I received my PhD in Social Anthropology from York University in 1993 and my MA in Social Anthropology from York University in 1987.

Prior to joining Laurier, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, Sociology Department (1994-1995) and an assistant professor in the Department For the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto (1995-1998).

The main focus of my research has been the global migration of Buddhist refugees and their resettlement, adaptation and integration in Canada. Analysis of this multi-faceted process is through the role that religion plays in community and individual identity, as well as the subsequent re-creation, redefinitions, and reinterpretations of religious beliefs, practices, authority dynamics and institutional organizations. Current research is on shifts in religious diversity and social engagement within small town rural Ontario.

• The 2001 John Porter Memorial Book Award (Sociology and Anthropology Association) for my 1999 book Many Petals of the Lotus: Five Asian Buddhist Communities in Toronto, University of Toronto Press.

I have provided research assistantships opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students interested in various facets of religion and culture. I continue to supervise graduate students in the areas of religion and culture.

• 2009 Cambodian Refugees in Ontario: Resettlement, Religion, and Identity. University of Toronto Press. Pgs. 263.
• 1999 Many Petals of the Lotus: Five Asian Buddhist Communities in Toronto. University of Toronto Press. Pgs. 264.
• 2014 Forthcoming with co-author Marybeth White “The Ongoing Maintenance of Monastic Lineages, Monks as Fields of Merit and Sites of Social and Religious Capital within Ontario Khmer and Lao Buddhist Communities” in Jason Zuidema (ed.) The Consecrated Life in Canada, Wilfrid Laurier Press.
• 2014 Forthcoming with co-author Marybeth White “Social, Religious, and ‘Spirit-based’ Capital within Cambodian and Lao Buddhist Communities in Ontario” Studies in Religion.
• 2013 “Religious Responses to Bereavement, Grief, and Loss Among Refugees” in Journal of Loss and Trauma.
• 2012 “Shifts in Diasporic and Buddhist Identities Among Second Generation Cambodians in Ontario” Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies, Volume 7:79-100.
• 2011 “Experiences of Genocide, Healing, Justice, and Peace among Cambodians in Canada” Peace Review Journal, Volume 23:4, 484-490.
• 2009 Co-authored with Victor Sogen Hori “Suwanda H.J. Sugunasiri: Buddhist” in Wild Geese: Buddhism in Canada, Edited by John S. Harding, Victor Sogen Hori, and Alexander Soucy, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, pp. 377-399.
• 2008 “Themes and Issues in the Study of North American Buddhists and Buddhism” in Paul David Numrich (ed.) North American Buddhists in Social Context, Religion and the Social Order Series, Leiden: E.J. Brill, pp. 19-50.
• 2007 “Buddhism in the Multicultural Context of Toronto, Canada” in Lorne Tepperman and Harley Dickinson, editors Reading Sociology: Canadian Perspectives, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 35-38.
• 2006 “The Politics of Representation Among Buddhists in Toronto” in Bruce Matthews (ed.) Buddhism in Canada. New York: Rutledge Press, pp. 85-104.
• 2005 Co-authored with Marybeth White “Social Capital and the Politics of Identity” Journal of International Migration and Integration, Volume 6 (2):235-253.
• 2004 “Cambodian Refugees in Ontario: Religious Identities, Social Cohesion and Transnational Linkages” Canadian Ethnic Studies, Volume 36 (2)101-118.
• l999 “Buddhist Identities in Toronto: The Interplay of Local, National and Global Contexts” Social Compass Journal Volume 45 (2):227-245.
• 1999 “Buddhist Immigrant Communities” in Christopher Queen (ed.) Engaged Buddhism in the West Boston: Wisdom Publications.
• l999 “Khmer People in Canada” in Paul Magocsi (ed.) Encyclopedia of Canada’s Peoples. Multicultural Historical Society of Ontario, University of Toronto Press, pp. 294-304.