Asia through Irish eyes: An Irish Buddhist hobo in Myanmar - a talk by Dr Laurence Cox followed by a Q& A session. This event is hosted by the UCD Asia Pacific Research Network.
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About this event
There was extensive Irish engagement with Asia in the high imperial period (late C19th – early C20th), both in Irish study and knowledge of Asia but also of physical presence. At the same time, the idea of an “Irish Buddhist” represented a worrying and fascinating idea for many imperial citizens. U Dhammaloka (Laurence Carroll), a Dublin-born hobo and sailor, was ordained a Buddhist monk in Rangoon in 1900 and became an anti-colonial celebrity from Ceylon to Japan. Dhammaloka sailed particularly close to the wind, with 5 aliases, 25 missing years, police and intelligence surveillance, a sedition trial, a faked death and a final disappearance. This talk will centre on how he, like many Irish people in Asia, seems to have read Asia through Irish eyes, notably in relation to colonialism, religion and language. It will also touch on issues of methods, languages and digital humanities in the recovery of this story and the (re-)development of Asian studies in Ireland.
Dr Laurence Cox is Associate Professor of Sociology, National University of Ireland Maynooth, a specialist in social movements and a historian of Buddhism in Europe, especially Ireland. A former Irish Research Council awardee, Laurence has been involved in a wide range of radical social movements and counter-cultures in various countries for over thirty years.
He has been a street musician, kitchen porter, kindergarten organiser, translator and alternative media editor; taught activists, care workers and meditators; and worked in special needs education. He is also an Associate Researcher at the Collège d'Etudes Mondiales / Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris.
Laurence has written widely on different aspects of social movements as well as the encounter between Buddhism and the west. He co-founded the activist/academic social movements journal Interface (interfacejournal.net) and collaborates with the Ulex activist training project (ulexproject.org/).
With Brian Bocking and Alicia Turner, he has just published "The Irish Buddhist" about the extraordinary life of U Dhammaloka, an Irish hobo who became a Buddhist monk and anti-colonial activist in early 20th century Asia.