Davis’s scholarship is based on extensive fieldwork in Cambodia. His research concerns Buddhism, ritual, death, rebirth, and the theory of religion.
His first monograph, Deathpower, examines funeral ritual and the relations among monks, spirits, agriculture, hierarchy, and moral power. With Jason A. Carbine, he edited Sīmās: Foundations of Buddhist Religion, a comparative study of the boundaries that establish Buddhist monastic communities.
His new book, Each Other’s Destiny, explores past-life memory and argues for a relational understanding of rebirth. His current research also includes “Nuon Chea’s New Buddhism,” a project on Cambodia and hauntology, and “The Perfect Funeral of Norodom Sihanouk.”
Before publishing his monographs, Davis co-led the New Khmer Folktales project, which trained a first cohort of Khmer graduate students to collect, transcribe, edit, and illustrate oral narratives for four affordable Khmer-language volumes.
Davis is inaugural series editor of the Cambodian Cultural Heritage Series at Bridwell Press, which identifies, translates, and publishes Khmer-language works of religious, historical, and literary significance. His institutional service has included work with the Macalester chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), including selective advocacy and support for colleagues affected by immigration enforcement.
He received his M.A. from the University of Washington and his Ph.D. in History of Religion from the University of Chicago Divinity School.