SUNY Press Catalog - Spring 2009 - (Page 24) asian studies ]]] Buddhism and Ethnic conflict in sri lanka BUDDHISM AND ETHNIC CONFLICT IN SrI LANKA Patrick Grant Looks at how a spiritual tradition can be appropriated by those involved in ethnonationalist conflict. Ogawa Revised Sketch #1 11/02/08 Black / PMS 166C THE FAILUrE OF CIVIL SOCIETY? The Third Sector and the State in Contemporary Japan Akihiro Ogawa A look at the voluntary sector in Japan, which has emerged strongly only in recent years. The Failure of Civil Society? The Third Sector and the State in Contemporary Japan Akihiro Ogawa Patrick Grant explores the relationship between Buddhism Patrick grant and violent ethnic conflict in modern Sri Lanka using the concept of “regressive inversion.” Regressive inversion occurs when universal teaching, such as that of the Buddha, is redeployed to supercharge passions associated with the kinds of group loyalty that the universal teaching itself intends to transcend. The book begins with an account of the main teachings of Theravada Buddhism and looks at how these inform, or fail to inform, modern interpreters. Grant considers the writings of three key figures—Anagarika Dharmapala, Walpola Rahula, and J. R. Jayewardene—who addressed Buddhism and politics in the years leading up to Sri Lanka’s political independence from Britain, and subsequently, in postcolonial Sri Lanka. This book makes the Sri Lankan conflict accessible to readers interested in the modern global phenomenon of ethnic violence involving religion and also illuminates similar conflicts around the world. Patrick Grant is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He is the author of several books, including Literature, Rhetoric, and Violence in Northern Ireland, 1968–1998: Hardened to Death and Personalism and the Politics of Culture. The global discourse on civil society is both complicated and enriched in this participant study of Japan’s volunteers, known as the third sector. In the wake of the Japanese government’s failed response to the 1995 earthquake, volunteers took the lead in providing aid to victims. This recent sea change in Japanese society was quickly followed by the 1998 NPO Law (nonprofit organization law) that encourages third sector activities. Drawing on his fieldwork at one of the new NPOs, Akihiro Ogawa explores in detail the social and historical particularities of Japanese “civil society” or shimin shakai, revisiting how the concept is interpreted and practiced by the volunteers themselves. Civil society, Ogawa argues, can best be understood as an active, dynamic process rather than as a static, abstract model. akihiro Ogawa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Japanese Studies at Stockholm University. MArCH • 288 pp 17 b/w photographs, 2 tables, 9 figures $80.00 jacketed hc 978-0-7914-9395-3 directtext dt www.sunypress.edu e FEBrUArY • 176 pp $60.00 jacketed hc 978-0-7914-9353-3 directtext dt e 24 P A volume in the SUNY series in Religious Studies Harold Coward, editor P http://www.sunypress.edu/details.asp?id=61763 http://www.sunypress.edu http://www.sunypress.edu/details.asp?id=61749
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