Research Catalog

Title

Rethinking community in Myanmar : practices of we-formation among Muslims and Hindus in urban Yangon / Judith Beyer.

Author

Beyer, Judith

Publication

• Copenhagen, Denmark : NIAS Press, 2023.
• ©2023

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

NIAS Press, publisher.

Description

xix, 307 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm.

Summary

This is the first anthropological monograph of Muslim and Hindu lives in contemporary Myanmar. In it, Judith Beyer introduces the concept of "we-formation" as a fundamental yet underexplored capacity of humans to relate to one another outside of and apart from demarcated ethno-religious lines and corporate groups. We-formation complements the established sociological concept of community, which suggests shared origins, beliefs, values, and belonging. Community is not only a key term in academic debates; it is also a hot topic among Beyer's interlocutors in urban Yangon, who draw on it to make claims about themselves and others. Invoking "community" is a conscious and strategic act, even as it asserts and reinforces stereotypes of Hindus and Muslims as minorities. In Myanmar, this understanding of community keeps self-identified members of these groups in a subaltern position vis-à-vis the Buddhist majority population. Beyer demonstrates the concept's enduring political and legal role since being imposed on "Burmese Indians" under colonial British rule. But individuals are always more than members of groups. The author draws on ethnomethodology and existential anthropology to reveal how people's bodily movements, verbal articulations, and non-verbal expressions in communal spaces are crucial elements in practices of we-formation. Her participant observation in mosques and temples, during rituals and processions, and in private homes reveals a sensitivity to tacit and intercorporeal phenomena that is still rare in anthropological analysis. Rethinking Community in Myanmar develops a theoretical and methodological approach that reconciles individuality and intersubjectivity and that is applicable far beyond the Southeast Asian context. Its focus on we-formation also offers insights into the dynamics of resistance to the attempted military coup of 2021. The newly formed civil disobedience movement derives its power not only from having a common enemy, but also from each individual's determination to live freely in a more just society. --

Series Statement

Nordic Institute of Asian Studies monograph series ; 158

Uniform Title

Nordic Institute of Asian Studies monograph series ; no. 158.

Subject

• Communities > Religious aspects > Islam
• Communities > Religious aspects > Hinduism
• Communities
• Burma > Religious life and customs
• Rangoon (Burma) > Religious life and customs
• Burma
• Burma > Rangoon

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-285) and index.

Contents

Classifying the Indian Other -- Making oneself a(t) home -- Caught by the Goddess -- The making of a community in court -- Marrying 'up': self-objects, race, and class -- Belonging, suffering, and the body of others -- Conclusion: We-formation in times of 'communal' violence

Call Number

JFE 24-1016

ISBN

• 9788776943271
• 8776943275
• 9788776943264
• 8776943267

LCCN

2023350208

OCLC

1378239388

Author

Beyer, Judith, author.

Title

Rethinking community in Myanmar : practices of we-formation among Muslims and Hindus in urban Yangon / Judith Beyer.

Publisher

Copenhagen, Denmark : NIAS Press, 2023.

Copyright Date

©2023

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Nordic Institute of Asian Studies monograph series ; 158

Nordic Institute of Asian Studies monograph series ; no. 158.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-285) and index.

Added Author

NIAS Press, publisher.

Research Call Number

JFE 24-1016