Table of contents : Contents Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Burma at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century Part 1: Spirituality, Pilgrimage, and Economics 2. The Cheaters: Journey to the Land of the Lottery 3. Women’s Practices of Renunciation in the Age of Sāsana Revival 4. The Taungbyon Festival: Locality and Nation-Confronting in the Cult of the 37 Lords 5. Respected Grandfather, Bless This Nissan: Benevolent and Politically Neutral Bo Bo Gyi Part 2: Political and Moral Legitimation 6. Buddhist Visions of Moral Authority and Modernity in Burma 7. Sacralizing or Demonizing Democracy? Aung San Suu Kyi’s “Personality Cult” 8. The Chicken and the Scorpion: Rumor, Counternarratives, and the Political Uses of Buddhism Part 3: Public Performance 9. Writing in a Crazy Way: Literary Life in Contemporary Urban Burma 10. “But Princes Jump!”: Performing Masculinity in Mandalay 11. Who’s Performing What? State Patronage and the Transformation of Burmese Music Part 4: The Domestic Domain 12. The Future of Burma: Children Are Like Jewels References Contributors Index