Elena Lesley
Biographic Data
| ID | 83691 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Elena Lesley |
| GIVEN NAMES | Elena |
| FAMILY NAME | Lesley |
| SIGNATURE | LESLEY E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of South Florida |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2482-6507 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Special series
From Patients to Pniev
While the prominent role nongovernmental organizations have played in global governance may have waned since the "NGO boom" of the 1990s, the legacies of this organizational form persist, manifesting in a variety of "NGO afterlives." This piece examines the trajectory of Cambodia's Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) as one of these "afterlife" possibilities. It centers Cambodian worldviews and cosmologies through adopting a framework o…
A measure to gauge psychological pain
The following study was conducted in order to assess convergent construct validity and internal consistency of a Khmer-language adaptation of the Psychache Scale, a 13-item self-report instrument used to assess subjective experiences of psychological pain (Holden, Mehta, Cunningham and McLeod, 2001). The Psychache Scale (PAS) was translated into Khmer and back-translated to verify accurate meaning. The Khmer translation was corrected to address c…
Genocide as communitarian breakdown
In post-genocidal contexts, it is critical to consider relational wounds. • Processes of psychological recovery always contain a critical element of “re-tethering” oneself to social networks. • Reconciling victims with their direct perpetrators may be less feasible than interventions that target other forms of relational rupture
Torque
In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in “localization” in fields such as transitional justice, human rights, peacebuilding, and development. This essay considers this “local turn,” as some call it, from the vantage point of anthropology and in relationship to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), or Khmer Rouge Tribunal. We argue that “localization,” which suggests a condition or state of being, is better …
Hinton, Alexander Laban
Therapeutic improvisation in Cambodia
This piece examines efforts by Cambodian mental health workers to incorporate two sites of cultural significance into narrative psychotherapy among Khmer Rouge survivors. As part of the “exposure” element of an imported form of Testimonial Therapy (TT)—in which patients retrieve traumatic memories from the past—a subset of patients was taken to the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes. While embodied engagement with the memorial site served as a…
The Anthropologist as Audience
Although the Khmer Rouge regime was responsible for the deaths of roughly 2.2 million Cambodians-and the persecution and abuse of millions more-only a handful of survivors have been able to testify at the tribunal established to prosecute former leaders of the regime. Partly to address this gap, an NGO affiliated with the tribunal has been offering 'Testimonial Therapy' for the past decade as a form of reparation for survivors with symptoms of ps…
Lessons for the Future
Decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian government and international community established a tribunal to prosecute leaders of the regime. The court's creation was accompanied by numerous outreach efforts, including psychological support for those who had survived the brutal period. Many of these interventions were foreign to Cambodians and drew upon transitional justice tropes that emphasised the importance of 'bearing witness to…
Immaterial Alliances
Although religious worship was banned during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-79), spiritual practices are once again flourishing in Cambodia. These include both the practices of the majority Buddhist population and a small but visible Cham Muslim minority. While popular Buddhism in Cambodia today incorporates the legacies of Hinduism and animism in the country, the majority of Cham Muslims have adopted a more orthodox version of Islam due to the inf…
Cultural Impairment and the Genocidal Potential of Intoxicants
As a number of scholars have noted in recent critical genocide studies, Raphael Lemkin’s formulation of the “genocide” concept was much broader than the definition later enshrined in the UN Convention. Various facets of settler colonialism framed his conception, including the widespread distribution of intoxicants among subjugated peoples. In Lemkin’s view, culture was the force undergirding human collectivities and intoxicants disrupted social f…
Lessons for the Future
Decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian government and international community established a tribunal to prosecute leaders of the regime. The court's creation was accompanied by numerous outreach efforts, including psychological support for those who had survived the brutal period. Many of these interventions were foreign to Cambodians and drew upon transitional justice tropes that emphasised the importance of 'bearing witness to…
From Patients to Pniev
While the prominent role nongovernmental organizations have played in global governance may have waned since the "NGO boom" of the 1990s, the legacies of this organizational form persist, manifesting in a variety of "NGO afterlives." This piece examines the trajectory of Cambodia's Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) as one of these "afterlife" possibilities. It centers Cambodian worldviews and cosmologies through adopting a framework o…
Torque
In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in “localization” in fields such as transitional justice, human rights, peacebuilding, and development. This essay considers this “local turn,” as some call it, from the vantage point of anthropology and in relationship to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), or Khmer Rouge Tribunal. We argue that “localization,” which suggests a condition or state of being, is better …
Therapeutic improvisation in Cambodia
This piece examines efforts by Cambodian mental health workers to incorporate two sites of cultural significance into narrative psychotherapy among Khmer Rouge survivors. As part of the “exposure” element of an imported form of Testimonial Therapy (TT)—in which patients retrieve traumatic memories from the past—a subset of patients was taken to the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes. While embodied engagement with the memorial site served as a…
Cultural Impairment and the Genocidal Potential of Intoxicants
As a number of scholars have noted in recent critical genocide studies, Raphael Lemkin’s formulation of the “genocide” concept was much broader than the definition later enshrined in the UN Convention. Various facets of settler colonialism framed his conception, including the widespread distribution of intoxicants among subjugated peoples. In Lemkin’s view, culture was the force undergirding human collectivities and intoxicants disrupted social f…
Immaterial Alliances
Although religious worship was banned during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-79), spiritual practices are once again flourishing in Cambodia. These include both the practices of the majority Buddhist population and a small but visible Cham Muslim minority. While popular Buddhism in Cambodia today incorporates the legacies of Hinduism and animism in the country, the majority of Cham Muslims have adopted a more orthodox version of Islam due to the inf…
Lessons for the Future
Decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian government and international community established a tribunal to prosecute leaders of the regime. The court's creation was accompanied by numerous outreach efforts, including psychological support for those who had survived the brutal period. Many of these interventions were foreign to Cambodians and drew upon transitional justice tropes that emphasised the importance of 'bearing witness to…
Therapeutic improvisation in Cambodia
This piece examines efforts by Cambodian mental health workers to incorporate two sites of cultural significance into narrative psychotherapy among Khmer Rouge survivors. As part of the “exposure” element of an imported form of Testimonial Therapy (TT)—in which patients retrieve traumatic memories from the past—a subset of patients was taken to the Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes. While embodied engagement with the memorial site served as a…
The Anthropologist as Audience
Although the Khmer Rouge regime was responsible for the deaths of roughly 2.2 million Cambodians-and the persecution and abuse of millions more-only a handful of survivors have been able to testify at the tribunal established to prosecute former leaders of the regime. Partly to address this gap, an NGO affiliated with the tribunal has been offering 'Testimonial Therapy' for the past decade as a form of reparation for survivors with symptoms of ps…
A measure to gauge psychological pain
The following study was conducted in order to assess convergent construct validity and internal consistency of a Khmer-language adaptation of the Psychache Scale, a 13-item self-report instrument used to assess subjective experiences of psychological pain (Holden, Mehta, Cunningham and McLeod, 2001). The Psychache Scale (PAS) was translated into Khmer and back-translated to verify accurate meaning. The Khmer translation was corrected to address c…
Genocide as communitarian breakdown
In post-genocidal contexts, it is critical to consider relational wounds. • Processes of psychological recovery always contain a critical element of “re-tethering” oneself to social networks. • Reconciling victims with their direct perpetrators may be less feasible than interventions that target other forms of relational rupture
Torque
In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in “localization” in fields such as transitional justice, human rights, peacebuilding, and development. This essay considers this “local turn,” as some call it, from the vantage point of anthropology and in relationship to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), or Khmer Rouge Tribunal. We argue that “localization,” which suggests a condition or state of being, is better …
Hinton, Alexander Laban
Special series
From Patients to Pniev
While the prominent role nongovernmental organizations have played in global governance may have waned since the "NGO boom" of the 1990s, the legacies of this organizational form persist, manifesting in a variety of "NGO afterlives." This piece examines the trajectory of Cambodia's Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) as one of these "afterlife" possibilities. It centers Cambodian worldviews and cosmologies through adopting a framework o…
Cambodian History and Society (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Genocide (4 works) · History (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works)