Short Abstract:

My dissertation argues that though monasteries in many ways contribute to expanding capabilities, processes by which children are recruited for or sent to monasteries are not necessarily “just” in that they often entail getting the “agreement” of parents who lack capabilities and freedom to fully participate, reflect, and deliberate on whether and under what conditions their child should go.

Long Abstract:

Research Context

My dissertation “by article” examines practices of entrusting children to monasteries where they live as child Buddhist monks. The first article (Parkes, 2023), already published, looks at what Periodic Review processes that States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child undergo have said about child Buddhist monks. The second, currently under review, tells the story of a young man from Nepal who was sent to a monastery in India at age 6 and remained until age 19. I am currently working on the third article, which highlights ways in which recruitment practices can sometimes be problematic and take advantage of disadvantaged families.

The bulk of my dissertation (two of three articles and the non-article chapters of the dissertation itself) focuses on processes by which children from Nepal are entrusted to or recruited for the monastery in contexts where economic or other family challenges are important contributors to why the child is recruited or sent. I note that policies at some monasteries appear to conflict with child rights principles articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child; for example, the right of children to maintain regular contact with parents. I note anecdotal evidence that in some cases people are being paid to recruit children for monasteries, and connections that can exist between the financial support that monasteries in Nepal and India count on from foreigners, and monasteries’ “need” to recruit children.

Methodology

I was in the field from mid-October 2022 to end March 2023, mainly in Nepal with about a month in India. In Nepal, I visited communities in the hills surrounding the Kathmandu Valley, an area from which many children in monasteries in Nepal and India these days emanate. In hill communities, I interviewed families, young adults who were sent to the monastery as children, and other community members. I also interviewed several senior monks and dozens of people primarily in Nepal working in child rights, education, and government. I coded transcriptions of interviews and notes from my journal for themes: e.g., monasteries’ interests as institutions, the purpose of monastery education, the motivation of parents for sending a child, educational challenges in Nepal generally, recruitment practices, and the phenomenon of child/youth monks running away from monasteries.

Analysis

On the one hand, by caring for children whose families may have difficulty coping and by providing children an education, monasteries contribute to expanding capabilities. However the world of monasteries is vast, and the motivations of people recruiting children for monasteries or encouraging parents to send their child can be complex and hidden. Various sources have told me that sometimes people are paid to recruit children. Questions can be asked as to whether processes are “fair”. For example, it seems some monasteries prefer to take children from far away, believing that if children spend too much time with their parents, it will be harder for the monastery to maintain discipline and that children will be more at risk of dropping out.

Some parents I interviewed evidently had limited “capabilities” and freedom for making reasoned choices. I sensed that many parents went along what other parents were doing. A common comment was that monasteries provide everything for free. One father told how local men approached his two sons when they were tending to sheep about going to a very distant monastery, and that he, the father, agreed because he had difficulty providing for his family. One of his sons ran away from the monastery. At the time of the interview, he had been missing for nearly a year. The father said he was told that monastery does not want children calling home lest the children say they do not want to stay. One father with a child at a different monastery said a condition for the monastery to take his child was that the child would not come home to visit until after seven years.

In many cases, once their child is at the monastery, parents do not visit their child. A Sherpa community leader I interviewed recounted a case of monks coming to a remote Sherpa village and telling illiterate parents that if their child went to the monastery, their child would be able to eventually get (false) documents saying they are Tibetan refugees which would allow them to resettle abroad. Though the cases I describe may not reflect the norm of what goes on in monasteries, such stories are not uncommon either.

My general argument is that though monasteries in many ways contribute to expanding capabilities, processes by which children are recruited for or sent to monasteries are not necessarily “just” in that they often entail getting the “agreement” of parents who lack capabilities and freedom to fully participate, reflect, and deliberate on whether and under what conditions their child should go.

What I seek from this session

My main goal in meeting with a senior scholar is to get feedback on my conceptual framework. I am trying to pull together Sen’s concept of capabilities and freedom(s), emphasizing the importance of participation, deliberation, voice, and reasoned scrutiny, but also incorporating the role of social structures, drawing on Iris Marion Young’s (1990) conceptualization of oppression and domination based in social relationships, among others.

References

Parkes, D. W. (2023). What periodic reviews under the Convention on the Rights of the Child say about child Buddhist monks. International Journal of Children's Rights, 2023(3), 659-697. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718182-31030005

Young, I. M. (1990). Justice and the politics of difference. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvcm4g4q