Gift narration: dynamic themes of reciprocity, debt, and social relations in Theravāda Buddhist Myanmar
Scholarly studies of Buddhist gift-giving have explored the many ways in which gifts are or are not reciprocal. This topic is revisited in this article by the author drawing greater attention to the practice of narration. Instead of understanding Buddhist words about dāna as representing religious d...
| Published in: | Journal of contemporary religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Carfax Publ.
[2020]
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| In: |
Journal of contemporary religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Myanmar
/ Theravada
/ Gift
/ Reciprocity (Sociology)
/ Social network
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BL Buddhism KBM Asia |
| Further subjects: | B
Myanmar
B dāna B Hospitality B Reciprocity B Ordination B Burma B Buddhist ethics B Debt B Narrative B Gift-giving B Theravāda Buddhism B patron-client relations B disrobing B asymmetrical relationships |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | Scholarly studies of Buddhist gift-giving have explored the many ways in which gifts are or are not reciprocal. This topic is revisited in this article by the author drawing greater attention to the practice of narration. Instead of understanding Buddhist words about dāna as representing religious doctrines or the experience of its social practice, the author considers how Buddhists narrate dāna as a means of maintaining relationships with self and others. Examining narratives of one monastic gift-recipient, meanings of dāna and moral principles of gift-giving are shown to vary alongside shifting relations between givers and receivers. This case suggests that themes of reciprocity are most salient when narrators grapple with interpersonal threats. Offering possible interpretations of this correlation, the author argues how reciprocal forces could be external social conditions to which narratives respond as well as created ex nihilo through the practice of narration as a strategy of ordering interpersonal conflicts potentially unrelated to reciprocity. |
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| ISSN: | 1469-9419 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2020.1695799 |