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Buddhism and Resilience in Post-tsunami Thailand

Lindberg Falk, Monica LU (2018)
Abstract
Religion is particularly important in times of crises and difficulties. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami Buddhist monks became of great significance for the survivors in Thailand.
They performed cremations, helped the survivors to understand and accept what has happened, provided leadership, conducted important rituals and organized aid. The Buddhist temples became the main venues for people seeking refuge and the temples became shelters for survivors, volunteers and temples acted as forensic sites with thousands of dead bodies.

The focus of this paper will be on Buddhism and resilience in the recovery process after a disaster. The paper aims to discuss how disasters are dealt with on a local level with emphasis on how... (More)
Religion is particularly important in times of crises and difficulties. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami Buddhist monks became of great significance for the survivors in Thailand.
They performed cremations, helped the survivors to understand and accept what has happened, provided leadership, conducted important rituals and organized aid. The Buddhist temples became the main venues for people seeking refuge and the temples became shelters for survivors, volunteers and temples acted as forensic sites with thousands of dead bodies.

The focus of this paper will be on Buddhism and resilience in the recovery process after a disaster. The paper aims to discuss how disasters are dealt with on a local level with emphasis on how Buddhism interplays in the processes of resilience building. The paper will provide a brief overview of how the contested concept of resilience has developed. Vulnerabilities are dependent upon a complex relationship of various factors including gender. The paper argues that religion has the capacity to strengthen resilience building but resilience can also be undermined and disrupted by actions carried out in the name of religion. The paper will also show examples of how Buddhist practices can be important in resilience building both in terms of individual and communal capacities.

The ethnography for this paper is from long-term anthropological research carried out mainly in Phang Nga province, the worst affected province in Thailand after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. I have investigated local initiatives that used Buddhist leadership to handle the catastrophe.
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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Resilience, Vulnerability, Buddhism, Thailand, Anthropology, Disaster, Tsunami
pages
13 pages
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
82442366-bd19-45f7-a9f0-6ab8e0ee4710
date added to LUP
2019-01-26 04:23:19
date last changed
2019-01-30 10:52:05
@misc{82442366-bd19-45f7-a9f0-6ab8e0ee4710,
  abstract     = {{Religion is particularly important in times of crises and difficulties. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami Buddhist monks became of great significance for the survivors in Thailand. <br/>They performed cremations, helped the survivors to understand and accept what has happened, provided leadership, conducted important rituals and organized aid. The Buddhist temples became the main venues for people seeking refuge and the temples became shelters for survivors, volunteers and temples acted as forensic sites with thousands of dead bodies.   <br/><br/>The focus of this paper will be on Buddhism and resilience in the recovery process after a disaster. The paper aims to discuss how disasters are dealt with on a local level with emphasis on how Buddhism interplays in the processes of resilience building. The paper will provide a brief overview of how the contested concept of resilience has developed. Vulnerabilities are dependent upon a complex relationship of various factors including gender. The paper argues that religion has the capacity to strengthen resilience building but resilience can also be undermined and disrupted by actions carried out in the name of religion. The paper will also show examples of how Buddhist practices can be important in resilience building both in terms of individual and communal capacities.  <br/><br/>The ethnography for this paper is from long-term anthropological research carried out mainly in Phang Nga province, the worst affected province in Thailand after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. I have investigated local initiatives that used Buddhist leadership to handle the catastrophe. <br/>}},
  author       = {{Lindberg Falk, Monica}},
  keywords     = {{Resilience; Vulnerability; Buddhism; Thailand; Anthropology; Disaster; Tsunami}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  title        = {{Buddhism and Resilience in Post-tsunami Thailand}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}