2. The Cheaters: Journey to the Land of the Lottery

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments vii
4. 1. Introduction: Burma at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century 1
5. Part 1: Spirituality, Pilgrimage, and Economics
6. 2. The Cheaters: Journey to the Land of the Lottery 19
7. 3. Women’s Practices of Renunciation in the Age of Sāsana Revival 41
8. 4. The Taungbyon Festival: Locality and Nation-Confronting in the Cult of the 37 Lords 65
9. 5. Respected Grandfather, Bless This Nissan: Benevolent and Politically Neutral Bo Bo Gyi 90
10. Part 2: Political and Moral Legitimation
11. 6. Buddhist Visions of Moral Authority and Modernity in Burma 113
12. 7. Sacralizing or Demonizing Democracy? Aung San Suu Kyi’s “Personality Cult” 133
13. 8. The Chicken and the Scorpion: Rumor, Counternarratives, and the Political Uses of Buddhism 154
14. Part 3: Public Performance
15. 9. Writing in a Crazy Way: Literary Life in Contemporary Urban Burma 175
16. 10. “But Princes Jump!”: Performing Masculinity in Mandalay 206
17. 11. Who’s Performing What? State Patronage and the Transformation of Burmese Music 229
18. Part 4: The Domestic Domain
19. 12. The Future of Burma: Children Are Like Jewels 249
20. References 271
21. Contributors 287
22. Index 291