Organizer: New York Southeast Asia Network; NYU’s Masters Program in International Affairs (MAIR)

Type/Location: Hybrid / New York, NY

A Monk Walking by Bogyoke Road Yangon, Wikimedia Commons

Description:

Join NYSEAN and NYU’s Masters Program in International Affairs (MAIR) for a conversation with Matthew J. Walton, an Associate Professor in Comparative Political Theory in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, on the role of Buddhist Nationalism before and after the 2021 coup in Myanmar. In recent years, Buddhist monks have been at the forefront of anti-Muslim and pro-Buddhist activism in Myanmar, especially through the Organization for the Protection of Race and Religion, known as Ma Ba Tha in Myanmar. Walton will also discuss what has happened since the 2021 coup and the emergence of some revolutionary monks. The talk will be moderated by Frances O’Morchoe, a historian of Burma who teaches at NYU’s MAIR.

About the Speaker:

Matthew J. Walton is an Associate Professor in Comparative Political Theory in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Previously, he was the inaugural Aung San Suu Kyi Senior Research Fellow in Modern Burmese Studies at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. His research focuses on religion and politics in Southeast Asia, with a special emphasis on Buddhism in Myanmar. Matt’s first book, Buddhism, Politics, and Political Thought in Myanmar, was published in 2016 by Cambridge University Press. His articles on Buddhism, ethnicity, politics and political thought in Myanmar have appeared in Politics & Religion, Journal of Burma Studies, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Nations & Nationalism, Journal of Contemporary Buddhism, Buddhism, Law & Society, and Asian Survey.

Registration Links:

To attend the event in person, please register here.

To attend the event virtually, please register here.