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In Pursuit of Morality

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In Pursuit of Morality In Pursuit of Morality Moral Agency and Everyday Ethics of Plong Karen Buddhists in Southeastern Myanmar Justine Alexandra Chambers A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Australian National University October 2018 © Copyright by Justine Alexandra Chambers 2018. All Rights Reserved i STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own original work. Justine Chambers 5 October 2018 Department of Anthropology College of Asia and the Pacific The Australian National University ii ABSTRACT This thesis explores how Buddhist Plong Karen people in Hpa-an, the capital of Karen State, Myanmar pursue morality in what is a time of momentous social, political and cultural change. As one of the rare ethnographic studies to be conducted among Plong Karen people in Myanmar in recent decades, my research problematises existing literature and assumptions about ‘the Karen’. Informed by eighteen months of participant observation in Hpa-an, I examine the multiple ways that Plong Karen Buddhists broker, cultivate, enact, traverse and bound morality. Through an analysis of local social relations and the merit-power nexus, I show that brokering morality is enmeshed in both the complexities of the Buddhist “moral universe” (Walton 2016) and other Karen ethical frameworks that define and make personhood. I examine the Buddhist concept of thila (P. sīla), moral discipline, and how the everyday cultivation of moral “technologies of the self” (Foucault 1997), engenders a form of moral agency and power for elderly Plong Karen men and women of the Hpu Takit sect. Taking the formation of gendered subjectivities during the transitional youth period as a process of “moral becoming” (Mattingly 2014), I demonstrate the ways young women employ moral agency as they test and experiment with multiple modes of everyday ethics and selfhood. The experiential tensions between the traditional habitus of morality as filial obligation and utopian aspirations for the future are then examined through the prism of youth education programmes which encourage learning as a means of individual self-actualisation. Finally, I consider how the moral ideals of Buddhist Plong Karen have contingently converged in recent years with Buddhist chauvinist ideology which excludes non-Buddhists and especially Muslims from popular notions of belonging. The thesis contributes to literature on how minority people in Myanmar see themselves beyond the ethno-nationalist narratives and movements that have defined them for decades (Sadan 2013; Thawnghmung 2012). It also advances the anthropological study of morality by arguing that ethics are best understood not according to any neutral external measure or set of binary ethical positions, but as a set of frequently contradictory and ambiguous ideals which individuals seek to cultivate and enact in iii the course of everyday life. Rather than searching for morality in moments of ‘moral breakdown’ or conflict, I argue that moral agency is a highly interactive process that is differentiated across people’s lifetime according to one’s circumstances, age and gender. Critiquing the notion that moral coherence is necessary for ethical selfhood, the thesis shows that contradiction and ambivalence is inherent to the pursuit of morality among Plong Karen people. While moral ideals may encapsulate diverse values, meanings and expectations, their individualised and ongoing pursuit can form the basis of a symbolically powerful collective identity. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis bears the imprint of a multitude of interlocutors, friends and colleagues whose generous support I want to acknowledge. My first and greatest debt is to the numerous Plong Karen people in Hpa-an who took me into their lives and generously shared their time and lives with me. The tolerance, generosity and care people extended to me during my stay in Hpa-an was truly humbling and there is no words to express my thanks to those without whose openness I never could have written this thesis. The owners of the guesthouse I stayed in deserve a special word of thanks for their generosity and hospitality, becoming my second family throughout my time in Hpa-an. Our long conversations, many meals, cups of teas and even the enforcement of curfews was a constant reminder of your love, care and support. I owe a particular debt to the teachers and students of a local educational institution who adopted me into their lives and enthusiastically provided me with insights, delicious dinners and invaluable help with practicalities throughout my fieldwork. Three university students deserve a special word of thanks. Their assistance with interpretation at various points helped to make the Plong Karen world of rituals, Buddhism and culture more accessible to me. Our time together also enlivened my fieldwork with jokes, gossip and karaoke, guiding and powering my research. This thesis is dedicated to you and I hope one day we will be writing something together as co-authors. Cher koh pa du! People from across the globe have offered intellectual companionship, friendship and advice throughout my doctoral studies that made this thesis possible. I feel an immense sense of gratitude and indebtedness towards my supervisor, Philip Taylor, who continually pushed me to consider the multiple complexities of my field research. He read my work carefully and patiently challenged me to think more deeply and critically about Plong Karen people’s lives. Much of the writing in this thesis and the ideas encapsulated in it were inspired by our long conversations and his guidance. His intellectual rigour and philosophical erudition gave me room for movement but also nourished my intellectual journey. I will miss our time working together immensely v and hope that I can one day provide the same intellectual guidance to others like he has done for me and many others in the anthropology student community at ANU. I am also incredibly grateful to my other supervisory panel members Nicholas Farrelly and Jane Ferguson for being so supportive throughout my PhD journey, especially in the final months. From the very first meeting when I proposed conducting my research in Hpa-an, Nich was an enthusiastic advocate for me and my research and played a key role in seeing me through to the end. Having his full support in the period before submission was incredibly reassuring and I will always be grateful for his help. Jane’s generous feedback throughout the writing up phase was also crucial, particularly as I came close to submission. Her breadth of knowledge on Myanmar, Buddhism and attention to detail helped me to think through and sharpen key aspects of my thesis. At the Australian National University, I have been lucky to find a home in the Department of Anthropology, in the School of Culture, History and Language. During my PhD our school and the importance of our discipline was attacked through a torturous review process. And yet, the anthropology community at ANU sustained me and my writing throughout the PhD and particularly in the write up period. I am especially grateful to the cohort of anthropology students at ANU in both my own department and the School of Archaeology and Anthropology whose friendship, collegiality and intellectual engagement was one of the highlights of my doctoral studies. Our Friday writing group was immensely helpful as I wrote up my dissertation and oriented the direction, ethnographic detail and analytical rigour of many parts of my thesis. I would like to especially mention Helen Abbot, Simon Theobald, Jo Thurman, Poonnatree Jiaviriyaboonya, Julia Brown, Gita Nasution, Jodie-Lee Trembeth, Ian Pollock, Xeem Noor Mohd Noor, Muhammad Kavesh and Fay Styman. Their generous and thoughtful critique opened me up to so many different cultural worlds and I have become a more knowledgeable and empathetic person for it. My conversations with Simon in particular helped to sharpen my analysis considerably on the vexing topic of morality, ethics and subjectivity and the critical advice he gave me throughout the writing up journey has made me a better scholar. I also want to thank students from the Coral Bell School including Jacqueline Manager, Chit Win, Timothea Horn, David Oakeshott and Shaun Gessler for sharing in the PhD journey. vi Many of us have become close friends and I feel deeply privileged for having been able to go through it with such a supportive group of people. Special thanks are also due to the staff of the Anthropology Department at CHL, especially Matt Tomlinson, Assa Doran, Kathryn Robertson and Alan Rumsey. Matt provided thoughtful and generous feedback which really helped me to clarify the my theoretical and conceptual framing of the dissertation. I also want to extend my thanks to Jo Bushby, our school administrator, who was always keen to assist with every administrative issue I encountered. Thanks also to Karina Pelling at CartoGIS who brought together the excellent maps in my thesis in a very short period of time. I feel immensely grateful to have also been part of ANU’s vibrant Myanmar studies community. Nick Cheesman, Andrew Walker and Charlotte Galloway in particular enthusiastically engaged with my work from inception to submission, helping me think through and clarify many of the complexities of my research. Thanks also to Sayama Yuri Takahashi at ANU for devoting her energy and time in encouraging me to maintain and develop my Burmese language skills after returning from fieldwork. I have also greatly benefitted from the broader scholarly community of Myanmar studies. I remain deeply grateful for their support, encouragement and friendship throughout the PhD journey. In particular I would like to thank Indre Balčaitė, Benedict Brac de la Perrière, Khin Ma Ma Kyi, Mikael Gravers, Helene Maria-Kyed, Annika Pohl-Harrison, Niklas Foxeus, Ashley South and Matthew Walton not only for their feedback on various chapters but also for providing a model of how a community of scholars can support and enrich each other.
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