productive dissent against governmental actions in non-violent ways.
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For more information about Maria Hu Wu’s story and her creative work with undocumentedimmigrants, see https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-11-07/how-art-can-help-us-better-understand-fastest-growing-group-undocumented.
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Brickell, K. (2020). Intervention: Flower Power—Khmer Women’s Protests Against Displacement in Cambodia and the United States. In: Adey, P., et al. The Handbook of Displacement. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47178-1_37
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47178-1_37
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