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“One and a Half Human Beings” How Buddhist Monks Construct the Muslim Other in Myanmar

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“One and a Half Human Beings” How Buddhist Monks Construct the Muslim Other in Myanmar “One and a Half Human Beings” How Buddhist Monks Construct the Muslim Other in Myanmar Ingrid Johannessen Supervisor Dr. Iselin Frydenlund, Associate Professor in Religious Studies This Master’s Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MA degree at MF Norwegian School of Theology, 2018, spring AVH5035: Master's Thesis (60 ECTS) Master in Religion, Society and Global Issues Word count (ex. front page, content list, bibliography, attachments): 35 104 words 2 Acknowledgments and Gratitude First of all I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Iselin Frydenlund for introducing me to this topic and to Myanmar, a country I have grown to love. I want to thank you for your guidance, knowledge and sense of humor. Your enthusiasm is infectious and your drive inspiring. I also need to thank my support network: my family, friends, classmates and flat mates. Thank you for supporting and pushing me, and thank you for tolerating me while I was living and working in this little bubble. I also want to thank my new Burmese friends, both in Myanmar and in Norway, for being so generous and helpful. Especially to Duh Tawng Lian and Thiri Nandar for helping me with the Burmese translation. I would like to thank NORPART and MF as well, for giving me the grant and opportunity to do my fieldwork in Yangon in November 2017 and then for allowing me to go back to Myanmar in January 2018. These experiences were life changing and I am forever grateful. Lastly I want to thank God for making this all come together and for having a plan for me to follow. 3 Summary This thesis provides an insight into the topic of the Buddhist-Muslim violence taking place in Myanmar. In the context of the refugee crisis of the Rohingya, this thesis looks at the role of religious actors in this current climate of religious and communal violence. As the majority religion in Myanmar is Buddhism, and the Buddhist monks are highly respected and loved, they have a great influence over the population. The research question posed is: How do Buddhist monks construct the Muslim Other in Myanmar? The aim of the thesis is to analyse the construction of Muslims in Myanmar as an “other”, and provide a snapshot of how the Buddhist monks present the religious tension in their text. To answer this question I analyse the discourse in texts of two prominent Buddhist monks. The chosen texts are a Facebook post, and an interview of Ashin Wirathu, and a sermon of Sitagu Sayadaw. The historical context and background is presented to better explain what is found in the texts, and theories on nationalism, othering and violence are used to analyse and discover themes and messages in the texts. Critical Discourse Analysis will be applied to analyse the discourse practice, the texts in depth and the sociocultural practice of the texts. Based on the analysis I discuss the themes of nationalism, othering and violence found in the texts to finally answer the research question. As a conclusion I state that these three texts construct the Muslims as one coherent group of violent and threatening invaders who are in Myanmar illegally and who do not belong. The group is presented as a threat to both the nation and the Buddhist religion, and the texts justify the use of violence on these threatening others. 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgments and Gratitude ................................................................................ 3 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 4 1. What is Happening in Myanmar? ............................................................................. 7 1.1. The Topic and the Research Question ........................................................................ 8 1.2. A List of Terms and Abbreviations ............................................................................. 10 1.3. History and Context ......................................................................................................... 12 1.4. Buddhism in Myanmar ................................................................................................... 15 Buddhist Monks and Their Role in Myanmar ........................................................................... 16 Sangha and the State ............................................................................................................................ 17 1.5. The Protectors of Sāsana ............................................................................................... 18 The 969 Movement ............................................................................................................................... 19 The Ma Ba Tha ........................................................................................................................................ 20 Ashin Wirathu ......................................................................................................................................... 21 Sitagu Sayadaw ....................................................................................................................................... 21 1.6. Relevance of the Thesis .................................................................................................. 22 1.7. Muslims in Myanmar and the Crisis in Rakhine State ......................................... 23 The Recent Violence in Rakhine State .......................................................................................... 24 1.8. Concluding Remarks ....................................................................................................... 25 2. Theories on Nationalism, Othering and Violence, and the Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis .......................................................................................... 27 Theories from the West Explaining the East ............................................................................. 27 2.1. Nations and Nationalism ............................................................................................... 28 Religion and Nationalism ................................................................................................................... 30 Effects of Nationalism .......................................................................................................................... 31 Nationalism in Myanmar .................................................................................................................... 32 Buddhist Nationalism .......................................................................................................................... 34 Burmanisation ........................................................................................................................................ 34 Recent Buddhist Nationalism .......................................................................................................... 36 2.2. Othering .............................................................................................................................. 37 The Fearsome Other ............................................................................................................................ 38 Othering in Myanmar .......................................................................................................................... 39 2.3. Violence and Just War in Buddhism .......................................................................... 41 Justifications for Violence .................................................................................................................. 41 Just War Theory ..................................................................................................................................... 42 Just War Ideology in Buddhism ....................................................................................................... 43 2.4. Methods of Analysis ......................................................................................................... 45 Why Critical Discourse Analysis? ................................................................................................... 45 2.5. Gathering the Materials ................................................................................................. 46 The Ethics of Using Materials From the Internet .................................................................... 47 The Texts ................................................................................................................................................... 48 The Facebook Post ................................................................................................................................ 48 The Interview .......................................................................................................................................... 48 The Sermon .............................................................................................................................................. 49 2.6. Critical Discourse Analysis ........................................................................................... 50 Analysing the Discourse Practice ................................................................................................... 52 Mediatisation .......................................................................................................................................... 52 Analysing the Text ...............................................................................................................................
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