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A fascinating ethnographic look at the practice, uses, and complexities of Christianity in post-genocide Cambodia.

Based on a yearlong, multi-sited, ethnographic project with Cambodian Christian communities in the metropolitan areas of Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Paris, and Phnom Penh, this dissertation analyzes Cambodian Christians’ stories of conversion from Theravada Buddhism, beliefs surrounding cosmology and spirituality, and mutual mission. Drawing on my fieldwork, I address the question underlying the subfield known as the anthropology of Christianity: What difference does Christianity make? My main argument is that for the Cambodian Christian community, both in Cambodia and in its diaspora, Christianity has served as a vehicle for survivors of the Cambodian Civil War (1970-1975) and Genocide (1975-1979) to interpret their individual and collective experiences through the lens of forgiveness, hope, and mission.In Chapter 2: Conversion, I claim that many survivors of the Cambodian Genocide have experienced relief from survivor’s guilt by viewing the Christian God as one who affirms their existence by personally arranging for their rescue. Chapter 3: Cosmology demonstrates how the concept of forgiveness from sins offers a sense of hope through freedom from karma. For some, the image of God as adoptive father has provided a sense of relationality, as I discuss in Chapter 4: Spirituality. Believing themselves to have been rescued for a purpose, Christian survivors of the Cambodian Genocide often make sense of their traumatic memories by participating in mutual, transnational ministry, expedited through the power of digital media, as seen in Chapter 5: Transnational Ministry and Mutual Mission. Chapter 6: Cambodian Christianity through a Wide-Angle Lens constitutes a more detailed analysis of my four field locations, presenting insights that arise from site-specific observations and inter-site juxtapositions. Finally, in Chapter 7: Concluding Thoughts on Fieldwork and Identity, I engage in a methodological reflection inquiring into the ways in which my particular identity as a biracial, American, unmarried, Christian woman in my late twenties might have affected my research outcomes. Although I closely analyze a variety of my interlocutors’ theological concerns throughout the dissertation, I employ an empirical approach.