Inya Institute Spring 2022 Newsletter

The Inya Institute

Quarterly Newsletter Spring 2022

M

ore than one year after the coup, the relative stability in Yangon and, of course, Naypyidaw is showcased by SAC as proof of a return to pre-Covid ‘normalcy’; however, the ever-expanding fighting, bombing and torching of villages across the country and continuing punitive raids and loss of life prove otherwise. It remains to be seen how, in this context, the recently announced recommencement of commercial flights to/from Myanmar on April 17 will be handled.

Despite the current challenges, the past couple of months have been busy as we are preparing two initiatives that support Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) across the country. The first one is a ‘Use and Practice of Research in the Project Cycle’ workshop series that will run from May 6 to July 22 and involve the mentoring of six CSOs. The CSOs, which are based in Yangon, Meikthila, Bago, and the Shan State, develop activities in diverse sectors including public health, environment protection, labor rights, gender issues, and non-formal education. For our initiative, they will participate first in a series of lectures and then receive guidance on an on-going or early-stage research and documentation project currently in development as part of their existing activities. The second initiative is developed with funding from UNESCO and is in collaboration In this issue

Insights 3 Opinion 6 Interview 9 Current Opportunities at Inya 12 Upcoming Opportunities at Inya 14 Upcoming Events in the U.S. and beyond 15 New Books on Myanmar 16

www.inyainstitute.org

with three CSOs located in Yangon and Tanintharyi Regions, and Rakhine State. Focusing on ‘Education for Peace and Sustainable Development’ (EPSD) through a hands-on approach, our collaboration with the three CSOs will first include a six-day training course, a three-month participatory action research project, and an online public campaign centered on an EPSD-related topic defined by our partners. We are really looking forward to collaborating with these new partners over the next few months!

On the more international side of our activities, we have recently opened two new rounds of fellowship competitions: (1) the 2022 CAORC-INYA Scholars Fellowships for U.S. Scholars Conducting Research on Myanmar in a Third Country; and (2) the 2022 CAORC-INYA Short-term Fellowships for U.S. Graduate Students Conducting Research in a Third Country. As earlier mentioned, we are very cautious regarding the reopening of Myanmar’s international borders and resumption of commercial flights. The two new fellowship opportunities therefore allow the future fellows to conduct research in a third country.

We hope this opportunity will attract a large number of candidates. More details are available in the following pages: Feel free to circulate the announcements within your own networks!

The Inya Institute Team in Yangon

‘Assessing Pre-coup Public Health Interventions on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR)’ by Yuzana Khine Zaw ‘The Civil Society Sector’s Contribution to Tanintharyi Communities’ Social Cohesion’ by Ma Thuzar Our ten interns on the learning gained during their on-going internship and the challenges to it

Address in Myanmar: 50 B-1 Thirimingala Street (2) 8th Ward Kamayut Township Yangon, Myanmar +95(0)17537884

Library: It currently holds a little more than 800 titles and offers free access to scholarly works on Myanmar Studies published overseas that are not readily available in the country. It also has original works published on neighboring Southeast Asian countries and textbooks on various fields of social sciences and humanities. Optic fiber wifi connection is also provided without any charge.

Address in the U.S.: c/o Center for Burma Studies 101 Pottenger House 520 College View Court Northern Illinois University DeKalb, IL 60115 USA +1 815-753-0512

Library digital catalog: Access here.

Working hours: 9am-5pm (Mon-Fri)

Director of Publication: Dr. François Tainturier

Digital archive: It features objects, manuscripts, books, paintings, and photographs identified, preserved, and digitized during research projects undertaken by the institute throughout Myanmar and its diverse states and regions. The collections featured here reflect the country’s religious, cultural, and ethnic diversity and the various time periods covered by the institute’s projects developed in collaboration with local partners.

Layout and Formatting: Zin Nyi Nyi Zaw Interview: Khine Lei Hlaing U.S. Liaison Officer: Carmin Berchiolly Contact us: contact@inyainstitute.org Visit us on Facebook: facebook.com/inyainstitute.org

Digital archive: Access here.

The Inya Institute is a member center of the Council of American Research Centers (CAORC).

It is funded by the U.S. Department of Education under Title VI of the Higher Education Act (2020-2024).

Academic Board

Board of Directors

Maxime Boutry, Centre Asie du Sud-Est, Paris Jane Ferguson, Australian National University Lilian Handlin, Harvard University Bod Hudson, Sydney University Mathias Jenny, University of Zurich Ni Ni Khet, University Paris 1-Sorbonne Alexey Kirichenko, Moscow State University Christian Lammerts, Rutgers University Mandy Sadan, University of Warwick San San Hnin Tun, INALCO, Paris Juliane Schober, Arizona State University Nicola Tannebaum, Lehigh University (retd) Alicia Turner, York University, Toronto U Thaw Kaung, Yangon Universities’ Central Library (retd)

President: Catherine Raymond (Northern Illinois University) Treasurer: Alicia Turner (York University, Toronto) Secretary: François Tainturier Jane Ferguson (Australian National University) Lilian Handlin (Harvard University) Nicola Tannenbaum (Lehigh University)(retd) Thamora Fishel (Cornell University)

Insig hts Assessing Pre-coup Public Health Interventions on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) by Yuzana Khine Zaw Yuzana Khine Zaw, a PhD candidate at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, tells us about her research on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in pre-coup Myanmar and how the fight against AMR should be prioritized by public authorities once international collaboration is again possible. The Inya Institute was Yuzana’s administrative host in Myanmar when she started her field research in late 2017; our library space also became a quiet place for her to work during the tumultuous three months following the February 1, 2021 coup. We wish her all the best for her forthcomnig viva!

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has gained much attention as a global health emergency. At the 2015 World Health Assembly, countries around the world were asked to create national action plans (NAP) to address AMR, following a blueprint of the World Health Organization’s Global Action Plan (WHO GAP). Being located within the Mekong region, which is referred to in global health discourses as a ‘hotspot for the emergence and spread of AMR’ (Zellweger et al., 2017) with the WHO itself declaring an emergency response to contain artemisinin resistance in the region (WHO, 2013), Myanmar urgently needs to address this global health emergency. In addition to Myanmar being identified as a ‘hotspot’ for AMR, global health experts have expressed growing concerns over the high prevalence of unregulated sales of antibiotics (Holloway, 2011; Holloway et al., 2017; Zellweger et al., 2017). Concerns over the prevalence of substandard medicines due to loose regulations and consumption of medicines from the black market have also been discussed in the context of Myanmar (Newton et al., 2008; Sakuda et al., 2020; Wondemagegnehu, 1999).

the country after the 2011 political reforms, making Myanmar’s engagement with such actors relatively contemporary. As a consequence, despite many needs (e.g., epidemiological/clinical/public health/ecological) to address AMR in this setting, there is a limited understanding of how to most effectively and appropriately engage with and support AMR initiatives through international and local collaborations.

As an example, through public statements, the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports (MOHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the National League of Democracy (NLD)’s time in office, raised concerns about the black market where the majority of unregulated sales of medicines are sold and both government entities considered its thriving development to be a key factor in the emergence of drug resistance in the country (Kyaw, 2019; Lwin, 2016; Myint, 2014). Prior to the development of the WHO GAP/Myanmar NAP, the FDA’s main line of action around regulations focused on confiscating ‘illegal’ medicines and products. As the AMR agenda gained more attention in Myanmar, the FDA and, more generally, public health specialists became concerned about drug resistance.

For instance, a rector from the University of Pharmacy in Yangon warned how ‘illegal drugs, such as antibiotics, painkillers and steroids, could result in more health problems for people, such as multidrug resistance, rising blood sugar, diabetes and osteoporosis’ in a 2019 public statement in the Myanmar Times, a popular local news journal (Soe, 2019). During fieldwork, I also came across instances of regulators (staff from the FDA, MOHS) confiscating medicines in the black market and blaming the informal sector for undermining public action in its fight against drug resistance.

Despite these discussions, Myanmar has not yet attempted to regulate antibiotics through a national policy. The current and only policy document to address AMR (in the context of antibiotic policy) - the Myanmar NAP - was drafted and published (in its draft format) in 2017 after the WHO’s 2015 World Health Assembly (NAP for Containment of AMR: Myanmar, 2017). In its current format, the Myanmar NAP is a verbatim reproduction of the WHO GAP with limited to no engagement with contextual factors in Myanmar. The Myanmar NAP also faces the challenge of a ‘capability trap’ (Munkholm & Rubin, 2020) (an inability to turn plans into action) common to lower resource settings, as the country struggles with its rule of law and issues related to inadequate human and health system resources. This presents a problem for those who have the objectives to engage with and address AMR in Myanmar, which is what my research aims to provide insights for.

Blame discourses on the informal sector may have negative consequences particularly when in Myanmar, where the informal sector supports most people’s livelihoods and everyday life. Regulators and relevant authorities’/experts (those who are part of the multi-steering committee on AMR, university rectors) unilateral condemnation of the informal and/or illegal without any attempt at understanding why the black market exist in the first place, may not only result in poorly designed and enforced regulation but may also risk exacerbating precarity in Myanmar as most are somehow affiliated or being supported by it. It is therefore important to engage with the social, political, and economic context of Myanmar for more effective antibiotic policy making.

Due to its long history of authoritarian politics since independence and the fragility of the healthcare and social protection systems, Myanmar has faced many implementation challenges for past and present global health and international development initiatives. For instance, the military’s isolationist policies in Myanmar’s history (prior to 2011) have made it difficult for many global health/development projects to enter the country. Most international aid and development work entered 3

of pweza is the ‘temporary’ pweza who takes up the role due to personal or moral reasons when circumstances require for them to do so. For example, within the pharmaceutical industry, the ‘permanent’ pweza would include agents whose key identity exists around their work as a pweza. As an example, pharmaceutical companies would hire such agents for a fixed fee to manage the registration and licensing of new drugs. On the contrary, the ‘temporary’ pweza momentarily take up the role of negotiating rules/regulations/and prices such as when a general practitioner negotiates the price of a medicine down for a long-term patient after a mutually beneficial နားလည်မှ ု nalehmu (mutual agreement) arrangement with a pharmaceutical sales representative.

In such ways, I describe how everyday politics shape the trajectory and flow of medicines and determine which medicines are available and where, challenging global health presumptions of medicine ‘misuse’ which attribute individuals’ lack of awareness as the main determinant.

My research draws on locally grounded ethnographic data to provide reflections on the WHO GAP/Myanmar NAP’s approach to antibiotic policy making and the subsequent earlystage policy discourses around the topic in Myanmar. Data collection for this research was done between December 2018 – January 2020. Since then, mentions of AMR and antibiotic policy implementation through the NAP AMR appeared to have stopped with the advent of the covid-19 pandemic response in early 2020 as the country’s healthcare system channelled its limited resources into pandemic preparedness. The February 2021 coup d’état appears to have further put a complete stop to policy discussions on AMR as the country now grapples with nationwide political violence and the collapse of the healthcare and social security systems. In addition to violence and instability, a civil disobedience movement led by medical doctors who refuse to work for the junta, and the continuing burdens of the pandemic suggest a much-exacerbated outlook not only for policy discussions and interventions for AMR but also for the general accessibility of medicines and healthcare in Myanmar.

For the ‘regulation’ lens, I looked at medicine regulation in practice through an ethnographic vignette detailing a Food and My ethnography was modelled after Whyte et al.’s Social Lives Drug Administration raid at a small family-owned pharmacy, of Medicines (Whyte et al., 2002). Whyte et al. describe mediembedded within a popular wet market. During the FDA raid, cines to have ‘social lives’ several drug shops were with traceable biographies caught selling unregistered of their own and followed medicines and were told to them from production to shut down. However, after individual use to undernalehmu negotiations with stand broader themes such intermediaries, the shops as globalisation and comwere allowed to continue mercialisation of medicines. selling medicines under The authors draw inspirathe premise that they ‘do tion from Appadurai’s work, it quietly’. The regulators The Social Life of Things, acknowledged the fact that which provides an analytical the shop owners needed to framework to study the macontinue selling medicines terial and social realities of for their livelihoods and Figure 1. Awareness raising infographics being publicly shared objects or medicines by tracthat many in the urban poor through a popular local cartoon. ing their social life through areas rely on the supply of detailed observation of how unregistered medicine due the objects are used and circulated in practice (Appadurai, to their cheaper price. Along this charade, the awareness raising 1988). Drawing on this conceptualisation, I ‘traced’ antibiotics messages (shop owners received information sheets and verbal through the pharmaceutical supply chain in Yangon, Myanmar. guidelines) about AMR (‘Do not sell antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription’; ‘Do not sell antibiotics within drug cocktails’) I framed the results of this research through three different were lost, rendering the intervention ineffective. This suggests a lenses – the ‘pharmaceutical supply chain’ lens, the ‘regulation’ need for policy makers to more critically engage with everyday lens, and the lens of ‘everyday lives of the patients or consumlocal practices if global health interventions are to be successful ers’. Together, the results of this research argue for: (1) the imin Myanmar. portance of understanding the context or the wider social and political landscape of antibiotic use; (2) moving away from the In the final lens, that of ‘the patients’ or consumers’ everyday common assumption that raising awareness of AMR should be lives’, I shift my attention from the pharmaceutical supply chain simply focused on individuals for a more collective and holistic to the patients themselves. I focus on factory workers as patients approach toward raising this awareness; and (3) understanding through a field research conducted in one of Yangon’s industrial the social roles of medicines in supporting livelihood practices zones. Here, I ethnographically show how factory workers are and their significance beyond the biomedical ‘rational’. biopolitically abandoned or neglected by social security, public health services/public hospitals, and the factory administration.

While tracing medicines through the pharmaceutical supply I define ‘biopolitical abandonment’ (originally adapted and with chain, I describe how the Myanmar rule of law and everyday inspiration drawn from the Foucauldian concepts of biopolitics politics shape and influence the trajectory of medicines from and biopower; Foucault, 1979) through Selmeczi’s conceptulocal manufacturing and/or import to consumption. My findalisation from her work based within migration and conflict ings show that local ‘brokers’ or ပွဲစား pweza can be categorised studies where she uses the term to discuss the state’s neglect and into two types. One type is the ‘permanent’ pweza who works in exclusion of certain populations (Selmeczi, 2009). I discuss how designated sectors or line of work (for instance, property sales, factory work, sickness, and biopolitical abandonment copropharmaceutical registration, car registration). The second type duce precarity among factory workers, resulting in a very often 4

clinically misguided use of medicines as a coping mechanism. I found factory workers to rely on drug cocktails and intravenous injections of vitamins ‘to feel better immediately’ in order to continue their day to day lives. These medicines were supplied by healthcare workers (mostly from private practices but these healthcare workers are also employed in the public sector when they are not at their practices) through a nalehmu agreement with their patients. The healthcare workers confirmed to me how despite being ‘used as a placebo’, the medicines helped people cope with their personal circumstances and eventually also made them feel better.

beyond responsibilising individuals for the issue of AMR and push for a more collective-oriented approach towards sharing responsibility for the ‘misuse’ of antibiotics. In Myanmar, for instance behaviours related to ‘medicine misuse’ are dictated by factors beyond the individual (e.g., local politics, decline and neglect of the healthcare system, the workings of the pharmaceutical industry, precarity).

Although I have focused on factory workers, biopolitical abandonment is prevalent in Myanmar for the majority, as evidenced by people’s reliance on informal networks and the black market to access oxygen and healthcare during the military coup d’état and the covid-19 pandemic when the healthcare system collapsed.

These findings suggest a few key reflections for the current approach to antibiotic policy making in Myanmar and elsewhere. First, policy making cannot simply occur through standardized global blueprints which have little to no engagement with local politics.

Awareness raising for AMR for instance, was overshadowed by the agenda of unregistered medicines and nalehmu negotiations during the FDA raid.

Second, there is a need to move

When international collaboration is possible again in Myanmar in the not-so-distant future, it will be important to urge experts involved in global public health interventions to address local specificities and contextualize their policies more thoroughly in a way that will help reduce harm, especially for deprived communities, in the current fight against AMR.

Figure 2. A public health practitioner administering အ​​ေၾကာေဆး a-kyaw-se

References

National Action Plan for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance: Myanmar. (2017). apps.who.int/datacol/answer_upload.asp?surveyid=666&viewid=722&questi on_id=13163&answer id=19958&respondent_id=249312 Newton, P. N., Fernández, F. M., Plançon, A., Mildenhall, D. C., Green, M. D., Ziyong, L., Christophel, E. M., Phanouvong, S., Howells, S., McIntosh, E., Laurin, P., Blum, N., Hampton, C. Y., Faure, K., Nyadong, L., Soong, C. W. R., Santoso, B., Zhiguang, W., Newton, J., & Palmer, K. (2008). “A Collaborative Epidemiological Investigation into the Criminal Fake Artesunate Trade in South East Asia”.

PLOS Medicine, 5(2), e32. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050032 Sakuda, M., Yoshida, N., Takaoka, T., Sanada, T., Rahman, M. S., Tanimoto, T., Zin, T., Kimura, K., & Tsuboi, H. (2020). “Substandard and Falsified Medicines in Myanmar”. Pharmacy, 8(1), 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy8010045 Selmeczi, A. (2009). “ ‘… we are being left to burn because we do not count’: Biopolitics, Abandonment, and Resistance”. Global Society, 23(4), 519–538. https://doi. org/10.1080/13600820903198933 Soe, A. P. K. (2019, January 28). “FDA asks people to report shops selling illegal, unregistered, or fake drugs”. The Myanmar Times. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/fda-asks-people-report-shops-selling-illegalunregistered-or-fake-drugs.html World Health Organization. (2021). “Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) Report”. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/9789240027336 World Health Organization. (2013). “Emergency response to artemisinin resistance in the Greater Mekong subregion: Regional framework for action 2013-2015”. World Health Organization.

Whyte, S. R., Van der Geest, S., & Hardon, A. (2002). Social lives of medicines. Cambridge University Press.

Wondemagegnehu, E. (1999). “Counterfeit and Substandard Drugs in Myanmar and Viet Nam [Report]”. World Health Organization.

Zellweger, R. M., Carrique-Mas, J., Limmathurotsakul, D., Day, N. P. J., Thwaites, G. E., Baker, S., & Southeast Asia Antimicrobial Resistance, N. (2017). “A current perspective on antimicrobial resistance in Southeast Asia”. In Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (Vol. 72, Issue 11, pp. 2963–2972).

Appadurai, A. (1988). The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective.

Cambridge University Press.

Booth, A. (2003). “The Burma development disaster in comparative historical perspective”.

South East Asia Research, 11(2), 141–171.

Brown, I. (2011). “Tracing Burma’s Economic Failure to Its Colonial Inheritance”. The Business History Review, 85(4), 725–747.

Chang, W.-C. (2013). “The everyday politics of the underground trade in Burma by the Yunnanese Chinese since the Burmese socialist Era”. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 44(2), 292–314.

Holloway, K. A. (2011a). “Drug Policy and Pharmaceuticals in Health Care Delivery” [Mission Report]. World Health Organization. https://docplayer.net/51924410Myanmar-drug-policy-and-pharmaceuticals-in-health-care-delivery-missionreport-october-kathleen-a-holloway.html Holloway, K. A. (2011b). “Promoting the rational use of antibiotics”. In Reg. Health Forum (Vol. 15, pp. 122–130). World Health Organization.

Holloway, K. A., Batmanabane, G., Puri, M., & Tisocki, K. (2017a). “Antibiotic use in South East Asia and policies to promote appropriate use: Reports from country situational analyses”. In Bmj (Vol. 358, p. j2291).

Holloway, K. A., Batmanabane, G., Puri, M., & Tisocki, K. (2017b). “Antibiotic use in South East Asia and policies to promote appropriate use: Reports from country situational analyses”. In Bmj (Vol. 358, p. j2291).

Kyaw, P. W. (2019, November 20). “Officials raise alarm over drug resistance”.

The Myanmar Times. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/officials-raise-alarmover-drug-resistance.html Lwin, S. T. (2016, May 3). “Mandalay FDA takes aim at unlicensed drugs”. The Myanmar Times. https://www.mmtimes.com/national-news/mandalay-upper-myanmar/20084mandalay-fda-takes-aim-at-unlicensed-drugs.html Munkholm, L., & Rubin, O. (2020). “The global governance of antimicrobial resistance: A cross-country study of alignment between the global action plan and national action plans”. Globalization and Health, 16(1), 109. https://doi.org/10.1186/ s12992-020-00639-3 Myint, S. Y. S. (2014). “Mingalar Market, an Illegal Medicine Cabinet”. The Myanmar Times. https://www.mmtimes.com/national-news/11439-mingalar-market-an-illegalmedicine-cabinet.html

5

O pinion The Civil Society Sector’s Contribution to Tanintharyi Communities’ Social Cohesion by Ma Thuzar Ma Thuzar (not her real name), a Myeik-based researcher who obtained her master’s degree at Chiang Mai University and is the project lead for the UNESCO-funded ‘Promoting Education for Peace and Sustainable Development through an Evidence-based Agenda in Rakhine State, and Yangon and Tanintharyi Regions’ program, tells us how, despite the on-going challenges, Tanintharyi’s civil society sector is showing much resilience through collective action.

Struggle with Physical Hardship and Psychological Warfare

This piece about civil society organizations in the aftermath of the 2021 coup covers organizations located in Dawei, Myeik and Kawthaung districts in the Tanintharyi Region. To name but a few, we have Dawei Women Union, Takapaw Youth Group, Dawei Development Association, Candle Light, Southern Youth or Green Network Mergui Archipelago, each of them developing activities in specific townships of the region. In a stable situation like the one experienced before the 2021 coup, most organizations focused on women rights, human rights, land rights, property rights, natural resource management, education, indigenous rights, and environmental conservation.

Before the coup, each of these organizations worked within their respective expertise and field of activity independently, developed activities within a particular geographical area in collaboration with local communities and groups of people, shared their expertise and knowledge with them across the Tanintharyi Region. After last year’s coup, however, in addition to the activities they were trying to pursue, these organizations also tried to address more pressing community needs and develop some form of emergency response adapted to the new context.

For this emergency response, some CSOs came together and formed a coordination body named the “Dawei Coordination Team”.

Some challenges were mentioned earlier in terms of operational capacity, but challenges to physical and mental health need to be considered too. Challenges to physical health may be visible and, perhaps, easier to navigate; but challenges to mental health are invisible and hidden underneath.

On 1st June 2021, the State Administrative Council (hereafter SAC) of the Tanintharyi Region declared that all International NGOs (INGOs) should stop all current activities, shut their office in the region, and move their staff back to their respective headquarters in Yangon. As far as I know, this may be the only Myanmar’s state or region in which INGOs were asked to shut their office in the past year. It remains unclear why such a decision was made by SAC and why it has been limited to this region. One possible reason is that SAC has a plan to extract natural resources (timber, gold, lead, etc…) without scrutiny and possible interference from the Myanmar public and civil society organizations.

In parallel, SAC has been very active in stopping activities developed by local CSOs using all kinds of coercive actions. For instance, SAC troops kidnapped activists, politicians, CSO staff members and members of youth groups who actively joined the demonstrations, supported the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), or donated food supplies to the People Defense Forces (PDFs) in liberated areas. People were kidnapped and their personal assets like cash, gold and jewels, vehicles, printer, camera, computer stolen from their homes and offices. Since last year, CSO staff, activists and members of student unions have been kidnapped and detained. It was reported that SAC tortured arrested staff and activists during the interrogation process and has condemned some of them to year-long jail sentences; some were condemned to a death sentence. One CSO staff member expresses the current situation as follows:

In a context of random military raids, recurring military threats against pro-democracy supporters, and, more generally, widespread psychological warfare, CSOs could not stand by themselves to implement all these activities. For instance, in Myeik, staff members of two CSOs had to leave the city and move close to and even inside ‘liberated areas’ as they feared being arrested if they stayed in the city. In Dawei, most CSO offices shut down and staff members worked from home. Yet, despite all these challenges, most organizations have shown great resilience. The practice that local CSOs had developed in pre-coup times–that of collaborating with Community-based Organizations (CBOs) toward strengthening community activity and supporting these communities– proved crucial in this new context. As a result, CBOs, community volunteers, and community development workers were ready to mobilize energy and resources and provide some form of conflict response.

This response one may think of as ‘civilian resistance’ has been adapting to an ever changing context by means of non-violence and collective action, and, in turn, has played like a catalyst for social cohesion across various communities.

“It is like killing two birds with one stone because arresting people from one CSO affects other CSOs in the same township or region. These kinds of events make us scared. They may even trigger some domestic violence because our life partner and parents may want us to stop our actions against the junta [when we do not want to stop].”

6

CSO offices and movement of staff members are under the surveillance from SAC and local informants. The more involved in the demonstrations local NGOs and CSOs have been against the 2021 coup, the narrower the working space has become for them to operate in the Tanintharyi Region. Communication with collaborators, stakeholders, and donors is now made much more difficult; transparency and accountability expected from these organizations and the activities they pursue is in turn greatly affected: keeping financial or administrative documents, submitting reports and exchanging emails may put staff members of these organizations at grave risk. All the civilian population suffers from privacy violations when SAC troops (military and police forces) check people’s mobile phones either outside their homes or during random raids in their homes. Purses, handbags, backpacks and luggage are also checked thoroughly.

One citizen journalist comments on these situations that have become part of people’s daily life as follows:

mobile phone, and clothes already packed. Whenever she hears some loud chatter or people shouting outside of the house or trucks passing by speedily, she is on high alert. Sometimes even family members shouting in her house makes her nervous.

Such challenges and their consequences impact all people whether they are in urban or rural areas and whether they are from grassroot communities or belong to established groups.

They impact communities’ social cohesion and, in turn, the ways collective action may be pursued to develop a conflict response in a constantly changing context.

Social Cohesion as a Tool of Context Changing Adaptation Since February 2021, CSOs have realized that, despite the circumstances, they must continue their work while, at the same time, stand against the junta. They learned lessons from the 1988 coup when all the indigenous land and territories in Southeast Myanmar were stolen. Soon after, indigenous communities and community members across the region were brainwashed and burmanized in the name of development projects conducted in border areas by the previous military authorities. Many communities experienced dehumanizing practices developed by government authorities at all levels. In the present context, most communities in collaboration with and/ or with the support from CSOs are much more aware of the following issues: need for the protection of these communities’ territory, need for the protection of local human resources against SAC dehumanizing practices, need for the protection of these communities against the exploitation by military authorities and their affiliates of local natural resources. All these issues are especially significant for communities located in remote and border areas.

“It makes us mentally insecure and leads to some compassion fatigue for some of us”.

Consequences of Psychological Warfare In the aftermath of the coup, SAC first targeted members of students unions and the Open 88 Society leading to the arrest of some of them, and, sometimes, even their torture. SAC then threatened other CSOs in the region: the move created divisions between different actors inside the civil society sector of the region. Most notably, divisions appeared between CSOs and CBOs as some CBOs did not want to take sides and wished to remain neutral. As a result, working relationships stopped between CSOs and certain groups of CBOs.

SAC’s psychological warfare is not simply targeting organizations; it Since February 2021, is also designed to scare CSOs have had to adapt everyone in the public. to the new circumstancOne CSO staff member es; some CSOs decided based in Myeik recountto shut their regional ofed the case of a neighbor fices and have asked their whose home was raided staff to work from home and searched in the and continue to impledaytime. This neighbor ment activities from was not even arrested home. In terms of field at home but on a road implementation, if CSOs Tanintharyi oil palm plantations; nearby her house. The inhave good connections Credit to: Environmental Justice Atlas cident involved military with members of CBOs trucks, people shouting, and community developand some warning shots from one of the military trucks. After ment workers or village volunteers, follow-up on activities is these two consecutive raids, she has become nervous and fearmade easier as they are based in the village and can implement ful. She is now ready to go into hiding anytime with her laptop, project activities on behalf of the CSOs. In the current context, 7

most field activities involve forest patrolling, documentation of human rights violation cases, and documentation of natural resource extraction cases. In most villages, local informants and militias are on high alert and may notify military authorities about CSOs-CBOs connections or if a particular CSO is still active in their village. Hence, CBOs need to be very cautious in the implementation of their activities so as to avoid being reported by local informants and militias to military authorities.

rights in relation to these issues. This is a legacy of the pre-coup period that will surely survive these difficult times.

Coming together with a strong team spirit for some collective action in response to hardship is characteristic of strong existing social bonds among change agents, institutions, and communities as argued by Fonseca et al. in “Social cohesion revisited: a new definition and how to characterize it”. The sense of belonging to local communities is also crucial to build stronger networks and a higher capacity to adapt in an ever changing context. The level of solidarity and the values shared among various groups, institutions and individuals are vital indicators of an approach seeking to promote conflict adaptation and resolution and ultimately the development of a peacemaking spirit and attitude. But I would argue that, in addition to fostering communities in a multicultural society, social cohesion may also be a catalyst for some collective reactive action aimed at an oppressor and enemy through community participation and empowerment.

CBO and CSO staff members, community volunteers, conflict-affected communities and even communities not directly affected by the conflict have now developed high resilience in the current context. This has, in turn, fostered everyone’s commitment to resisting military authorities and one’s capacity to prioritize short-term action while also thinking about short-, medium-, and long-term goals. Collective action as a social cohesion catalyst was key in pre-coup time for a holistic appreciation of social problems affecting grassroot communities. Conservation issues, gender issues, natural resources exploitation issues, etc.. all these issues have been the focus of much work developed by local CSOs in the Tanintharyi Region.

Much benefit was gained when CSOs encouraged communities to mobilize themselves into CBOs and claim their community

Xavier Fonseca, Stephan Lukosch & Frances Brazier. (2019). “Social cohesion revisited: a new definition and how to characterize it, Innovation”. The European Journal of Social Science Research, 32(2): 231-253, DOI: 10.1080/13511610.2018.1497480

Map of the Tanintharyi Region

8

Inter v ie w Our part-time paid internship program is in full swing with ten interns currently working remotely from home. We asked them what they liked about the internship, what the main challenges are, and what they expect to do after completing the internship.

Four interns are currrently working on information literacy during their four-month internship: they are translating parts of a SUNY publication on this topic into the Myanmar language. The translated parts will be then commented upon by each intern in a short video explaining how to proceed through the successive steps of defining, selecting, and using information needed for an essay, documentation or research project. The Myanmar-language videos will be posted on our Facebook page.

Supporting our forthcoming workshop series on the ‘Use and Practice of Research in the Project Cycle’ during a six-month internship, another four interns are currently developing a Myanmar-language presentation under guidance from the institute’s senior team.

Each presentation will be integrated in the lecture component of the workshop series. They are also writing an analysis of an Englishlanguage book chapter, an exercise that none of them has undertaken before.

Information Literacy Team Nang Hsu Thet Mon Taung-gyi, Southern Shan State

done remotely, we can only meet online. If we have no battery, we cannot contact and do team meetings with the rest of the team.

The institute always inform us well about the meeting time, the monthly stipend and some important files to read even though they have already been sent from email. For the powerpoint slides, Ma Khine Lei and other intern friends give suggestions, ideas and explanations that I sometimes do not know.

After I complete my internship, I hope to get a recommendation letter and certificate for my further work after the internship. A full time job at the Inya Institute would be good.

I believe that the institute can give great opportunities for students, young graduates and juniors. I also would like to learn systematically but also in a flexible and professional way just as it is done at the institute. If I get to work in Inya, it will be the start of my professional journey.

The first challenge for the remote internship is the electricity problem and the power cuts that we cannot know in advance.

The second one is that some words and sentences are a little bit confusing to translate.

Lwin Htoo Nyan Kyi Myin Daing Township, Yangon

After this internship, I will continue doing my current job and I would like to improve my translation skills. If I am awarded a scholarship, I will continue my studies further.

In this internship, we have to translate not just the writing but also the diagrams and tables. Moreover, we also have to write a new scenario which is also related with the contents of the book that we are translating. So, I got a chance to explore different methods of translation which is the thing that I like the most.

Aung Lin Kyaukse Township, Mandalay I am Aung Linn and a member of Information Literacy Interns from Inya Institute. The best thing during my internship is the flexible working time.

I can do my part any time before the deadline. Our intern instructor, Sayama Khine, is very patient and teaches us well. The interns can all do their respective part on time. This is the best part for interns because Inya divided tasks for every intern. We can do our own part peacefully and translate from English to Myanmar. If we have any questions, we can contact and ask anytime.

First of all, I had little experience in translating. So, I had a hard time finding the right Burmese usage for an English word.

I also faced some difficulties trying to fit a table in just one slide.

Lastly, creating Venn diagrams with the exact colors and sizes is also one of the challenges for me.

After completing the internship, I will seek new opportunities and internships. I’d like to improve my translation skills and challenges that I faced in this internship and hone these skills for future endeavors. In addition, gaining new experience from this internship will also help me work in translation-related jobs in the future.

The main challenge is to have a power bank fully charged while working on our assignment and when meeting online because the electricity cuts off very often. As this internship is 9

Su Su Thant Mawlamyaing, Mon State

During this internship, I faced many challenges. Among them, translating some English words into Burmese words is the most challenging for me. Some words cannot be easily translated as they may be directly used in Burmese and may not have a direct Burmese equivalent. At that time, I felt like I was out of ideas for the meaning. One more challenge during this internship is the Burmese-language typing errors. I only typed English before and when I initially prepared documents for the presentation, I did many typing errors but after a week, it improved.

As this is my first time working as an intern in an educational institute, I have got many experiences. I really want to work in the education research field.

After I graduated from the Parami Leadership Program, I always wanted to work like this and now it is complete. Here, I can work independently and remotely. I can also build a new network and it is really a great experience for me to work at the Inya Institute. Sharing knowledge about information literacy to the public is one thing that I like the most during this internship. Information literacy is a very hot topic in Myanmar and many people don’t know much about this and I am glad that I have a chance to share this topic with everyone.

After this program, I will try other opportunities to work at an education research institute for my further studies. While I prepare for my master degree, I want to have more experience and become a more skillful person. And I will also continue to work as a freelance researcher in the education field in the future. I believe the things that I learnt from this internship will help me

Research Workshop Team Swan Htet Aung Hpa-an, Kayin State

Ni Ni Htwe Hlaing Township, Yangon

I believe that an internship provides a person with additional professional work experience in a structured environment where help may be received from senior persons and ideas and strategies are exchanged with them. To become a social researcher is my ultimate professional goal and, along the way, I will be pursuing opportunities that I am passionate about, including this one at the institute. Among other tasks, my main work involves producing a presentation on the types of assessment commonly used and applied among NGOs and CSOs for their project implementation.

I really enjoyed the powerpoint preparation for ‘Common data collection tools for social research’. Now I know that I have to learn more about research when I do it practically during these two months. That greatly improved my study and translation skills. It was hard to translate that I have learned by English to translate those unfamiliar words to Burmese. The same goes for the book summary.

I am book enthusiast person, but it is hard to do book summary due to my English skill, when the original meaning of the words does not apply to the sentence that I am going to use, so I learnt a lot of new words. But that give back me to learn a new experience and to improve my analysis skills.

As I mentioned above, research is my key motivation for this internship. On the other hand, giving a presentation about research findings supported by facts, scenarios and examples, is rather challenging for me. I am really concerned about missing important concepts or ideas in my presentation because this topic is all very new to me. That means preparing a comprehensive presentation for a Myanmar audience with infographics and supportive pictures. Luckily, however, the ideas and advices from the institute’s instructors, Ma Khine and Ko Nyein, have been crucial to help me improve my work.

After completed my internship, if you give me a chance, I would like to get job in your institute that based on my performance. Even part-time opportunities are also suitable for me. In during this scarcity of work situation, by having job, I can solve my personal needs without having to request my parents. In this way I can help my parents.

I am going to seek a full time job which is related to my professional goals. I would like to work as a full time researcher for a research organization that works for the development of society and also focuses on ecology. I do understand that it is a dream in the current situation of our country and to join a new organization presents challenges considering the lack of job opportunities. If I do not have a chance to start a new job, I will initiate a mini social research using the research experience i’ve gained. To be specific, this mini research would be about the social hot issues which the local residents are currently facing in the Kayin State.

Myoh Minn Oo Mawlamyaing, Mon State During my internship, I am mostly fond of the resources made available by the institute for doing my assignment [PowerPoint presentation of ‘Questionnaires Formulation’] and also of the great mentoship received that helps me to understand the different steps of the research process. I also translate some short resources from English to Myanmar under the careful 10

Naw Htee Mu Paw Pathein, Ayeyarwaddy Division

guidance from the institute’s staff members. Moreover, when we discuss time-management issues, staff members are flexible and understand our own constraints and then keep encouraging us to continue our work.

Honestly, I have no such particular difficulty with the internship since the institute provides us with many resources for our assignments and, even if what we need is not provided by the institute, we simply have to do some internet research and look for the right information for our assignments. However, like other interns, I regularly face some internet, electricity and time-management issues, especially when deadlines are getting close.

learn new things.

What I like the most during my internship is having coaches who genuinely care about my improvement. I am very grateful to my coaches that they are very flexible to work with me on the tasks assigned during my internship period. I am very challenged in a way as well but not to the extent I feel discouraged to

The main challenges for this internship are summarizing book because I don’t have good analytical skills. Besides, I have some difficulties with time management to balance work assigned by Inya, other courses and my personal life. Furthermore, preparing Power Point about ‘The role of data in multi-decision making’ in Burmese language is one challenge for which I have to do research.

I expect to continue learning about research and its theories and practices and then apply my knowledge and skills in conducting a real research paper after the internship and also writing research articles for academic publications. I will also share or arrange some research training within my community if there are any opportunities and I am also interested in doing so in collaboration with the institute.

I would like to get a job that is related to research for my future career and where I can apply the knowledge that I have learnt at Inya and put it into practice. In addition, I am eager to work in the administrative field since I have some knowledge and experience about administration.

Data Visualization Internship

Hein Htet Aung, Yangon

It is hard to choose one thing among many good points I like when I am here. The aspect I like most is probably a friendly working environment with freedom and space to express our thoughts. It is unlike traditional working space and fun to be around overall.

As much as it is fun to work at the Inya institute, there were a lot of challenges as I joined halfway through the project [British Academy-funded research project on ‘Spatial Violence in Yangon suburbs’] and there were many things going on. I had to follow up on those processes and figure out where I can be of most help. Once fitted, things flow naturally.

I will be using the skills and knowledge, especially illustration of research results, into a more comprehensive format in further research and it will be my absolute pleasure if I could continue learning at Inya while building my career.

Community Heritage Research Methodology Internship Htay Wai Naing, Cambridge, Massachussetts I worked at the Inya institute [June-August 2021 in person] as digital resources and information assistant. The institute has a digital collection of manuscripts, books, paintings, and photographs, all materials digitized during various research projects developed by the institute across Myanmar. It uses Collective Access software for data entry of research materials. Collective Access is a free and user-friendly software purposely designed for museum digital archives. My main work was data entry of photos, manuscripts, data images, other historical resources from Eastern Shan state. Through the internship program, I have learned the importance of making digital archives freely available to scholars and students for further study.

[Now in the U.S.] I am also finalizing some community heritage research methodology specific to the Myanmar context. Research plays a vital role in the preservation of community heritage. In this case, the community is the key stakeholder in preserving indigenous cultural heritage. Thus, it is critical to have a specific research methodology to safeguard community heritage. Furthermore, I believe that protecting indigenous heritage is the right of the community to maintain their local identity, culture, and tradition.

Therefore, it is crucial to engage actively in protecting indigenous cultural heritage.

11

Current Opportunities at Inya

Now Open!

We are thrilled to announce the 2022 CAORC-INYA Scholars Fellowship competition for research that will contribute to studies on Myanmar in any aspect of its wide linguistic, cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity and to a better understanding of the country’s past or present political and socio-economic situation!

Applicants must be U.S. postgraduate scholars who obtained their PhD degree in the last 10 years (at the time of submitting application).

The 2022 CAORC-INYA Scholars will have until December 15, 2022, to complete their research work in a third country of their choice.

Information about the fellowship competition: • Any field of research will be considered, including the arts, humanities, social sciences, economics, political sciences, law, environment studies, and public health; • Research must take place in a third country outside of the U.S. and Myanmar (due to the current closure of Myanmar’s international borders); Joint research projects are not eligible for this competition. Only individual research projects will be considered.

Application Contents The application to be completed in the CAORC Survey Monkey Application Portal requires the following items: • Information about the Applicant: first name, last name, mailing address, email address, phone number, citizenship, major field of study, department, date and year the PhD degree was obtained, university where it was obtained, current occupation, dates (if any) of previous research in Myanmar, length of award requested, tentative dates of project; • A Curriculum Vitae; • Description of the proposed study with the following sections:

• • •

Project title Project Abstract Approach and research methodology Significance of the project Work done to date Work to be accomplished during the fellowship period Third country selected List of places where research will be conducted;

Budget narrative describing how the award will be expended Project Bibliography; One Reference Letter.

The program is funded by CAORC through a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. State Department Fellowship Benefits Award from $3,200-$4,000 for a maximum of 3 months A transportation stipend of up to 2,000$ for the round trip airfare from the U.S. to a third country and in-country transportation expenses

Deadline & Notification Applications must be sent by April 29, 2022, 12:00 AM (ET) Awards will be announced by May 31, 2022 To apply, go to: 2022 CAORC-INYA Scholars Fellowship Program

This is a one-off fellowship opportunity

12

Current Opportunities at Inya We are also very much pleased to announce the 2022 CAORC-INYA Short-term Fellowship competition for research that will contribute to studies on Myanmar in any aspect of its wide linguistic, cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity and to a better understanding of the country’s past or present political and socio-economic situation!

Applicants must be U.S. Graduate Students currently enrolled in a graduate program (Master’s or Doctoral level) at an institution of higher education in the U.S. or elsewhere.

The 2022 CAORC-INYA Fellows will have until December 15, 2023, to complete their field work in a third country (outside of the U.S. and Myanmar).

Information about the fellowship competition • Any field of research will be considered, including the arts, humanities, social sciences, economics, political sciences, law, environment studies, and public health; • Field research in a third country must be for a minimum of two months and a maximum of four months; • Joint research projects are not eligible for this competition. Only individual research projects will be considered; • Applicants must be U.S. citizens. U.S. permanent residents are not eligible for this competition; • Students enrolled at Minority Serving Institutions are especially encouraged to apply.

Application Contents The application to be completed in the CAORC SM Application Portal requires the following items: Information about the Applicant: first name, last name, mailing address, email address, phone number, citizenship, major field of study, department, institutional affiliation, dates (if any) of previous research in Myanmar, length of award requested, tentative dates of project; • A Curriculum Vitae; • Description of the proposed study with the following sections:

• • •

Project title / Project abstract / Approach and research methodology Significance of the project Work done to date / Work to be accomplished during the fellowship period / Name of third country / List of places that will be visited in third country

Fellowship Benefits Award from $2,400 to $4,400 for a maximum of 4 months A transportation stipend of up to $1,700 for the round trip airfare from the U.S. to Third Country and in-country travel expenses Deadline & Notification Applications must be sent by May 31, 2022 (12:00 AM EST) Awards will be announced by June 20, 2022 To apply, go to: 2022 CAORC-INYA Short-term Fellowship Program

This program is funded by CAORC through a grant from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. State Department

Budget narrative describing how the award will be expended Project Bibliography; One Reference Letter.

Now Open!

13

Upcoming Opportunities at Inya

The Inya Institute plans to annually host a language course on S’gaw, Tai Long, and Jinghpaw languages that will be open for U.S. and international students, NGO workers, researchers and anyone interested in the linguistic, cultural and ethnic diversity of Myanmar.

Current events in Myanmar have shown non-Bamar groups’ strong commitment to a federal union. Among the various ways international support may be appreciated by all these communities in the coming years will be the international actors’ capacity to understand their cultural and historical backgrounds as well as speak some of their languages.

Also, whereas Myanmar language is taught at least at four U.S. universities and in Yangon through a multitude of private courses, there are very few opportunities anywhere for an international audience to learn languages spoken in Myanmar other than Myanmar language. The institute hopes to partly fill in this gap.

For Karen-speaking, Shan-speaking, and Kachin-speaking language instructors, our plan will offer them an opportunity to advance their language teaching skills and to expand their circles of friends.

We are currently recruiting six language teachers who will first participate in our training of trainers and then lead the language course scheduled on September 5-16, 2022.

For details on the language course registration, stay tuned to our Facebook page!

Also look out for those details in our Summer 2022 newsletter!

The ‘Training of Trainers’ and ‘Language Course’ are funded by the U.S. Department of Education

14

Upcoming Events across the U.S. and beyond April Events 1. Perspectives On The Situation in

Myanmar

Location: Yale University Date: April 6, 2022 at 12:00 noon Speaker: Tom Andrews Tom Andrews is the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. Andrews served as General Secretary of “The Nobel Peace Laureate Campaign for Aung San Suu Kyi and the People of Burma” in 2001 and served as an advisor to the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma and the Euro-Burma Network. Andrews was Director of the Maine Studies Center at the University of Maine and served in the Maine House of Representatives and the Maine Senate.

More info here 2. The Role of Law: Interrogating

the Contributions of Lawyers and Complexities of Legal Reform in Burma’s Democracy Movement

Location: Online- Zoom webinar Date: April 6, 2022 at 2:00-4:00 pm in Pacific Time (US and Canada) Panelist/Discussants: Jonathan Liljeblad (Australian National University), John Dale (George Mason University), Khin Maung Win (Justice For All), Su Yin Htun (Mandalay University) Moderator: Seinenu M. Thein-Lemelson (UCLA) The February 2021 military coup in Myanmar have caused questions about the country’s legal profession and its fledgling reforms to emerge. The panel presents a range of perspectives to identify the issues facing Burma’s lawyers, judges, law schools, and legal system.

More info here Register here 3. Political Authority in Areas of

Armed Resistance

Location: The Australian National University Date: April 21, 2022 at 9:30-10:30 am Speaker: Kim Joliffe This event is part of the 2022 Myanmar Research Centre (MRC) Dialogue Series.

Kim Jolliffe is an independent researcher from the UK, who has been in Southeast

Asia since 2007. He has been conducting research and working with local and international organisations in Myanmar since 2009. His work has focused on armed conflict, governance, justice and security among other topics, with a particular focus on ethnic armed organisations and the Myanmar military.

More info here 4. New Shoots / Bamboophobia:

A Poetry Reading and Conversation

Location: University of California, Berkeley, Online - Zoom webinar Date: April 27, 2022 at 11-12:15 p.m Speaker: Kenneth Wong, Lecturer (Burmese), South and Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley; ko ko thett, poet; Maw Shein Win, poet; Mae Yway, poet Moderator: Penny Edwards A reading and conversation on Burmese poetry with Ko Ko Thett, Maw Shein Win, Kenneth Wong, and Mae Yway. Ko Ko Thett will read from his new collection Bamboophobia and all four poets will read from the new anthology Picking off new shoots will not stop the spring: Witness poems and essays from Burma/ Myanmar (1988-2021). Readings will be in English and Burmese.

More info here Register here 5. Taiwan–Myanmar Relations Location: SOAS University of Landon Date: April 28, 2022 at 12:00-1:00 pm Sepaker: Kristina Kironska This lecture will introduce Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy with a case study of Taiwan–Myanmar relations from a perspective of political relations, economic cooperation, and Taiwan’s (un)recognisability in Myanmar—i.e. Taiwan’s soft power in Myanmar.

More info here

May Events 1. Unpacking Youth Struggles,

Resistance, and Cohesion in PostCoup Myanmar

Location: The Australian National University Date: May 13, 2022 at 9:30-10:30 am Speaker: Francesca Chiu 15

This event is part of the 2022 Myanmar Research Centre (MRC) Dialogue Series.

Existing discussions of Myanmar’s antimilitary movement often frame it as a symbol of unity and opportunity for social cohesion. However, this risks papering over the differences between the many groups resisting military rule. By examining the everyday struggles faced by young people after the coup, this talk shows how the anti-military movement has both united and divided the country’s youth, highlighting the problems of oversimplification that result from treating the various cohorts behind the resistance movement as monolithic. This has important implications for observers seeking to understand the complex intersections of personal struggle, resistance and cohesion in Myanmar today.

More info here 2. India’s Approach to the Myanmar

Crisis

Location: The Australian National University Date: May 20, 2022 at 9:30-10:30 am Speaker: Dipannita Maria Bagh This event is part of the 2022 Myanmar Research Centre (MRC) Dialogue Series.

Dipannita Maria Bagh is a Fellow at the Centre for Eastern and North Eastern Regional Studies-Kolkata (CENERS-K).

She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Political Science from the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, and is working on Myanmar’s democratic transition period.

More info here

New Books On Myanmar book assesses the policies and political reforms that have provoked contestation in Myanmar’s recent history and driven both economic and social change

anmar as the country has dealt with a profound transformation over the past decade and a half. Education has served as a litmus test for judging the level of openness of any Myanmar government, especially those in place for the past seven decades. Marie Lall situates education within the context of the wider reforms and the process of making peace that began in 2012, using it as a case study on how these reforms have progressed and continue to progress.

The Paradox of Myanmar’s Regime Change Roger Lee Huang Routledge Publisher, 2020 This book analyzes Myanmar’s contemporary political history, arguing that Myanmar’s so-called “democratization” has always been a calculated regime transition, planned by the military, with every intention that the military to remain the key permanent political actor in Myanmar’s political regime. Using the period since Myanmar’s regime change in 2011 as an extended case study, this book offers an original theory of regime transition.

Rivers of Iron Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia

David M. Lampton, Selina Ho, ChengChwee Kuik University of California Press, 2020 Rivers of Iron examines one aspect of President Xi Jinping’s “New Era”: China’s effort to create an intercountry railway system connecting China and its seven Southeast Asian neighbors (Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). This book illuminates the political strengths and weaknesses of the plan, as well as the capacity of the impacted countries to resist, shape, and even take advantage of China’s widereaching actions.

Myanmar: Politic, Economy and Society Adam Simpson, Nicholas Farrelly Routledge Publisher, 2020 This book provides a sophisticated, yet accessible, overview of the key political, economic and social challenges facing contemporary Myanmar and explains the complex historical and ethnic dynamics that have shaped the country. With clear and incisive contributions from the world’s leading Myanmar scholars, this

Myanmar’s Education Reforms: A Pathway to Social Justice?

Marie Lall UCL Press, 2020 Myanmar’s Education Reforms reviews the changing state of education in My16

Rule of Law Intermediaries: Brokering Influence in Myanmar

Kristina Simion Cambridge University Press, 2021 Kristina Simion explores rule of law assistance through the practice and experience of intermediaries, their capital, strategies and challenges. How do intermediaries influence the field, and the ways in which the rule of law is brokered transnationally? And why do they matter? Simion relates her research to law and sociology to bring to light these neglected players, focusing on who they are, the influence they have, their double agency and their crucial importance in establishing trust and translating rule of law. Relying on rich empirical data collected in Myanmar, the book shares the voices of the individuals that help to steer societal change within authoritarian confines. This socio-legal work offers some insights into why rule of law change in authoritarian settings often does not go along expected ways, one of the development field’s long unresolved issues.