Modern Buddhist Conjunctures in Myanmar: Cultural Narratives, Colonial Legacies, and Civil Society
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.59 (645 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0824833821 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 248 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-07-28 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
"A study of Buddhism and politics" according to Arnold. Juliane Schober takes aim at the traditional Weberian depiction of Buddhism as an "otherworldly" religion. The book is essentially a recapitulation of Burmese history with a focus on Buddhist politics. She categorizes the role of Buddhist monks and ideology in Burma's various political debates. She's particularly insightful in trying to sort through the internal politics of the sangha, such as the tensions between the older and younger monks. The only improvement I would have suggested is a brief comparative section, comparing Burma's Buddhist politics with those of other Buddhist countries.. "Is crossing swords with an old tome of 1916 worth doing?" according to Harvy Lind. This thin monograph of six chapters or 150 pages (plus another fifty pages of end matter) offers the unremarkable thesis that Therevada Buddhist organizations and individuals have played a major role in Myanmar politics and society, including in opposition movements such as the late 1980s protests against the ruling military junta. In a country where something like 90% of the population in Theravada Buddhist, this is exactly what one would expect. The author sets up a sort of straw dog in taking issue with Max Weber's 1916 study of Hinduism and Buddhism, referring in the bibliography merely to the b. For understanding religion-political identities in Myanmar, a must! daniel murphree As someone who has worked closely with self-identified religious/political refugees from Myanmar and who is studying the subject at an academic level, Dr. Juliane Schober deals with the complexities of identity, historical, anthropological, religious tradition, political issues with finesse. My only critique was the level of waxing over political figure Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the darling of Liberal democratic movements. Her position on religious minorities remains to be seen. Also more might have been said regarding patron-client relationships in the delta region mentioned by Taylor in his work(s)
The intervention of colonial modernity in traditional Burmese Buddhist worldviews has created conjunctures at which public concerns critical to the nation’s future are reinterpreted in light of a Buddhist paradigm of power.Author Juliane Schober begins by focusing on the public role of Buddhist practice and the ways in which precolonial Buddhist hegemonies were negotiated. Modern Buddhist Conjunctures in Myanmar examines those moments in the modern history of this Southeast Asian country when religion, culture, and politics converge to chart new directions. Arguing against Max Weber’s characterization of Buddhism as other-worldly and divorced from politics, this study shows that Buddhist practice necessitates public validation within an economy of merit in which moral action earns future rewards. For centuries, Burmese have looked to the authority of their religious tradition, Theravada Buddhism, to negotiate social and political hierarchies. The continuing discourse and cultural negotiation of
Juliane Schober is professor of religious studies at Arizona State University.
(New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies) . Questioning that is an essential setting-out point in Juliane Schober’s book, the focus of which is on the relations between the monastic order sangha and the rulers of Burma from ‘pre-colonial’ times to the early twenty-first century. Schober’s book brings the question of Buddhism and politics in Myanmar into perspective with thoughtful and welcome clarity. (Asian Anthropology)Max Weber posited that Buddhism was inherently ‘other worldly’. (Pacific Affairs)A carefully-crafted call to remind us to critically analyze legacies of colonial scholarship and views of the wo