The Greatest Movie Never Made: The Life of the Buddha as Cold War Politics

IF 0.3 3区 哲学 Q2 HISTORY RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE-A JOURNAL OF INTERPRETATION Pub Date : 2020-01-01 DOI:10.1017/rac.2020.14
Laura Harrington
{"title":"The Greatest Movie Never Made: The Life of the Buddha as Cold War Politics","authors":"Laura Harrington","doi":"10.1017/rac.2020.14","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article explores the backstory of a 1953 screenplay on the life of the Buddha conceived by the CIA as a psychological warfare strategy to draw Asian Buddhists away from the Communist orbit and into the Free World. Developed in collaboration with Ceylonese Buddhist scholar G. P. Malalasekera, Tathagata: The Wayfarer (hereafter, Wayfarer) is best read through the lens of the U.S. Campaign of Truth propaganda effort launched by Truman in 1950. I draw on declassified government documents and archives to highlight the screenplay's trajectory as a covert attempt by the U.S. government to work with Asian Buddhists to further U.S. foreign policy needs in Asia and to demonstrate a truth rarely recognized by scholars of religion and American culture: For the early Cold War American state, Buddhism was an object of foreign policy.","PeriodicalId":42977,"journal":{"name":"RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE-A JOURNAL OF INTERPRETATION","volume":"30 1","pages":"397 - 425"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1017/rac.2020.14","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE-A JOURNAL OF INTERPRETATION","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/rac.2020.14","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the backstory of a 1953 screenplay on the life of the Buddha conceived by the CIA as a psychological warfare strategy to draw Asian Buddhists away from the Communist orbit and into the Free World. Developed in collaboration with Ceylonese Buddhist scholar G. P. Malalasekera, Tathagata: The Wayfarer (hereafter, Wayfarer) is best read through the lens of the U.S. Campaign of Truth propaganda effort launched by Truman in 1950. I draw on declassified government documents and archives to highlight the screenplay's trajectory as a covert attempt by the U.S. government to work with Asian Buddhists to further U.S. foreign policy needs in Asia and to demonstrate a truth rarely recognized by scholars of religion and American culture: For the early Cold War American state, Buddhism was an object of foreign policy.
查看原文
分享 分享
微信好友 朋友圈 QQ好友 复制链接
本刊更多论文
史上最伟大的电影:作为冷战政治的佛的一生
本文探讨了1953年一部关于佛陀生平的电影剧本的背景故事,这部电影被美国中央情报局(CIA)构思为一种心理战策略,目的是将亚洲佛教徒从共产主义轨道吸引到自由世界。与锡兰佛教学者g.p. Malalasekera合作编写的《如来:旅人》(以下简称《旅人》)最好是通过杜鲁门于1950年发起的美国真相宣传运动的镜头来阅读。我利用解密的政府文件和档案来强调剧本的轨迹,即美国政府秘密尝试与亚洲佛教徒合作,以进一步推动美国在亚洲的外交政策需求,并展示宗教和美国文化学者很少认识到的事实:对于冷战早期的美国国家来说,佛教是外交政策的对象。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 去求助
来源期刊
CiteScore
0.40
自引率
25.00%
发文量
7
期刊介绍: Religion and American Culture is devoted to promoting the ongoing scholarly discussion of the nature, terms, and dynamics of religion in America. Embracing a diversity of methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives, this semiannual publication explores the interplay between religion and other spheres of American culture. Although concentrated on specific topics, articles illuminate larger patterns, implications, or contexts of American life. Edited by Philip Goff, Stephen Stein, and Peter Thuesen.
期刊最新文献
Andrew Jackson Davis and Spiritualist Constructions of Religion(s) Cross and Crown™: Trademarks and the Legal Naming of American Religions The Pluralization of Scripture in Early American Protestantism: Competing Bible Translations and the Debate over Universal Salvation, ca. 1700–1780 “I Will Surely Have You Deported:” Undocumenting Clergy Sexual Abuse in an Immigrant Community “Fit to Be a Midwife”: Protestantism, Moral Character, and the State Supervision of Black Lay Midwives, 1931–1946
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
现在去查看 取消
×
提示
确定
0
微信
客服QQ
Book学术公众号 扫码关注我们
反馈
×
意见反馈
请填写您的意见或建议
请填写您的手机或邮箱
已复制链接
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
×
扫码分享
扫码分享
Book学术官方微信
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术
文献互助 智能选刊 最新文献 互助须知 联系我们:info@booksci.cn
Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。
Copyright © 2023 Book学术 All rights reserved.
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号 京ICP备2023020795号-1