The God School: Informal Christian Education and Emerging Aspirations Among De Facto Stateless Children Living in Cambodia

Abstract

Statelessness research to date has mainly focused on legal analyses and the plight of adults who are seen to have little 'navigational capacity'. Children are often regarded simply as those caught up in the complicated lives of their parents or guardians. Very rarely are the voices of stateless children heard, still less are their aspirations documented. This paper foregrounds children's experiences and argues that despite appearing to be 'stuck' in a position of liminality, de facto stateless children have much to teach us about the differing roads to aspiration. An analysis of the everyday lived realities of Cambodia's stateless children reveals how religious identity, specifically through Christian conversion, becomes central to how their aspirations are socially produced, and how these aspirations come to assist them in navigating ethnic and institutional exclusion.

Digital Exclusions: Legal Identity, Identification, and the Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia

“…Instead, many children visit informal or basic private schools, often through Church-affiliated providers, but they are not allowed to transition into public schools for an officially recognized secondary school degree without showing a birth certificate. 61 In 2019, the Ministry of Interior issued a directive instructing local administrations to provide birth certificates to 'foreigners' who have permanent resident cards basically reminding local authorities that they should implement the law. 62 In fieldwork carried out three years later, we have not observed much progress in improving birth registration rates and public school access among these minority populations.…”

Citizenship and discomfort: Wearing (clothing) as an embodied act of citizenship

“…Instead of passing as a male and even less as a dandy, I wanted to convey the racial history of the costume at the interview, the notion of garments evoking layers of meanings that have been accumulated over centuries and which my own body was further complicating. The approach of tracing affect’s resonances with citizenship through wearing a garment is an ambitious move to expand research in the scholarly field that enquires into how people formally excluded from citizenship and denied access to essential public services are making claims mirroring that of citizens (Rumsby, 2021).…”