Buddhist Faces of Terror: How Buddhist Monks created a Narrative of Threat 2012-2014

“In 2012, violence erupted in Myanmar’s most Western state Rakhine between the Muslin population, the Rohingya and the Buddhist Arakanese. Like a fire, anti-Muslim violence spread across the country. Buddhist monks organised and spread a narrative of Buddhism in danger and a Muslim threat. Through sermons, they incited violence across the country. Hence, this thesis has asked what roles have monks played in the outbreak, and how through these roles they could spread a narrative of Muslim threat- It further discusses which narratives they have spread and why these narratives resonated in Myanmar and incited violence. The thesis will approach the issue from a historical approach by analysing the development of roles of Buddhist monks in Myanmar’s society before approaching it from a socio-political angle, discussing the role of monks within society. Research shows that through the roles as teachers and counsellors, as well as having authority over morality, monks have been able to...Show more“In 2012, violence erupted in Myanmar’s most Western state Rakhine between the Muslin population, the Rohingya and the Buddhist Arakanese. Like a fire, anti-Muslim violence spread across the country. Buddhist monks organised and spread a narrative of Buddhism in danger and a Muslim threat. Through sermons, they incited violence across the country. Hence, this thesis has asked what roles have monks played in the outbreak, and how through these roles they could spread a narrative of Muslim threat- It further discusses which narratives they have spread and why these narratives resonated in Myanmar and incited violence. The thesis will approach the issue from a historical approach by analysing the development of roles of Buddhist monks in Myanmar’s society before approaching it from a socio-political angle, discussing the role of monks within society. Research shows that through the roles as teachers and counsellors, as well as having authority over morality, monks have been able to exert immense influence over the Burmese society and people’s behaviour. Through their access to large parts of society, monks have been able to spread a narrative of a Muslim threat and a vulnerable Buddhist society. This narrative could resonate within the population due to historic preconditions and uncertainty in Burmese identities through the political transition.”Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

Buddhist Faces of Terror: How Buddhist Monks created a Narrative of Threat 2012-2014