This paper presents an ethnographic account of Buddhist 'nuns' involved in the teaching of Pali language and Abhidhamma in contemporary Thailand. It also reflects on both the emic-Buddhist (Pali and modern vernacular) and eticinterpretative (English-language) vocabularies which have been used to describe these women and their social role(s) and status(es). The aims of the paper are to go beyond the Weberian vocabulary usually used to describe what we will call 'professionally celibate Buddhist women', to escape from the ubiquitous emphasis on the issue of re-establising the Nuns' Order (bhikkhunī-s) in the modern world in scholarship dealing with such women, and to encourage further ethnography and further civilizational interpretation of gender and asceticism. * We are very grateful to Peter Skilling for comments on and criticism of an earlier draft. The paper is based on fieldwork done by McDaniel between 1993McDaniel between and 2007McDaniel between (especially in 2006McDaniel between -2007; he was accompanied in the summer of 2006 by Collins. The writing of this paper is a joint effort. Some themes were developed in Steven Collins, 'Civilisation et la femme célibataire.' Series of (four) lectures at L'Ecole pratique des hautesétudes, Paris (2006). The paper, the Appendices, and what we hope is a fairly comprehensive Bibliography within the footnotes, are intended to be an opening exploration into what is a complex and always-changing field.
This article questions the way the Burmese period of Northern Thailand has been depicted by Thai and international scholars. The Burmese have generally been described as violent invaders whose rule ushered in an era of decline in Buddhist practice and learning. This period of more than two hundred years (1551-1772) has been classified as one of destruction, oppression, and intellectual stagnation. The Burmese, it is stated repeatedly, destroyed the "golden age" of Northern Thai Buddhist literature. However, epigraphic, codicological, economic, and archaeological evidence does not indicate that the period of Burmese rule in the region was particularly devastating, especially for Buddhist practice and the production of manuscripts. I ask us to question the history of Burmese violence that has been written by historians of Thailand. I argue that scholars need to refrain from a study of regional history that employs sweeping periodization, ethnic branding, and a selective gathering of evidence from Burmese, Yuan, or Siamese sources primarily. We also need to refrain from seeing Burma as one place and its military, monks, nuns, and laity as a single entity. In the postscript, I offer a short reflection on the way violence toward the Burmese is depicted at a Thai Buddhist monastery.
The editor of Teaching Theology and Religion facilitated this reflective conversation with five teachers who have extensive experience and success teaching extremely large classes (150 students or more). In the course of the conversation these professors exchange and analyze the effectiveness of several active learning strategies they have employed to overcome the passivity and anonymity of the large lecture format. A major point of debate emerges that contrasts the dynamically performative and highly informed and skilled lecturer with the “wasted time and money” that results from encouraging students to participate through various active learning strategies. Other themes include the importance of story telling in the religious studies classroom, the significance of the differences between students' learning styles, and the challenge of teaching and assessing critical thinking and communication skills.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.