An overview of the field of religion in Burmese studies (Power, authority, and contested hegemony in Burmese-Myanmar Religion)

Abstract

This overview looks at the field of religion in Burmese studies from the perspective of practices that are relatively neglected, such as spirit cults. It argues that the overwhelming bias toward analysis of the Theravādin tradition tends to obscure the fact that in Burma, different kinds of religiosity actually interact in the shaping of the religious field and society. First, an analysis and selective review of past and present scholarly approaches to Burmese religion over the past forty years is presented. Then the Burmese spirit cult, the Thirty-Seven Lords, is introduced in this context as a component of a complex religious system dominated by the Theravādin tradition. This examination calls for a subaltern point of view capable of unveiling the hegemonic nature of Buddhism and of understanding the process through which the religious field is actually constituted in Burma through the incessant delineation of pure Buddhism.

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