Dr. Paul Christensen

Paul Christensen is a social anthropologist with a regional focus on Southeast Asia. He studied Cultural and Religious Studies in Bremen and Yogyakarta and completed his PhD in 2019 with a dissertation entitled Spirits in Cambodia – Existence, Power, and Ritual Practice, funded by a doctoral scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation. His research engages with the intersections of ritual, environment, and political economy.
He is currently working on the project "Sandscapes in Southeast Asia", which investigates the social and spiritual consequences of sand mining in the Mekong region. Using sand as a lens, the project explores how local environmental concerns and challenged cosmologies converge in landscapes affected by extractivism.
Post-Doc Projekt
"Sandscapes in Southeast Asia: the social implications of sand mining on the Mekong River" (Abstract)

Dissertation:
"Spirits in Cambodia - Existence, Power and Ritual Practice" (download/order here)

Thematic foci