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June 11, 1963, in Saigon, Vietnam, a Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc immolatedhimself in a busy intersection. The following is an excerpt taken frommy Manufacturing Religion, pp. 167-177, which discusses this incident. RepresentingVietnamese "Self-Immolations" botat-thichquangduc-01010010_0Theoften-occluded relations among power, imperial politics, and the specificportrayals of religious issues is perhaps no more apparent than in thecase of the interpretations American media and intellectuals gave to themuch publicized actions of several Vietnamese Buddhists who, beginningin mid-June of 1963, died by publicly setting themselves on fire. The firstof these deaths occurred at a busy

On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from the Linh-Mu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon, Vietnam.. Eye witness accounts state that Thich Quang Duc and at least two fellow monks arrived at the intersection by car, Thich Quang Duc got out of the car, assumed the traditional lotus position and the accompanying monks helped him pour gasoline over himself. He ignited the gasoline by lighting a match and burned to death in a matter of minutes. David Halberstam, a reporter for the New York Timescovering the war in Vietnam, gave the following account: