The Bonds of Water: Strings of Connectedness in Bamar Buddhist Life

Abstract

Yeseq, or the connections of kan (P. kamma) formed between people who pour water together as part of shared merit-making, is a fundamental part of Bamar inter-personal relations. Based upon ten months of immersive fieldwork across two main fieldsites---Yangon, the largest city and former colonial capital, and Shwe Tan, a medium-sized village in the Bago region to the north of Yangon---and with multi-sited research at other nearby locations in Myanmar, this project examines the multiple dimensions of yeseq, including its aspirational, performative, affective, and political dimensions. In so doing, this project examines how Bamar actors draw upon yeseq, both explicitly and implicitly, in building and articulating feelings of connectedness.

Drawing upon current trends in phenomenological and experiential anthropology as well as lived and feminist approaches to religion, this thesis argues that yeseq as the foundation of Bamar notions of connectedness, needs to be taken into account when examining connectedness in the Bamar context. It illustrates how the adoption of yeseq as a framework of analysis allows for a significant reimagining of the nature of Bamar bonds of kinship and community, the connections between people, supernatural beings and the spaces both inhabit, and the connections between the past, present, and future. In so doing, it also emphasises the often-underrecognised role of women in building and performing connectedness in Myanmar.