Event — IIAS Lunch Lecture

Masculinity, Autonomy, and Attachment in Buddhist Burma

01 April 2014

IIAS Lunch Lecture by Ward Keeler.

People living in any society must mediate between two desires: to feel bonded to others ("connected") and to feel autonomous ("free"). Various resolutions of the dilemma are on offer, but none of them can truly overcome the contradiction. Burmese Buddhists are inclined to emphasize the need for autonomy, praising detachment as a goal, at least for males. Taking religious discourse as a commentary (witting or unwitting) on social relations, I ask what links we might see between Burmese idealization of monks, as an unusual (because asexual) masculine ideal, and more general ideas about social relations, hierarchy, and gender.

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Next Lunch Lectures

8 AprilAnt Tribes and the China Dream: The Higher Education Crisis in China by Elisabeth Engebretsen

15 April Restoration or Ruination? The Politics of Timurid Architectural Heritage in Samarqand, by Elena Paskaleva (Leiden University Institute for Area Studies)

20 MayThe Returns of Faith: Engaging Sri Lankan Catholicism in an Italian Parish, by Bernardo Brown (Cornell University, NY, USA)

3 JuneTracing Absence: Work of Hope and Mediation of Transgenerational Emotional Suffering, by Ana Dragojlovic (Australian National University, Australia)

17 JuneTBA.

About IIAS Lunch Lectures

Every third Tuesday of the month (and temporarily also every first Tuesday), one of the IIAS researchers will present his or her work-in-progress in an informal setting to colleagues and other interested attendees. IIAS organises these lunch lectures to give the research community the opportunity to freely discuss ongoing research and exchange thoughts and ideas. Lunch is provided by IIAS.