Buddhism, Diversity and ‘Race’: Multiculturalism and Western Convert Buddhist Movements in East London – a Qualitative Study

CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Goldsmiths Research Online GOLDSMITHS Research Online Thesis (PhD) Smith, Sharon Elizabeth Buddhism, Diversity and ‘Race’: Multiculturalism and Western convert Buddhist movements in East London – a qualitative study You may cite this version as: Smith, Sharon Elizabeth, 2008. Buddhism, Diversity and ‘Race’: Multiculturalism and Western convert Buddhist movements in East London – a qualitative study. PhD thesis, Goldsmiths. [Thesis]: Goldsmiths Research Online. Available at: http://eprints.gold.ac.uk/2553/ COPYRIGHT This is a thesis accepted for a Higher Degree of the University of London. It is an unpublished document and the copyright is held by the author. All persons consulting this thesis must read and abide by the Copyright Declaration below. 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This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. http://eprints-gro.goldsmiths.ac.uk Contact Goldsmiths Research Online at: [email protected] http://eprints-gro.goldsmiths.ac.uk Contact Goldsmiths Research Online at: [email protected] 1 Buddhism, Diversity and ‘Race’: Multiculturalism and Western convert Buddhist movements in East London – a qualitative study Thesis submitted by Sharon Elizabeth SMITH Goldsmiths’ College, University of London in partial fulfilment of the requirements for degree of PhD History 2 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the work set out in this thesis for PhD History is entirely my own Sharon Elizabeth SMITH 3 ABSTRACT This study considers the development of convert Buddhism in multicultural environments. Its focus is on the encounters of people of colour (defined for the purposes of this study as people of African, Asian and Caribbean descent) with Western convert Buddhist movements, which tend to be predominantly white and middle-class. The study uses an ethnographic case study approach informed by feminist epistemologies. The case-studies are of two of the largest Western convert Buddhist movements in the UK – the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) and Sōka Gakkai International-UK (SGI-UK) – and focus on their branches in the multicultural inner-city location of East London. The findings suggest that most Buddhists of colour in these movements come from the second generation of the diaspora. For the FWBO, there is an apparently hegemonic discourse of middle-class whiteness that people of colour and working class members of this movement have to negotiate as part of their involvement. In contrast, for SGI-UK, the ethos is one of a moral cosmopolitanism that encourages intercultural dialogue thus facilitating the involvement of a considerably more multicultural and international following. People of colour find that their practices of the techniques of the self provided by each movement enable them to feel more empowered in relation to their quotidian experience of racisms and racialisation, as well as encouraging them in a more anti-essentialist approach to identity that sees it as fluid and contingent. To date, there has been little discussion of how Western Buddhism is developing in multiethnic and multicultural contexts, even though the West has long been a space of significant ethnic and cultural diversity arising largely from processes of colonialism and imperialism. This study therefore develops a new line of enquiry for consideration in studies seeking to illuminate the issue of how Buddhism is being translated in the West. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.........................................................................................................3 TABLE OF CONTENTS......................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................................7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................8 CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION: CONTEXTS, CONCEPTS, METHODS..10 1.1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................10 1.2 BACKGROUND TO THESIS..................................................................12 1.3 AIMS OF THESIS ..................................................................................14 1.4 CONCEPTS ...........................................................................................15 1.5 METHODOLOGY...................................................................................31 1.6 METHODS, ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH ETHICS ..............................38 1.7 EVALUATION OF METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH...........................47 1.8 OVERVIEW OF THESIS........................................................................47 1.9 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................49 CHAPTER TWO – MAPPING THE FIELD........................................................50 2.1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................50 2.2 A HISTORY OF SHIPS IN THE NIGHT .................................................51 2.3 ATTEMPTS TO WIDEN THE CIRCLE...................................................58 2.4 COMING OUT FROM THE MARGINS...................................................71 2.5 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................75 CHAPTER THREE – THE ‘SETTING CULTURE’ OF THE FWBO AND LBC ..78 3.1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................78 3.2 THE FWBO – A HISTORY AND OUTLINE OF KEY PRACTICES ........79 3.3 DEVELOPMENT OF THE LBC AND FWBO APPROACH TO ENGAGED BUDDHISM.......................................................................................................83 3.4 SANGHARAKSHITA’S TEACHING & ‘DIFFERENCE’...........................87 3.5 ‘DIFFERENCE’ ON THE GROUND OF THE LBC ...............................102 3.6 CONCLUSION .....................................................................................116 CHAPTER FOUR – FWBO AND LBC AS CONTEXT FOR ‘SELF- FASHIONING’.................................................................................................119 4.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................119 4.2 HISTORY OF EVENTS FOR BLACK PEOPLE/PEOPLE OF COLOUR AT THE LBC ...................................................................................................119 5 4.3 DEMOGRAPHIC DETAILS OF RESEARCH SAMPLE........................121 4.4 PEOPLE OF COLOUR’S ENCOUNTERS WITH THE MOVEMENT ...124 4.5 FWBO AND PEOPLE OF COLOUR: FURTHER POINTS OF ATTRACTION.................................................................................................127 4.6 NEGOTIATING SPACE IN THE MOVEMENT: PEOPLE OF COLOUR’S APPROACHES...............................................................................................133 4.7 PARTICIPANTS’ AND FWBO BOUNDARIES OF ‘RACE’...................138 4.8 PARTICIPANTS’ AND FWBO BOUNDARIES OF CLASS...................144 4.9 FWBO TECHNIQUES OF THE SELF: IMPLICATIONS FOR IDENTIFICATION ...........................................................................................147 4.10 RESPONSES OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS..........................................149 4.11 EVENTS FOR PEOPLE OF COLOUR.................................................151 4.12 LBC INITIATIVES – LEVERS FOR CHANGE?....................................156 4.13 CONCLUSION .....................................................................................161 CHAPTER FIVE – ‘SETTING CULTURE’ OF SGI-UK & MALCOTT DISTRICT ........................................................................................................................163 5.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................163 5.2 THE SŌKA GAKKAI INTERNATIONAL (SGI) – A HISTORY ..............163 5.3 SŌKA GAKKAI INTERNATIONAL AND SOCIAL CHANGE: WORKING FOR KŌSEN-RUFU (THE SPREAD OF THE LAW/WORLD PEACE) ...........167 5.4 SGI AND ‘DIFFERENCE’ – ITAI-DŌSHIN AND THE UNITY OF MENTOR & DISCIPLE....................................................................................173

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