Organizer: The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University
Description:
This talk explores the rhetorical force of relationships in biographies of Buddhist nuns in Burma. Understandings of Buddhist lay women and monastics in Burma and other Theravada Buddhist cultures are so far mostly informed by ethnographic projects. There is far less insight into the historical contexts and textual forms in and through which Buddhist monastic women, known in Burmese as thilashin, have worked to harness social and material capital to support their livelihoods, their pursuit of educational opportunities, and the establishment, expansion, and maintenance of their residential and educational institutions.
