Pursuing Morality
Buddhism and Everyday Ethics in Southeastern Myanmar
Published on 31. July 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
248 pages
978-981-325-269-1 (ISBN)
Description
A deeply human portrait of a region defined by conflict and military dictatorship.
Pursuing Morality is an in-depth and fascinating study of ordinary life in Myanmar's southeast through a unique ethnographic focus on Buddhist Plong (Pwo) Karen. Based on extensive in-depth fieldwork in the small city of Hpa-an, the capital of Karen State, Justine Chambers shines a new light on Plong Buddhists' lives and the many ways they broker, traverse, enact, cultivate, defend, and pursue moral lives.
This is the first ethnographic study of Myanmar to add to a growing body of anthropological scholarship that is referred to as the "moral turn." Each chapter examines the lives of Plong Buddhists from different vantage points, calling into question many assumptions about Southeast Asian values and the nature of Buddhist Theravada practice. Critiquing the notion that moral coherence is necessary for ethical selfhood, Chambers demonstrates how the pursuit of morality is varied, performative, and embedded in an affective notion of the self as a moral agent in a relationship with wider structural political forces. This vivid account of everyday life in Myanmar complements existing scholarship on the region and offers a deeper understanding of Buddhism, moral anthropology, and ethics in Southeast Asia.
Pursuing Morality is an in-depth and fascinating study of ordinary life in Myanmar's southeast through a unique ethnographic focus on Buddhist Plong (Pwo) Karen. Based on extensive in-depth fieldwork in the small city of Hpa-an, the capital of Karen State, Justine Chambers shines a new light on Plong Buddhists' lives and the many ways they broker, traverse, enact, cultivate, defend, and pursue moral lives.
This is the first ethnographic study of Myanmar to add to a growing body of anthropological scholarship that is referred to as the "moral turn." Each chapter examines the lives of Plong Buddhists from different vantage points, calling into question many assumptions about Southeast Asian values and the nature of Buddhist Theravada practice. Critiquing the notion that moral coherence is necessary for ethical selfhood, Chambers demonstrates how the pursuit of morality is varied, performative, and embedded in an affective notion of the self as a moral agent in a relationship with wider structural political forces. This vivid account of everyday life in Myanmar complements existing scholarship on the region and offers a deeper understanding of Buddhism, moral anthropology, and ethics in Southeast Asia.
Reviews / Votes
"People living in a Buddhist society such as Myanmar confront conflicting moral injunctions. As Justine Chambers demonstrates in her vivid and valuable addition to the small number of recent ethnographic accounts of the country, life in a conflict-torn region of a troubled nation generates endless moral ambiguity, with contradictory, messy, and fascinating consequences." - Ward Keeler, University of Texas at Austin"Justine Chambers' insightful study of the ways in which Plong Buddhists 'pursue' morality sensitively captures the complexities, tensions and consistencies of living a moral life in community with others. Her attention to diverse Plong perspectives also illuminates our understanding of broader dynamics of civil conflict and Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar." - Matthew Walton, University of Toronto
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Singapore
Singapore
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
13 halftones, 2 maps
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
408 gr
ISBN-13
978-981-325-269-1 (9789813252691)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Justine Chambers is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on ethnonational conflict, morality, violence, and everyday life in southeast Myanmar.
Content
LIST OF FIGURES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ACRONYMS
LANGUAGE AND TERMINOLOGY
GLOSSARY
PRELUDE
INTRODUCTION
Studying Morality as an Outsider in a Hospitable Land
Chapter Outline
CHAPTER ONE
KAREN: A MORAL PEOPLE IN A CONFLICT STATE
Conflict in Southeast Myanmar: The Moral Karen and the Struggle for Kawthoolei
Introducing Hpa-An: A Centre for Militarised Buddhist Authority
Karen Unity Amid Division: Coming Together in the Karen Wrist Tying Ceremony
Competing Moral Projects of Power and Statehood in a Time of Change
CHAPTER TWO
BROKERING MORALITY IN THE BUDDHIST 'MORAL UNIVERSE'
A Charismatic Monk, his Daga and the 'Merit-Power' Nexus
The Buddhist 'Moral Universe'
A Buddhist Strongman: The Moral Consequences of Unclean Business
Morality Without Faith? Keeping Thout Kyar as A Plong Ideal
Reflections on Brokering Morality in a Power-Laden Landscape
CHAPTER THREE
TRAVERSING MORALITY IN A CHANGING WORLD
Hpa-An's Changing Social Landscape
Aspiring Subjects: Searching for a 'Life Of Curry'
The Limits Of Moral Agency
Reflections on Traversing Morality in a Changing World
CHAPTER FOUR
ENACTING MORALITY: COMING OF AGE ON SHIFTING MORAL GROUND
Coming of Age as a Young Plong Woman
Transgressing Morality? Playing with Different Selves during Thingyan
Reflections on Pursuing Morality as a Young Woman 'Coming Of Age'
CHAPTER FIVE
CULTIVATING MORALITY IN AN AGE OF DECLINE
Hpu Takit's Plong Nationality Village
Hpu Takit: The Embodiment of a Charismatic Moral Authority
The Revitalisation of a Plong Buddhist Universe
Cultivating Morality within the Constraints of the Life Course
Reflections on Cultivating Morality in an Age Of Decline
CHAPTER SIX
DEFENDING MORAL COMMUNITY: BUDDHIST NATIONALISM AND PLONG MORAL IDENTITY
Plong Buddhist Morality and its Other
Violence in the Name of Protecting the Sasana
Reflections on Defending Moral Community
CHAPTER SEVEN
PURSUING MORALITY IN THE MIDST OF A CRISIS
Research Among Plong Buddhists and its Significance
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ACRONYMS
LANGUAGE AND TERMINOLOGY
GLOSSARY
PRELUDE
INTRODUCTION
Studying Morality as an Outsider in a Hospitable Land
Chapter Outline
CHAPTER ONE
KAREN: A MORAL PEOPLE IN A CONFLICT STATE
Conflict in Southeast Myanmar: The Moral Karen and the Struggle for Kawthoolei
Introducing Hpa-An: A Centre for Militarised Buddhist Authority
Karen Unity Amid Division: Coming Together in the Karen Wrist Tying Ceremony
Competing Moral Projects of Power and Statehood in a Time of Change
CHAPTER TWO
BROKERING MORALITY IN THE BUDDHIST 'MORAL UNIVERSE'
A Charismatic Monk, his Daga and the 'Merit-Power' Nexus
The Buddhist 'Moral Universe'
A Buddhist Strongman: The Moral Consequences of Unclean Business
Morality Without Faith? Keeping Thout Kyar as A Plong Ideal
Reflections on Brokering Morality in a Power-Laden Landscape
CHAPTER THREE
TRAVERSING MORALITY IN A CHANGING WORLD
Hpa-An's Changing Social Landscape
Aspiring Subjects: Searching for a 'Life Of Curry'
The Limits Of Moral Agency
Reflections on Traversing Morality in a Changing World
CHAPTER FOUR
ENACTING MORALITY: COMING OF AGE ON SHIFTING MORAL GROUND
Coming of Age as a Young Plong Woman
Transgressing Morality? Playing with Different Selves during Thingyan
Reflections on Pursuing Morality as a Young Woman 'Coming Of Age'
CHAPTER FIVE
CULTIVATING MORALITY IN AN AGE OF DECLINE
Hpu Takit's Plong Nationality Village
Hpu Takit: The Embodiment of a Charismatic Moral Authority
The Revitalisation of a Plong Buddhist Universe
Cultivating Morality within the Constraints of the Life Course
Reflections on Cultivating Morality in an Age Of Decline
CHAPTER SIX
DEFENDING MORAL COMMUNITY: BUDDHIST NATIONALISM AND PLONG MORAL IDENTITY
Plong Buddhist Morality and its Other
Violence in the Name of Protecting the Sasana
Reflections on Defending Moral Community
CHAPTER SEVEN
PURSUING MORALITY IN THE MIDST OF A CRISIS
Research Among Plong Buddhists and its Significance
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX