A Conversation with Farina So, Principle Deputy Director of (Genocide) Documentation Center – Cambodia and PhD genocide scholar at the University of Massachusetts – Lowell
The conversation covers:
– The genocidal experience of Cham Muslims (being forced to eat pork, remove headscarves, cut long hair, accept forced marriages and consummate, give away children to be raised as non-Muslims, etc.);
– The Khmer Rouge Tribunal;
– The act of living amongst ex-genocide killers and
– The reconciliation
Farina So is currently the Principal Deputy Director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), responsible for overall management, evaluation, and fundraising for DC-Cam. Farina joined DC-Cam in 2009, progressing from volunteer to staff writer for the Center’s Searching for the Truth magazine, to team leader of the Cham Oral History project, which records the experience of the Cham Muslim community under the Khmer Rouge and ways of dealing with the genocide and engaged the community with the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)’s proceedings. In 2011, Farina published her first monograph, titled, The Hijab of Cambodia: Memories of Cham Muslim Women after the Khmer Rouge, which discusses different accounts of women’s experiences of mass atrocity and their coping strategies. Farina has published articles and chapters related to human rights, gender, and Islam, and has delivered presentations to local and international audiences on a wide range of topics from genocide and oral history, to gender-based violence. She has also appeared in both local and international news related to the above topics and recently in UN news on “Champions of Prevention” Photo Exhibition. Farina holds a Master’s Degree in Southeast Asian Studies and is currently pursuing a Doctoral Degree in Global Studies.