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The Traffic in Hierarchy: Masculinity and Its Others in Buddhist Burma

Online ISBN:
9780824876944
Print ISBN:
9780824865948
Publisher:
University of Hawai'i Press
Book

The Traffic in Hierarchy: Masculinity and Its Others in Buddhist Burma

Ward Keeler
Ward Keeler
University of Texas at Austin
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Published online:
24 May 2018
Published in print:
30 September 2017
Online ISBN:
9780824876944
Print ISBN:
9780824865948
Publisher:
University of Hawai'i Press

Abstract

Looking at Buddhist monasteries as social institutions, this book integrates a thorough description of one such monastery with a wide-ranging study of Burmese social relations, both religious and lay, looking particularly at the matter of gender. Hierarchical assumptions inform all such relations, and higher status implies a person’s greater autonomy. A monk is particularly idealized because he exemplifies the Buddhist ideal of “detachment” and so autonomy. A male head of household represents another masculine ideal, if a somewhat less prestigious one. He enjoys greater autonomy than other members of the household yet remains entangled in the world. Women and trans women are thought to be more invested in attachment than autonomy and are expected to subordinate themselves to men and monks as a result. But everyone must concern themselves with the matter of relative status in all of their interactions. This makes face-to-face encounter fraught. Several chapters detail the ways that individuals try to stave off the risks that interaction necessarily entails. One stratagem is to subordinate oneself to nodes of power, but this runs counter to efforts to demonstrate one’s autonomy. Another is to foster detachment, most dramatically in the practice of meditation.

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