Warefare, Looting, and the Art Market (Ethical Question Blog-Post)

Remnants of a looted statue, Koh Ker Cambodia

Ethical Questions to Answer: How has warfare looting affected Cambodia's cultural heritage? How has the history of looted continued to hurt Cambodia to this day?

Please note: The Vietnam Conflict is what people commonly know as the Vietnam War. War was never declared on Vietnam nor the Viet Cong, thus, we cannot call it the Vietnam War and must call it the Vietnam Conflict.




Warfare destroys communities and families within them. Separation, destruction of economic and social fabrics, and the destruction of cultural past are just a few examples of what occurs because of war. Cambodia is a country that has felt all of these and then some. The Vietnam conflict was a pivotal point for Cambodia's culture. The Khmer Rouge, a title given to members of Cambodia's communist party, provided protection to cultural and heritage sites.

When the Vietnam conflict began and Vietnam began to invade Cambodia, these places lost their protection from looting and destruction when the Khmer Rouge fled to Thailand. Heritage sites filled with cultural stories and statues became a place of destruction and looting. This not only affected Cambodia's culture but their economic system. These sites were considered not only archaeological evidence that provided context for research on the history of Cambodia, but they were also considered places for tourist revenue. With the lack of safety at these sites along with the looting, less money was produced from these sites and became difficult to fund in terms of upkeep and safety provision measures. Because of the direct effect on the economic system of Cambodia, the looting halted the preservation and continuation of the knowledge of Cambodian culture.

Despite the ending of the Vietnam Conflict, the looting of Cambodia hasn't stopped. Khmer antiquities are considered valuable collectibles, and while looting is no longer done on an extreme level like the amounts taken during the Vietnam conflict, these artifacts are still looted to fund organized crime organizations. People are told that if they wanted any piece of a temple that they can take a picture of it and the organizations will arrange for it to be looted and delivered to them. This ongoing looting of these sacred temples is not only harming Cambodia culturally but economically. Fewer artifacts within temples mean fewer tourists who want to pay to travel to them, thus hurting Cambodia's economic growth (That still hasn't fully recovered from the Vietnam Conflict). Culturally, Cambodia's youth cannot learn from the past, the temples are not safe for active worship, nor are they able to provide insight into the culture's past for archaeological purposes.

Sources:


Overton, Leonard C., and David P. Chandler. “Vietnamese Intervention.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., December 9, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/place/Cambodia/Vietnamese-intervention.

Seiff, Abby, and Phnom Penh. “How Cambodia's Temples Fell to Looters: DW: 25.06.2014.” DW.COM, June 25, 2014. https://www.dw.com/en/how-cambodias-temples-fell-to-looters/a-17735835.

Tess Davis and Dr. Steven Zucker, "The Looting of Cambodian Antiquities," in Smarthistory, October 27, 2017, accessed October 7, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/looting-cambodia-2/.