As Burma (Myanmar) opens up to the world during a period of rapid change, Matthew J Walton, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, explores the effects on Buddhist identities.
Matthew Walton examines how Buddhists in the country are defining and redefining themselves, with reference to other religious groups, their own histories and a global Buddhist community, and how these identities are disseminated and contested through new communication technologies, new religious practices, and reimagined notions of what it means to be 'Buddhist' in Burma.
The above gallery talk takes place in he British Museum, alongside an exhibition entitled "Pilgrims, healers and wizards Buddhism and religious practices in Burma and Thailand."