Farina So Cambodia 2009 Grantee US–Canada Program Master’s International Affairs from Ohio University PhD from University of Massachusetts
Throughout her career, Farina has worked to heal Cambodia, her nation, after the devastation of the Khmer Rouge. She has promoted communications in many forms, education, and understanding history through documentation and oral accounts. Especially important is seeking the causes of genocide and the means to prevent and/or heal from them.
Document Center of Cambodia (DC–Cam) 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.
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.
Publications:
THE HIJAB OF CAMBODIA: Memories of Cham Muslim Women after the Khmer Rouge, (2011), Documentation Center of Cambodia, discussing different accounts of women’s experiences of mass atrocity and their coping strategies under the Khmer Rouge.
Farina attended international conferences and meetings related to genocide, oral history, Islam in Southeast Asia, memorialization, information and technology, truth commissions and access to justice for women in Bangladesh, Thailand, South Korea, Germany, Malaysia, India, Kenya, and Indonesia. Farina also contributed to Searching for the Truth magazine, Oxford Islamic Studies Online, Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam, and newspaper articles about Cham Muslims, women and oral history.
In a 2010 interview, Farina said:
“Studying in the U.S. was very competitive and I had to work two or three times harder just to be prepared for everything before class. Money was also a concern for me during my stay, especially in my first year. However, I was awarded a fellowship from the Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund (MMMF) to fund my living expenses the second year of my studies, and this reduced some of the financial burden.”
