Erik W. Davis studies and teaches about Buddhism, Asian religions, and the theory of
religion. He is particularly interested in funerals, ritual, and the connection between
agriculture and religious imagination. Davis has completed more than three years of
fieldwork in Cambodia, and continues to visit and conduct research projects in that
country. 

His dissertation, "Treasures of the Buddha: Imagining Death and Life in Contemporary
Cambodia," was completed at the University of Chicago in 2009. 

Davis has been teaching at Macalester since 2007. 

EDUCATION: B.A., Macalester College, 1996; M.A., University of Washington, Seattle, 2000;
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 2009

Journal Articles

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September Strike Action in Cambodia, and its Aftermath, April 2011. “September Strike Action in Cambodia, and its Aftermath.” Industrial Worker. 108.3, p. 11 (2011)
 

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Marie Mason transferred to a new prison in Texas, Industrial Worker (2010)
 

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IWW Hosts Sweatshop Workers Tour of U.S., Industrial Worker (2010)
 

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Independent Unionism in Cambodia: Severe Challenges as Garment Industry Takes Hit, Industrial Worker (2009)
 

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Militant, independent, All-Cambodian Union. Union perseveres despite murders, threats, Industrial Worker (2008)
 

Contributions to Books

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Weaving life out of death: the craft of the rag robe in Cambodian funerary ritual, Buddhist funeral cultures of Southeast Asia and China (2012)
 

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Imagined parasites: flows of monies and spirits in Cambodia, Cambodia's economic transformation (2011)
 

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Between forests and families: death, desire, and order in Cambodia, People of Virtue: Reconfiguring Religion, Power and Morality in Cambodia Today (2008)
 

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Imaginary conversations with mothers about death, At the Edge of the Forest: Essays in Honor of David Chandler (2008)
 

Reviews

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Review; "For The Win" Teaches Young Adults to Organize, Industrial Worker (2010)
 

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Review of 'Spirits of the place: Buddhism and Lao religious culture,' by John Clifford Holt, Journal of Religion (2010)
 

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Review of 'How To Behave: Buddhism and Modernity in Colonial Cambodia, 1860-1930,' by Anne Ruth Hansen, Pacific Affairs (2008)
 

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Review of 'How To Behave: Buddhism and Modernity in Colonial Cambodia, 1860-1930,' by Anne Ruth Hansen, and 'Cambodge: The Cultivation of a Nation, 1860-1945,' by Penny Edwards, The Journal of Asian Studies (2008)