Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

Hi all,

I am requesting to remove particular books that violate a listopia. My listopia is for books that are *authored* by the Khmer and Cambodian-diaspora (specifically authors of the Khmer ethnic group or other ethnic groups that have a long history in Cambodia). Someone added books that merely discuss Cambodia, but are *not* written by the Khmer/Cambodian diaspora. The listopia is inclusive of *any* genre, as long as it is written by a Khmer or Cambodian author.

Cambodian- and Khmer-diasporic authors are often hard to find and greatly underrepresented. Oftentimes, "Cambodian" related books are books written about the genocide by white journalists/historians.

This list is for the Khmer and Cambodian diaspora who wants to easily discover other Khmer and Cambodian diasporic authors, especially those who write beyond the genocide.

The listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Books that violate the listopia terms:
When the War Was Over by Elizabeth Becker
Cambodia's Curse by Joel Brinkley
The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam
Sideshow by William Shawcross
Southeast Asian Houses by Seo Ryeung Ju

Thank you.

For future reference, Somaly Mam is Cambodian.

Hi Lirale, I am Khmer. I know that Somaly Mam is Khmer, but her book is entirely based on lies. She fabricated stories about human-trafficking for profit. Mam does not deserve any platform.

"After allegations of lying had appeared in The Cambodia Daily in 2012 and 2013, Newsweek ran a cover-story in May 2014 claiming that Mam had fabricated stories of abuse about herself and others. After the Somaly Mam Foundation undertook its own investigation through Goodwin Procter, a Boston-based law firm, she resigned from her position and the foundation shut down in October 2014."

@Corinne, thank you for your quick response! I appreciate it so much.

ម៉ូនីក wrote: "Hi Lirale, I am Khmer. I know that Somaly Mam is Khmer, but her book is entirely based on lies. She fabricated stories about human-trafficking for profit. Mam does not deserve any platform.

"Afte..."

I hear what you're saying—I looked her up before I posted and turned up the same information—but her book meets the list criteria. Goodreads lists are communal property, so to speak, and GR users are welcome to add any book that meets a given list's criteria to that list.

It's very unfortunate that Somaly Mam does the meet the criteria (lol) — but I understand.

On a personal note, I made this list as a Khmer-American who grew up thinking that the genocide had successfully killed off all of our writers and artists. We never really had literature or art within the diaspora, in contrast to countless other Asian communities that do. Our genocide specifically executed the educated, writers, artists, etc. (my grandparents were executed for being university professors), and I struggled throughout my life to find any Cambodian diasporic writers until very recently. I created this list as a Khmer-American for the Khmer and Cambodian-diaspora who want an easy place to find authors that exist within our community.

It was just quite frustrating that someone added an entire list of books by non-Cambodian authors, and that the ONE Cambodian author he added (and tried ranking high) happened to be someone who wrote a (false) nonfiction book that lied about being human trafficked for the sake of profit and attention. She was one of the most widely recognized Cambodian authors as well, specifically because she knew she could capitalize on the world's (historic) view of Cambodia as a very tragic, lawless, savage-like place. I want my community to know that our literature extends beyond a liar like her. One can also argue about the *literary value* that Somaly Mam's work provides (which I may argue is none) since she wrote an entirely fictitious *biography*. If her body of work was auto-fiction or literally anything else, then I wouldn't have tried removing her from the list, regardless of my personal discomfort.

I apologize for adding her to the list of authors that don't mean the listopia criteria. Although I'm hoping that nobody adds her (lol), I understand that she will have to remain on the list.