Belonging in a New Myanmar: Identity, Law, and Gender in the Anthropology of Contemporary Buddhism
"To be Burmese is to be Buddhist" is a slogan commonly identified with the dawn of nationalism in the country known today as Myanmar, where violence between Buddhist, Muslim, and ethnic communities has increasingly jeopardized liberalizing reforms. How do contemporary forms of Theravada Bu...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Berghahn
[2017]
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In: |
Religion and society
Year: 2017, Volume: 8, Issue: 1, Pages: 158–172 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Myanmar
/ Buddhism
/ Ethnic identity
/ Religious identity
/ Gender-specific role
|
Further subjects: | B
anti-Muslim hate speech
B Myanmar B global communications networks B Theravada Buddhism B Laws B Belonging B Gender B Secularism |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | "To be Burmese is to be Buddhist" is a slogan commonly identified with the dawn of nationalism in the country known today as Myanmar, where violence between Buddhist, Muslim, and ethnic communities has increasingly jeopardized liberalizing reforms. How do contemporary forms of Theravada Buddhist discourse shape ideas of belonging in a multi-religious and ethnically diverse Myanmar following the dissolution of military rule in 2011? How do digital technologies and globalizing communication networks in this nation influence rapidly changing social identities, anxieties, and imaginaries that Brigit Meyer identifies as "aesthetic formations"? In this article, I trace diverse genealogies of belonging to show how contemporary constructions of meaning facilitate religious imaginaries that may exacerbate difference by drawing on past ideologies of conflict or may seek to envision a new and diverse Myanmar. |
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ISSN: | 2150-9301 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion and society
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3167/arrs.2017.080110 |