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18 - Nationalism, Violence and War in Myanmar’s Theravāda Buddhist Context

from Part III - Religious Nationalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2023

By
Matthew J. Walton
Edited by
Margo Kitts
Margo Kitts
Affiliation:
Hawai'i Pacific University, Honolulu
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Summary

This chapter examines the ambivalence and tension generated when the putatively universal premodern category of sāsana (referring to the full range of material and ideational aspects of the Buddhist community) aligns uncomfortably with the more bounded modern category of the nation-state. Through its association with existing polities, sāsana has been effectively mobilized to encourage or defend violence against non-Buddhists and against coreligionists, sometimes producing the complicated phenomenon of “Buddhist nationalism.”

Keywords

Buddhismnationalismviolencesāsana
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Religion and War , pp. 369 - 382
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

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