Refuge and Refugees in Myanmar: A Theravada Buddhist Response

Abstract:An exploration of human rights violations against the Rohingya population, led by a Buddhist extremist group and under the watch of democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, can shed light on the interplay of religion and Myanmar's state sovereignty as it emerges within a long history of British rule and domestic military dictatorship. This article suggests that the dynamic between religion and the burgeoning democracy in Myanmar can help explain why the romanticized narratives about wandering monks in Buddhist history and philosophy do not reflect the life of stateless people in Agamben's work.