Conference

Shawn McHale : "Peace, Violence and the Transformation of Vietnamese Buddhism (1900-1989)"

On The June 5, 2025


 

By videoconference.
From 2 to 3.30 pm.
® Tantan93 (Pixabay)
® Tantan93 (Pixabay)

As part of the research seminar organised by the Institut d'Asie Orientale (IAO), Shawn McHale, Professor of History at George Washington University (Washington, DC, USA) and currently in residence at the Collegium de Lyon, will present his research on "Peace, Violence and the Transformation of Vietnamese Buddhism (1900-1989)".

 
Online registration.
 
This conference will present three interrelated themes. First, it will explore the 20th century reorientation of some Vietnamese Buddhists away from Chinese Buddhism towards a so-called 'original' Buddhism with roots in South Asia. Second, it will address a paradoxical reality: while Buddhists have long been committed to peace, they also have a complex relationship with violence. Finally, to understand this complexity, this talk will look at the rise of the mendicant branch (Khất sĩ) in Vietnam during the first Indochina War (1945-1954), a branch that combined aspects of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, in an attempt to shed light on why some Buddhists accepted or embraced violence while others adhered to pacifism.
 

Shawn McHale is Professor of History at George Washington University (Washington, DC, USA). He holds a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history from Cornell University (USA). He is the author of two books on the cultural and political history of Vietnam under French colonial rule. The recipient of numerous research grants, his current research focuses on Vietnamese research on 'original Buddhism' in Asia in times of peace and war, 1900-1989.
He is a 2024-25 Fellow of the Collegium de Lyon.

 

IAO website