Abstract
The final chapter of the volume opens with discussion of interconnections between languages and religion in conflict settings and associated peacebuilding activity, based on the direct experience of the author in Southeast Asian settings. The chapter discusses various conflict settings, especially Myanmar and South Thailand, and the multi-causal context involving ethnicity, religion and language. It contrasts these with dominantly secular Australian ideas about the role of faith, spirit, religion and language differences in public debate and conflict mitigation. The aim is to extend the scope of what is typically imagined as the roles and limits of religious belief and language differences in contemporary citizenship. In the light of this extended vision the second part of the chapter overviews and comments on the potential offered in both the narratives and analytical chapters that comprise the volume, Language and Spirit.
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Notes
- 1.
In 1962 Tatmadaw seized power under General Ne Win, inaugurating harsh military rule which isolated and impoverished the country. Twenty-six years later student led protest, culminating on 8 August 1988 (the 8-8-88 Uprisings), forced him to abdicate, but the military seized power again. In the turmoil Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Aung San, emerged as the alternative, leading the National League for Democracy (NLD) to a large victory in 1990 general elections which the protests had forced the military to allow. Once again, however, Tatmadaw annulled the results, placed her under house arrest, and imposed authoritarian military rule for a further 22 years. The military cultivated as much ‘legitimacy’ as it could squeeze from any monastic orders willing to concede recognition, until in the Saffron Revolution of 2007, led by monks, violent repression was visited directly on the Buddhist clergy. Some monks and monasteries do support the conservative and ultra nationalist ethos pushed by the military which proclaims itself the sole guarantor of the Theravada legacy of the nation. After 2011 the country began the current, now thwarted transition to civilian rule and partial democracy. In 2015 elections Suu Kyi once again led NLD to a landslide victory, taking nearly all seats not reserved for the military (25% sufficient to prevent constitutional reform), a feat she repeated at the 8 November 2020 election.
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Lo Bianco, J. (2022). Some Final Words on Languages and Religion: Peacebuilding, Personal Reflections and Professional Problems. In: Moloney, R., Mansour, S. (eds) Language and Spirit. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93064-6_17
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