Re-Fusing Refuge

Connecting Separated Cambodian-American Refugees From

Philadelphia

Purpose

Re-Fusing Refuge traces the challenges confronting Cambodian-Americans, illustrating their perseverance in the face of trauma and a devastating legal system that divides loved ones; it is the conduit through which affected community members can amplify the injustice in deportation without judicial discretion, while moving toward positive change by aggregating data that supports the movement.

Medium

• Online, interactive documentary – or ‘new media documentary’

• Includes use of database• Viewers -> Users = Active Participation

Background• 120,000 refugees welcomed to the US after the fall of the Khmer Rouge

• Regan-omics create few social welfare support programs for Cambodian-American refugees

• Placed throughout the US in at risk neighborhoods

(1) The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty and (2) Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant

Responsibility Acts of 1996

• Retroactive Law

• The US – Cambodian Repatriation Agreement of 2002

• Number of Deportations up 70% in the winter of 2011

Conceptual Approach

• medium and narrative structure reflects separation of families

• Interactivity– Breadth and Depth and Database– Engaging audience• One Millionth Tower

– Tool for Movement• Citivox.com

Concerns and Considerations

Work in Tandem with MovementThe Digital Divide

-> Community Workshops