Charles Pen Khek Chear is an ex-graffiti artist, social work faculty, and PhD student.
The Arts
Charles was an early member of BDR, a street graffiti crew in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Charles briefly worked for the Roots and Angela Nissel as a Linux systems administrator at Okayplayer. During college, he was an organizer at East Meets Words, an open mic and community space in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Social Services & Community Development
Charles was outreach director for the One World Foundation, a non-profit organization for American youth of color to study and volunteer in Cambodia and Mali. He was also a counselor for the Tohono O'odham Nation and resettled refugees in Tucson, Arizona. Charles spent a number of years in Boston, Massachusetts in social services and as a community organizer.
Teaching & Research
Charles is teaching faculty at Rutgers University School of Social Work and an Urban Systems PhD student specializing in Social Policy and Globalization at Rutgers-Newark. He has two lines of research interest: (1) transnational activity among the urban poor and ethnic economies, and (2) urban and social policy in relation to religious communities that practice 'voluntary' social exclusion, e.g. subsets of Salafi Muslims and Orthodox Jews. Presently, Charles studies Cambodian store owners in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to examine transnational social support, violence, and citizenship.
Charles remains involved in communities by serving on the advisory board for two non-profits, SMILE in Passaic, New Jersey and Muslim Community Link in Worcester, Massachusetts, and by coordinating a referral network of psychotherapists specializing in Muslim clients in New York City and New Jersey.
Charles' work, both process and 'product', is informed by Linda Tuhiwai Smith's decolonizing methodologies approach and Paul Virilio and Jean Vanier's respective concerns with speed.
Keywords: Cambodians, Muslims, inclusion, exclusion, citizenship, liberal democracy, modernity, translocality, social support
E-mail: charles.chear at rutgers.edu
The Arts
Charles was an early member of BDR, a street graffiti crew in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Charles briefly worked for the Roots and Angela Nissel as a Linux systems administrator at Okayplayer. During college, he was an organizer at East Meets Words, an open mic and community space in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Social Services & Community Development
Charles was outreach director for the One World Foundation, a non-profit organization for American youth of color to study and volunteer in Cambodia and Mali. He was also a counselor for the Tohono O'odham Nation and resettled refugees in Tucson, Arizona. Charles spent a number of years in Boston, Massachusetts in social services and as a community organizer.
Teaching & Research
Charles is teaching faculty at Rutgers University School of Social Work and an Urban Systems PhD student specializing in Social Policy and Globalization at Rutgers-Newark. He has two lines of research interest: (1) transnational activity among the urban poor and ethnic economies, and (2) urban and social policy in relation to religious communities that practice 'voluntary' social exclusion, e.g. subsets of Salafi Muslims and Orthodox Jews. Presently, Charles studies Cambodian store owners in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to examine transnational social support, violence, and citizenship.
Charles remains involved in communities by serving on the advisory board for two non-profits, SMILE in Passaic, New Jersey and Muslim Community Link in Worcester, Massachusetts, and by coordinating a referral network of psychotherapists specializing in Muslim clients in New York City and New Jersey.
Charles' work, both process and 'product', is informed by Linda Tuhiwai Smith's decolonizing methodologies approach and Paul Virilio and Jean Vanier's respective concerns with speed.
Keywords: Cambodians, Muslims, inclusion, exclusion, citizenship, liberal democracy, modernity, translocality, social support
E-mail: charles.chear at rutgers.edu