‘Religion’ as an Issue in Political Transition: Two Competing Secularities in Buddhist Burma (Myanmar)
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Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière
Abstract
This chapter addresses Burma’s confrontation with “modern” values in the context of the political reform since the adoption of the 2008 Constitution and its impact on “Buddhist secularity.” It focuses in particular on the outburst of exclusivist Buddhist nationalism expressed in 2012 anti-Muslim violence and the formation in 2013 of a nationalist movement headed by monks (Mabatha) as reactions to the secularizing effect of political transition. In this regard, the political transition can be considered a replication of at least two previous historical confrontations, one at the time of the colonial encounter and the other when Burma gained independence. These confrontations fostered a similar discourse of “defense of Buddhism” and led the most extremist monks to religious activism embedded in electoral politics in 2015. The transitional process had the dual effect to push part of the Buddhist monastics into politics and to provoke a subsequent reaction from the newly elected democratic government to reassert its control over nationalist monks. It brought to the fore the ongoing debates on what is religious and what is political and on the place of monks in politics.
Abstract
This chapter addresses Burma’s confrontation with “modern” values in the context of the political reform since the adoption of the 2008 Constitution and its impact on “Buddhist secularity.” It focuses in particular on the outburst of exclusivist Buddhist nationalism expressed in 2012 anti-Muslim violence and the formation in 2013 of a nationalist movement headed by monks (Mabatha) as reactions to the secularizing effect of political transition. In this regard, the political transition can be considered a replication of at least two previous historical confrontations, one at the time of the colonial encounter and the other when Burma gained independence. These confrontations fostered a similar discourse of “defense of Buddhism” and led the most extremist monks to religious activism embedded in electoral politics in 2015. The transitional process had the dual effect to push part of the Buddhist monastics into politics and to provoke a subsequent reaction from the newly elected democratic government to reassert its control over nationalist monks. It brought to the fore the ongoing debates on what is religious and what is political and on the place of monks in politics.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Asian Secularism from Words to Concepts and Practices 1
- Entangled Multiple Modernities and the Variety of Secular States 19
- Laicity, Secularism, Secularization(s): A Few Hypotheses 43
- Secularism in Asia 61
- Pancasila in Indonesia a “Religious Laicity” Under Attack? 71
- Religion, Secularization, and Counter-Secularization in Bali 93
- States, Religions and Modernities for one Nation: Historicizing a Converging Secularization in Twentieth Century Vietnam 115
- Indian Secularism: an Original Accommodation of Religious Plurality Endangered from Within? 145
- The Imperial “Civil Religion” and seikyō bunri: The Historical Process of Secularization in Modern Japan, from the Perspective of “Confucianism” (1868–1945) 163
- Chinese Interpretations of French Secularism in the Early Twentieth Century 187
- ‘Religion’ as an Issue in Political Transition: Two Competing Secularities in Buddhist Burma (Myanmar) 205
- A Twisted Secularity. Anti-Religious Ideology vs Secularity and Secularization in Twentieth Century Mongolia 229
- Index 245
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Asian Secularism from Words to Concepts and Practices 1
- Entangled Multiple Modernities and the Variety of Secular States 19
- Laicity, Secularism, Secularization(s): A Few Hypotheses 43
- Secularism in Asia 61
- Pancasila in Indonesia a “Religious Laicity” Under Attack? 71
- Religion, Secularization, and Counter-Secularization in Bali 93
- States, Religions and Modernities for one Nation: Historicizing a Converging Secularization in Twentieth Century Vietnam 115
- Indian Secularism: an Original Accommodation of Religious Plurality Endangered from Within? 145
- The Imperial “Civil Religion” and seikyō bunri: The Historical Process of Secularization in Modern Japan, from the Perspective of “Confucianism” (1868–1945) 163
- Chinese Interpretations of French Secularism in the Early Twentieth Century 187
- ‘Religion’ as an Issue in Political Transition: Two Competing Secularities in Buddhist Burma (Myanmar) 205
- A Twisted Secularity. Anti-Religious Ideology vs Secularity and Secularization in Twentieth Century Mongolia 229
- Index 245
