Tag: Burma
The death of Old Burma or Myanmar as a Burmese nation-state and the birth of ASEAN’s Syria
Myanmar’s post-independence history since 1948 is a history of conflicts among different ethnic and ideological groupings, and their failures to resolve the differences of interests and visions peacefully. Successive generations of ethnic majority Bama or Burmese political elite, civilian and military, with their typical colonial mindset towards the other groups bear the greatest share of responsibility.
Too Many Massacres, Too Little Prospect for Dialogue: A Sobering Voice from Eastern Myanmar’s War Zone
How feasible or realistic is the “inclusive dialogue” with Min Aung Hlaing’s coup regime? “The Burmese military has killed, tortured, maimed and displaced too many people for there to be any meaningful dialogue.” David Eubank, Founder and Leader, the Free Burma Rangers, 23/6/23,
How Many Burmas Is Enough? Sidelining Western Imaginaries for Understanding Burma is an Important Step, But Competing Indigenous Imaginaries Also Present Problems
Can Area Studies move beyond the Burman, Burmese-speaking, Buddhist imaginary to understand the country through other indigenous perspectives?
Josef Silverstein, The Death of A Fine American Scholar who “Gave Back” to His Subjects
Joe was one of the very few western scholars who made compassionate efforts to give back to the people or “the subjects” whom they study. This last quality alone of Joe, the scholar, will etch his name in my memory, and the memories of those, who had the great fortune of knowing him as a friend, a colleague, a fellow scholar, a teacher, and a comrade in the people’s struggle...