Chapter 2: TAMIU 2019 Reading the Globe: Cambodia

In 2008, the Texas A&M International University began a freshman common reading program. As part of the university’s mission statement is to “pursue a progressive agenda for globally study,” the book we select is always set in a country other than the United Stated. Freshmen read and discuss the book in their seminar courses, and the author visits TAMIU our university for a book discussion with students. Following the author’s visit, students are invited to participate in an essay contest and interview. Fifteen students earn an allexpensepaid trip to the country in which the book is set. In 2018, students read First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, a nonfiction book written by Loung Ung (2000), a Cambodian author and childhood survivor of Democratic Kampuchea during the Khmer Rouge regime Cambodian genocide (Khmer: <inl/> or <inl/>, French: Génocide Cambodgien), 1975 to 1979. Although many human rights violations occurred during this time, in 2018, the country is now focused on peace and justice. Students who embarked on this trip to Cambodia and Thailand learned about the destruction the genocide caused as well as the country’s efforts to recover and rebuild. This chapter, representing students’ reflections, illustrates university freshmen analyzing in application the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 16: “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels” (SDSN Australia/Pacific, 2017, p. 5; United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015).