Interrogating Buddhism and Nationalism

A two-day workshop on ‘Interrogating Buddhism and Nationalism’ organised by Dr Matthew J Walton was held at St Antony’s College on 27 and 28 January 2018. Part of the ESRC-funded project “Understanding ‘Buddhist Nationalism in Myanmar: Religion, Gender, Identity, and Conflict in a Political Transition’.

A list of papers given is provided below, please see the links for a number of audio recordings. 

• The Pilgrimage to Saraburi and the Ayutthayan Political Community, 1610-1767
  John Smith (University of Michigan)
  Audio Podcast
   
• In Pursuit of Happiness: Interrogating Bhutan’s Buddhist Cultural Nationalism in an International Perspective
  Dipyaman Chakrabarti (Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution)
  Audio Podcast
   
• The Committee for Defense of National interests: An anti-communist, Buddhist nationalist movement (1958-1960) in post-colonial Laos
  Ryan Wolfson-Ford (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
  Audio Podcast
   
• The Production of Buddhist-Violence in Sri Lanka: A Reading through the Development of the Idea of Holy City of Anuradhapura in the Early-Twentieth Century
  Pradeep Sangapala (University of Alberta) and Nihal Perera (Ball State University)
  Audio Podcast
   
• Navayana Buddhism and Nationalism: Reading Dr B R Ambedkar
  Thahir Jamal Kiliyamannil (University of Hyderabad) and Manasi Mohanan Sushama (University of Hyderabad)
  Audio Podcast
   
• Buddhism and Tibetan National Identity: Views of Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Leaders
  Rachel Pang (Davidson College)
   
• The Buddha was a Devoted Nationalist: Burmese Buddhist Nationalism, Defending Buddhism, and Justification of Political Activism
  Niklas Foxeus (Stockholm University)
   
• Authoritative Ideals: variations in the use of “nationalism” among Buddhist activists in Sri Lanka and Myanmar
  Neal Apel (University of Queensland)
  Audio Podcast
   
• A Look at the Forest: Universal Characteristics of the Buddhist-Rohingya Conflict
  Brian Victoria (Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies)
   
• Thai Pilgrimage Tourism to Myanmar: Buddhism and the Change of Thai Nationalism
  Neeranooch Malangpoo (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
   
• Rooting Chinese Monastic Buddhism Overseas and the Flowering of Chinese National Identity, 1882-1905
  Todd Klaiman (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
   
• Mongolian Buddhism and the China Question
  Johan Elverskog (Southern Methodist University)
   
• Modern Nationalism’s Unanticipated Effects on Japanese Buddhism: Soka Gakkai as a Mimetic Nation-State
  Levi McLaughlin (North Carolina State University)
  Audio Podcast
   
• Towards a Modern Indonesian Buddhism: The Buddhist Nationalism of Ashin Jinarakkhita
  Jack Meng-Tat Chia (National University of Singapore)
  Audio Podcast
   
• Monastic diaspora, Jumma/Ethnic Buddhist nationalism: In the Case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts/Bangladesh
  Chipamong Chowdhury (Columbia University Center for Justice)
   
• Contemporary nationalism among Arakanese and its link to Buddhism
  Alexandra de Mersan (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales / Institut de Recherche sur L’Asie du Sud-est Contemporaine)
   
• Contemporary Buddhist practice and the (de)gendering of Chinese nationalisms
  Sharon R Wesoky (Allegheny College)
  Audio Podcast