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Transgenderism, Othering and Third Way Buddhist Monasticism in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2024

Amnuaypond Kidpromma Open the ORCID record for Amnuaypond Kidpromma [Opens in a new window]  and
James L. Taylor Open the ORCID record for James L. Taylor [Opens in a new window]
Amnuaypond Kidpromma
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy and Religion, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
James L. Taylor*
Affiliation:
Anthropology & Development Studies, The University of Adelaide, Australia, Department of Social Science and Development, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
*
Corresponding author: James L. Taylor; Email: jim.taylor@adelaide.edu.au
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Abstract

Religion and trans studies are a relatively new domain of study, one which surrounds subjects gendered and sexed as (religiously) “Other,” and in the articulation of such voices in a public space. In this paper we employ a case study of a transgendered monastic teacher named Khun Mae Tritrinn in northern Thailand to highlight a case of gendered religious “Othering,” and the construction of the third-way religiosity in the context of traditional hetero-patriarchal Buddhist monasticism. We refer to this thematic domain in the context of an emergent third-way religiosity; theorising in an experiential knowing of transgender subjects, which emerges from their trans-other lives. In the case study we show by resisting the gender binary of Buddhist monasticism how a particular transgendered person seeks a third-way monastic alternative; how she established her own hermitage and religious community, and manages the relationship between discourse and institutions that act upon and through her. The ethnographic focus sheds light on historical moments and voices that have been referred to elsewhere as forms of “subjugated knowledge” (Foucault 1980; Hartman 2000). However, despite being subject to religious Othering, recent trans-other identities have gained an increasingly de-subjugated and respected third-space alternative; an intelligibility and opening beyond a heteronormative binarism. It is argued that religious “thirding” creates a turning point for those seeking alternative spiritual bases, and as a salvific epistemology in an engaged religiosity and praxis.

Keywords

OtheringThird-way MonasticismBuddhismTransgenderThailand
Type
Original Article
Information
TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia , First View , pp. 1 - 13
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Institute for East Asian Studies

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