83

The author examines the different phases of death among the Khmer in Cambodia, where Theravada Buddhism, the official religion, is influenced by an old animist background. Death is perceived as a transition rather than a final rupture. The crucial importance of the earth and, to a lesser extent, of water and fire in funerary rituals is underlined. The article describes the “career of the dead,” i.e., the ritually-constructed phases that mark the transformation of the corpse into a departed being, and then into an ancestor. This “career” is accompanied by the mourning process among the living, which it structures. Moreover, the presence of the departed among the living and their relationship with them is governed by clear rules so as to be well structured and non-invasive. The last part of the article relates to the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979), whom the Khmer do not assimilate into the traditional category of those who died a tragic death.