Making a Scene: Actor, Time, and Place

Abstract

While the movement has occurred over a four-year period, each single act occurred in time adjacent to other events, and the self-immolator chose the particular place to end her life. When we ask about the motivation of self-immolators, about whether the act can be considered Buddhist, it is good to recall that about half the acts took place by a police station, and the other half near a Buddhist temple. By my count, 24 acts of self-immolation occurred in the direct vicinity of a Chinese police station, government office, or visiting politician (Hu Jintao, in all three cases). Slightly less than twice as many events—45— took place in the proximity to a Buddhist temple, memorial stupa, or prayer ceremony. Excepting two events in which a self-immolator committed the act in a private location, all the remaining events took place in a township, at a crossroads, or at some other presumably public location.