This week in my CAPS program class ASTU writing and literature course, we were assigned to read a scholarly piece by Kate Douglas, “Youth, Trauma and memorialization: The selfie as witnessing”. In this article, she puts forth the modern issue of youth taking a “smiling selfie” at trauma memorial sites, such as that of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. She raises the question as to whether it is ethical, moral, or even just an oversight of the technologically orientated youth of the 21st century.
In class we spoke about the particular genre of a selfie and its specific situational context and the form in which one uses it and when. We thought about how usually taking a selfie and how it’s taken depends on who the audience seeing the selfie is. Personally this article made me think about what taking a selfie means for the common teenager, and how usually we use selfies in our social medias to display who we are, or what we’re doing, and to physically prove we are where we say we are.
The article made me think of some of the trips that my family and I did around Southeast Asia whilst living in Indonesia, particularly to the country of Cambodia. In these trips, we visited many acclaimed tourist sites. I remember roaming through the stunning Angkor Wat, being absolutely impressed by the architecture and the historical context of the site. Throughout the trip, we tasted the regional food and spoke with the locals about their culture. We went to colorful night markets and explored the cities through tuktuk rides.
At the end of our trip, I was nothing, if not, utterly amazed and in love with Cambodia and all that its culture had to offer. I remember feeling so fortunate to have been able to physically have been there and seen everything that I did through my own eyes, as young as I was.
And yet, I too remember, taking a selfie. The context was simple, is was to capture the moment, I meant no harm and no insult, all I wanted to do was remember how I felt when I was there and what was surrounding me. I wanted to be able to share with my friends back in Indonesia, or my family back in Bolivia, how magical it was to be in Cambodia. Despite my good intentions, reading Douglas’s article, made me realize that I have also failed to recognize what Douglas is talking about.
These places, although considered popular tourist sites, were also places of significant memorial historic, and also modern, trauma. Cambodia’s Angkor Wat was only possible because it was built under the rule of a cruel and oppressive tyranny, who forced thousands of lower class citizens to spend their lives building his face and his beliefs with their bare hands. (Fletcher, 2015) Those magnificent temples and shrines were the source of human torture, and yet millions of people only see the beauty but don’t acknowledge the pain. Myself and all the tourists stare in awe of how gorgeous the scenery is, but I realize that we probably never really understood the burden Cambodian people endured just by observation.
In a way, every selfie I took, was or could be considered, an offence to the Cambodian people. But what I can infer from Douglas’s reading the most, is that the context in which I place my selfie and in what regard I share it, is the most important part. There I was, in a country filled with poverty, a young girl with an iPhone, taking selfies with what I thought, were incredible places and people. I’m glad I had the chance to reflect on what it meant to be there, and how crucial it is to be aware of where you are and who the people around you have been through. I’ve been lucky enough to live around the world, particularly in third world countries, where I’ve witnessed first hand, poverty. And take the lesson with me to be humble of material things and money, but perhaps I was more offensive than I thought I was, taking selfies of a country whose suffered a lot of historic trauma. But I also strongly believe that it’s a good thing for people to acknowledge this historic trauma and celebrate those who have persisted through it. Cambodians and their culture are fascinating, and although I won’t necessary applaud a girl smiling in a selfie at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp because it might show her lack of sympathy or ignorance. I think that it’s extremely relevant for youth to interact with historic trauma and recognize its significance. If that means, embracing technology within historical memorial sites, I wouldn’t condone it, but instead insist that more people learn about it, because if they never do, that is true ignorance.
Works Cited:
Fletcher, Roland, et al. “Angkor Wat: an Introduction.” Antiquity, vol. 89, no. 348, 2015, pp. 1388–1401., doi:10.15184/aqy.2015.178.
Douglas, Kate, “Youth, trauma and memorialisation: The selfie as witnessing” Memory Studies, 2017: 1-16
The Editor. “35 Amazing Photos from the Ruins of Angkor Wat Vishnu Temple in Cambodia.” TalkPundit.com, 2 Sept. 2017, www.talkpundit.com/35-amazing-photos- from-the-ruins-of-angkor-wat-vishnu-temple-in-cambodia/.