CURA Colloquium "Religion and Authoritarianism in Myanmar: How Military Neutralized Religious Institutions to Weaken the Democratic Movement

CURA Colloquium "Religion and Authoritarianism in Myanmar: How Military Neutralized Religious Institutions to Weaken the Democratic Movement with Lian Hnin, Associate Director Center for Research, Policy and Innovation, Burmese American Community Institute The Southeast Asian nation, Myanmar also known as Burma, saw the return of dictatorship on the first of February 2021. As the military responded the peaceful protesters with violence, the country is seeing increasingly deadly battles between its military and organized groups of armed civilians, creating one of the worst humanitarian crises in the contemporary world. Many of those fighting the military are young people who have put their lives on hold since the junta seized power a year ago. Unlike the Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monastics in 2007, this time around religious symbols and actors are less emblematic as one can observed. Thus, the paper seeks to investigate how the autocratic regime has been trying to neutralize the religious institutions. I will focus on the role of religions at institution level rather than individual level in challenging the legitimacy of the military regime. In attempting to understand the nuance and a comprehensive picture of the role of religious institutions in Myanmar, I will also highlight how they (religious institutions) shape social interactions and political culture throughout the pre- and post-colonial Burma. Zoom meeting ID: 978 5810 4239 passcode: 599536 *Reading the paper in advance is aquired for attendance. Please email arleneb@bu.edu for your copy. Cosponsored with School of Theology