Exposing Enlightenment

PhD candidate Tony Scott's paper focuses on the “living arahants” of early twentieth-century Burma, examining how the narratives surrounding this supposedly enlightened class are negotiated and contested in the public sphere through the mediums of photography and print. By exploring the figure of the Mingun Jetavana Sayadaw (1868–1955), a Burmese scholar-monk and pioneer of insight, or Vipassanā meditation, it is argued that the application of these categories is not just a religious act, but profoundly political—determining who wields the power of definition itself. 
This event is part of the Burma Past and Present: Religion, Ethnicity and Power, a series of readings and discussion of works in progress.
 
Register at: www.tinyurl.com/EE-1mar 
 
We will be reading and discussing work in progress with the author. Please email turnera@yorku.ca to receive a copy of the reading.