[Buddha-l] Bourgeois Buddhism

[Jo]

Sally
Thisd link doesn't get the article:
http://www.globalbuddhism.org/toc.html 

is this something you saved a while back?--can you tell us which volume and
year goes with the article, that way we can find it.

Joanna

-----Original Message-----
From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com
[mailto:buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of Sally McAra
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 3:34 PM
To: Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Bourgeois Buddhism

On 14 March 2012 10:06, Richard P. Hayes <rhayes at unm.edu> wrote:
>
>  I do have one question, though, for
> Jack, who wrote this:
>
> > It has been my experience, limited though it might be, that the 
> > Western Buddhists I know follow the 8-Fold Path while ethnic 
> > Buddhists I know do not.

A comment for Jack, seeing as Richard has brought what he said to my
attention:

There's an article called "Two Buddhisms, Three Buddhisms, and Racism", by
Wakoh Shannon Hickey, in issue 11 of the open access Journal of Global
Buddhism (see http://www.globalbuddhism.org/toc.html).

I thoroughly recommend it for getting an insight into the problems relating
to divisive generalisations such as the labels "western Buddhist" and
"ethnic" Buddhist. "Westerners" also have ethnicity, but they often don't
see it, they just think they are "normal" and others are "different".
Hickey also discusses how privilege is often missed by those who have it,
but rarely missed by those who don't have it! It so happens I'm struggling
to finish a survey article which has a section on the literature about
typologies for describing the diversity of Buddhism, and Hickey's article is
helpful to me in clarifying some of the complexities (a few others I found
are also good, but am mentioning her as she addresses racism and diversity
in a way that would be helpful for Jack).

The abstract from her article, from the journal website:
Over the past several decades, observers of American Buddhism have created
numerous typologies to describe different categories of Buddhists in the
United States. These taxonomies use different criteria to categorize groups:
style of practice, degree of institutional stability, mode of transmission
to the U.S., ethnicity, etc. Each reveals some features of American Buddhism
and obscures others. None accounts adequately for hybrids or for long-term
changes within categories. Most include a divide between convert Buddhists,
characterized as predominantly Caucasian, and “heritage” or “ethnic”
Buddhists, characterized as Asian immigrants and refugees, as well as their
descendants. This article examines several typologies, and considers two
dynamics: the effects of white racism on the development of American
Buddhist communities; and the effects of unconscious white privilege in
scholarly discourse about these communities. It critiques “ethnic”
categories and proposes other ways to conceptualize the diverse forms of
Buddhism outside Asia.
--
Sally McAra

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