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The Alchemy of Charity: Of Class and Buddhism in Northern Thailand
Author(s) -
Bowie Katherine A.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1998.100.2.469
Subject(s) - hegemony , buddhism , institution , sociology , context (archaeology) , centrality , class (philosophy) , character (mathematics) , resistance (ecology) , gender studies , epistemology , law , political science , history , social science , philosophy , archaeology , politics , ecology , geometry , mathematics , combinatorics , biology
This essay focuses on a form of unidirectional giving current in Theravada Buddhism: the institution of merit making as practiced in northern Thailand. Many scholars have noted its centrality in village religious practices but have failed to locate it within the broader context of class stratification. As a result, the prevailing paradigm of merit making misrepresents the character of the recipients, the donors, and their mutual interaction. This essay argues that cross‐class, unidirectional forms of giving such as charity may be important in mediating hegemony and resistance in complex societies.