SIG Event: Coarseness: Voicing and Moving Diaspora in Cambodia

This event is funded by the CLA Scholarly Intersections Grant by the Departments of Asian & Asian American Studies the Comparative Literature. How do we understand Cambodian American-ness in Cambodia? Zheng, a Cambodian Chinese American, will unpack Phou’s film My Mother’s Tongue (2022) and Sokhomsan’s performance artwork titled Birthday (2023) to consider how Cambodians from the diaspora connect to the homeland. Through both pieces, he will discuss the role of sound and movement in portraying the coarse textures of the relationship. Coarseness, a part of Zheng’s larger thinking about texture, symbolizes the rawness encapsulating both works while depicting the uneasy, liminal aspects of being a person from the diaspora. This lecture engages across Asian and Asian Diasporic Studies as well as Music, Dance, and Performance Studies. The lecture will be followed by a short discussion/Q&A reflecting on conducting research in Cambodia.

About the Speaker

Allan Zheng is a PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology with a Designated Emphasis in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He explores how identity, sound, and the body in contemporary Cambodian arts engage in social injustice. Allan’s research has been supported by the Center for Khmer Studies, Society for Asian Music, and Center for Ideas and Society. He has published in the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement. Allan holds an MA in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Riverside and a BA in Music from Colorado College. Allan will be conducting a workshop entitled Coarseness: Voicing and Moving Diaspora in Cambodia.