Making human rights in Myanmar: lived buddhist responses to a global discourse

As Myanmar has transitioned from military rule and enters a post-authoritarian era, human rights discourse, formerly prohibited, is openly the focus of myriad local civil society organisations working for change. However, the promotion of human rights under Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is fraught with difficulty: grave human rights abuses continue within the country’s borders and a tide of religious nationalism contains distinct antihuman rights sentiment. In this context, this thesis considers intercultural human rights scholarship and specifically the ‘receptor approach’ that posits ‘social institutions’ and ‘cultural values’ as ‘resources’ or ‘receptors’ for human rights implementation at the local level. In Myanmar, cultural values and social institutions cannot be considered apart from Buddhism, the majority religion. Following this, the thesis considers the question of whether Buddhist social institutions and cultural values have the potential to act as ‘building blocks’ for human rights protection in Myanmar. To investigate this question I take inspiration from anthropological approaches to human rights and theories that consider the translation of global concepts at the local level. I argue that Buddhist religious leaders, who command immense authority in Myanmar, play a major role in the translation of human rights. International observers interpreted the monk-led protests of 2007 as indicative of their support for human rights yet this understanding has been challenged and members of the revered sangha have been at the forefront anti-Muslim mobilisation. Little is known about responses to human rights discourse within Myanmar’s heterogeneous Buddhist community or what implications this might have for human rights implementation. This thesis sheds light on how these powerful translators ‘make’ human rights in the vernacular. Based-on empirical research from 11-months of fieldwork in Myanmar during 2016-17, including in-depth interviews with over fifty Buddhist leaders and human rights activists, I show that the discourse is being variously rejected and hybridized by Buddhist actors. The thesis raises challenges for the receptor approach as well as highlights elements of ‘lived Buddhism’ that represent potential for the ‘leveraging’ of culture in support of human rights