Alexandra Kent
About Alexandra Kent
Alexandra Kent holds a Masters degree in Social Anthropology from Edinburgh University. Her Masters dissertation was based upon fieldwork carried out in a South Indian village exploring Hindu domestic ritual. She conducted her doctoral studies at Gothenburg University and completed her doctoral dissertation in 2000. The research that this was based on concerned a neo-Hindu revitalisation movement in Malaysia; the study explored the political and ethnic dimensions of the movement in the context of Malaysian Islamisation.
Areas of interest Alexandra Kent’s research has been conducted in South Asia and Southeast Asia. She has worked in India, Malaysia and Cambodia and in each case her work has examined various aspects of religious activity. This has included exploring the interplay between religion and politics, religion in relation to trauma and healing, and the workings of gender in the realm of religion. In the course of these studies she became increasingly interested in the ethnography of ‘security’ and began making use of indigenous understandings of moral and cosmic order to support a critical examination of current academic approaches to security. This interest inspired her to organise a conference in 2007 entitled “Culture and the Configuring of Security: using Asian perspectives to inform theoretical direction”.
Current research Shaping Justice? The Khmer Rouge Tribunal's Influence on Expectations and Experiences of Justice in Cambodia
In 2009, the hybrid tribunal being held in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) began its first trial of one of those accused of being most responsible for crimes against humanity committed during the Khmer Rouge regime 1975-1979. Among the objectives of the ECCC are those of enabling skill transfer from international to national legal staff, participation by victims and outreach programmes to broaden public awareness. In this way, the ECCC is to contribute to strengthening the Cambodian judiciary and ending the culture of impunity. The purpose of this project is to use anthropological theory and methods to explore how exposure to the ECCC, either as an observer or as a legal or lay participant, affects people’s understandings and practices in relation to justice in Cambodia. It asks what kinds of knowledge people are acquiring through their exposure to the court. The study then seeks to understand what this knowledge means in practice for people living in the aftermath of conflict, in a context of entrenched clientelism, continuing human rights abuses and impunity and fast-paced economic change that is benefitting elites at the expense of the most vulnerable.
Teaching and tutoring
- Asian Studies
- Writing Academic English
- Global Health
-
The Desertion of Cambodia's
Spirits
Alexandra Kent
New Mandala: New Perspectives on Southeast Asia - 2020-01-01 -
The Justice Facade: Trials of Transition in Cambodia, by Alexander Laban
Hinton
Alexandra Kent
Anthropos: Internationale Zeitschrift für Völker- und Sprachenkunde - 2019-01-01 -
Rights of transition: The Khmer Rouge Tribunal in
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
Asia Dialogue - 2019-01-01 -
A Shifting Universe – religion and moral order in
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
The Handbook of Contemporary Cambodia, eds. Katherine Brickell and Simon Springer - 2017-01-01 -
The Price of 'Progress' in
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
Asia Dialogue - 2017-01-01 -
Trees of
Life
Alexandra Kent
- 2017-01-01 -
Conflict continues: Transitioning into a battle for property in Cambodia
today
Alexandra Kent
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies - 2016-01-01 -
Forest of Struggle. Moralities of Remembrance in Upland Cambodia, written by Eve
Zucker
Alexandra Kent
Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde - 2015-01-01 -
Navigating a River by Its Bends: A Comparison of Cambodian Remigration by Gea
Wijers
Alexandra Kent
Refuge - 2013-01-01 -
Friction and Security at the Khmer Rouge
Tribunal
Alexandra Kent
SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia - 2013-01-01 -
Intervention or Interaction? Developing Ideas from
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
Development Dialogue - 2012-01-01 -
Sheltered by Dhamma: Reflecting on Gender, Security and Religion in
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies - 2011-01-01 -
Review of Srinivas, Tulasi's Winged Faith: Rethinking Globalization and Religious Pluralism through the Sathya Sai Baba
Movement
Alexandra Kent
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute - 2011-01-01 -
Global Change and Moral Uncertainty in Cambodia: Why Do Women Seek Refuge in
Buddhism?
Alexandra Kent
Global Change, Peace and Security - 2011-01-01 -
Plural Security: Moral Order and Security in
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
Security and Development, John-Andrew McNeish and Jon Harald Sande Lie eds. - 2010-01-01 -
Shades of Gender in
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
Gendered Inequalities in Asia, Helle Rydström ed. - 2010-01-01 -
A Buddhist Bouncer: Reflections on Violence and the Control of Desire in a Cambodian Buddhist
Monastery
Alexandra Kent
Journal of Contemporary Religion - 2009-01-01 -
People of Virtue: Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Moral Order in Cambodia
Today
Alexandra Kent, David Chandler
- 2008-01-01 -
Controlling Intervention in a Globalizing
World
Fredrik Söderbaum, Alexandra Kent
the 2nd National Peace Conference, Lund University, 2-3 October - 2008-01-01 -
Peace, Power and Pagodas in Present-Day
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
Contemporary Buddhism - 2008-01-01 -
Calling the Souls: A Cambodian Ritual Text by Ashley
Thompson
Alexandra Kent
Crossroads: Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies - 2007-01-01 -
Purchasing Power and Pagodas: the Sima Monastic Boundary and Consumer Politics in
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies - 2007-01-01 -
Rifts and Repair in the Cambodian Moral
Landscape
Alexandra Kent
NIAS Nytt Asia Insights - 2006-01-01 -
Reconfiguring Security: Buddhism and Moral Legitimacy in
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
Security Dialogue - 2006-01-01 -
Justice in
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
NIAS Nytt Asia Insights - 2006-01-01 -
Transcendance and Tolerance: Cultural Diversity in the Tamil Celebration of Taipucam in
Malaysia
Alexandra Kent
International Journal of Hindu Studies - 2005-01-01 -
Divinity, miracles and charity in the Sathya Sai Baba movement of
Malaysia
Alexandra Kent
Ethnos - 2004-01-01 -
Recovery of the collective spirit: The role of the revival of Buddhism in
Cambodia
Alexandra Kent
- 2003-01-01 -
Creating Divine Unity: Chinese Recruitment in the Sathya Sai Baba Movement of
Malaysia
Alexandra Kent
Journal of Contemporary Religion - 2000-01-01 -
Ambiguity and the modern order: The Sathya Sai Baba movement in
Malaysia
Alexandra Kent
- 2000-01-01