| MRC Dialogue Series 2024 |
| “Competing regimes and multiple stakeholders: How China hedges its relations with Myanmar” Speaker: Dr Enze Han, Associate Professor, The University of Hong Kong Date: Tuesday 5 March 2024 Time zone: 5–6pm AEDT (UTC+11), 12.30–1.30pm MMT, 11.30am–12.30pm IST Zoom here |
This week’s New Pubs features Takahashi’s book on the socio-economic history of rural Myanmar between 1986 and 2019; Wießmann on the transition from unarmed to armed resistance; and Charney on the Arakan Army in the context of a divided Myanmar.
As ever, see our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can.
| Background The Myanmar Research Network at University of Melbourne in collaboration with the Myanmar Research Centre at Australian National University (ANU) with the generous support from the International Development Research Centre, Canada, invite expressions of interest for a Myanmar scholar/researcher for a fully funded 4-week fellowship in Australia. We are offering two fellowship opportunities in 2024, one in the first half of the year and the other in the second. The fellowship includes two weeks at University of Melbourne and two weeks at the ANU in Canberra. The goal of the fellowship program is to build deeper connections between University of Melbourne/ANU and Myanmar academics and researchers in the region and catalyze new high quality collaborative research. The fellowship offers Fully funded accommodation and travel from anywhere in the Asia-Pacific, and within Australia, visa cost reimbursement, and a living allowance for food and essentialsFacilities to do research at both universities with a view to contributing to work on an academic publication by the fellow, and possible collaborative work on later publicationsOne-year remote access to library facilities Fellows are expected to Give one or more seminars or public lectures in Melbourne and CanberraMake one or more contributions, in Burmese or English, to working papers or blogs at either or both universitiesMeet with researchers to discuss and develop potential new partnerships, and with researchers and policymakers off campus as appropriate, such as NGOs and Australian Government In 2024 we seek fellows with expertise in Humanitarian aidHuman securityPublic health policy Applicants should have research or work experience or both, related to Myanmar, on one or more of these themes. We especially encourage applicants who have been doing research in these areas in the post-2021 context. Eligibility To apply you must Be a researcher or academic of Myanmar nationality based in the Asia-Pacific (this includes those who are active in research but may not have formal institutional affiliation)Have a postgraduate research qualification (e.g., Masters’ degree with research thesis component, or a coursework Masters’ degree with other experience comparable to a research thesis). Applicants could also have completed a PhD or be a current PhD candidate.Demonstrate research interests and experience in one or more of the above identified thematic areas. Expressions of interest in other fields or areas such as medicine, law, agriculture etc will not be considered for this round.Have high-level spoken and written English (indicate examinations and qualifications in curriculum vitae).Hold a current passport that can be used to obtain an Australia visa, and be able to travel to Australia in 2024. Members of minority groups are encouraged to apply. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed. Expression of interest can be made through this form. Any questions can be directed to Tamas Wells at University of Melbourne t.wells@unimelb.edu.au CLOSING DATE: Thursday 29 February 2024 |
After the Coup: Myanmar’s Political and Humanitarian Crises
Date: February 26th, 2024 (Monday)
Time: 06:00 – 07:00 PM AEST Time (13:30-14:30 Myanmar/Yangon Time)
Join Zoom Meeting: please click here
Meeting ID: 836 7649 6162; Passcode: 235119
sponsored by the Australian Myanmar Institute
Monique Skidmore is an honorary professor at Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute. She is an award- and grant-winning Burmese political and medical anthropologist and an expert media commentator. She has published seven books on Myanmar, including Karaoke Fascism: Burma and the Politics of Fear (2004). She convened the Myanmar/Burma Update conference at The Australian National University for eight years, and is co-editor of After the Coup: Myanmar’s Political & Humanitarian Crises (ANU Press, 2023).
Anthony Ware is an associate professor of humanitarianism and development at Deakin University and a former director of the Australia Myanmar Institute (2013-2017). His research, primarily in Myanmar, focuses on humanitarian and development approaches in conflict-affected situations. He has a particular interest in conflict sensitivity, ‘do no harm’, everyday peace, peacebuilding, and countering violent and hateful extremism. He has published five books, three of which are on Myanmar, including lead author of Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ Conflict (2018) and is co-editor of After the Coup: Myanmar’s Political & Humanitarian Crises (ANU Press, 2023)
Costas Laoutides is an associate professor of international relations at Deakin University, Australia. His area of expertise is ethno-political and separatist conflict, and its resolution. He is lead research on a project 2019-23 entitled Enhancing the work of local peace entrepreneurs after ethnic cleansing, which explores the work of actors strengthening peace formation between Rohingya and Rakhine inside Myanmar. He is the co‑author of Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ Conflict (Hurst/Oxford University Press, 2018, with Anthony Ware) and the sole author of Self-Determination and Collective Responsibility in Secessionist Struggle (Routledge).
Tay Zar Myo Win is a PhD candidate at Deakin University, and former lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science, Ubon Ratchathani University. His current and recent research projects explore the conflict in Rakhine State, rights of the Rohingya people, the Civil Disobedience Movement, and the process of radicalisation to extremist Buddhist nationalism. Prior to academia, Tay Zar has worked in development practice, on civic education, democracy and electoral support, and worked closely with the Union Election Commission in Myanmar as a member of a technical support team to assist national and local elections in Myanmar
This week’s New Pubs features Aung and Campbell on Myanmar’s radical tradition within a changing imperial world order; Tun Myint on the necessity of a polycentric federal democracy; and Green’s edited book on the Burma to Myanmar exhibit at the British Museum.
As ever, see our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can.
The University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Myanmar Initiative is delighted to invite applications for the 2024 Myanmar Emerging Scholars and Young Leaders Workshop. It is set to take place at UBC’s campus in Vancouver, Canada, from May 15th to 17th, 2024. This workshop is designed to empower emerging scholars and young leaders from Myanmar, of Myanmar origin, or working on Myanmar. Participants will have the opportunity to strengthen their network, enhance their contributions to Myanmar’s democratic development, and engage in meaningful collaboration and professional activities. This workshop is made possible through the generous support from the International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC) Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar (K4DM) initiative.
Please submit your applications by February 28, 2024. The review of applications will begin on March 1, 2024.
To apply for the workshop, please fill out the online application form available https://forms.gle/tdhW4z44hCxaC9UV9. Ensure your application includes a brief description of your research project and how you believe the workshop will benefit your work and professional development.
Save the date; August 2-4, 2024! The ICBMS – International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies committee invites abstract submissions for ICBMS 4! This round of ICBMS will be hosted at Chiang Mai University on 2 – 4 August 2024 under the title “Assemblages of the Future: Rethinking Communities after the State.”
Interested participants should submit an abstract of not more than 300 words along with keywords. Panel proposals should be not more than 500 words. Panel descriptions should contain a 300-word abstract for each presenter. The website for abstract submission, online registration and fee information will be available online soon at https://burmaconference.com Currently, further information is available via email; please contact the ICBMS4 Secretariat at icbms.cmu[at]gmail.com. Read full detailed conference themes and conference description through the link below.
This week’s New Pubs features Sadan on Kachin communities in Myanmar; Mohapatra on human security issues in Myanmar; and UNSW Centre for Ideas’ interview with Sean Turnell on his imprisonment.
As ever, see our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can.
source: Frontier Myanmar
This week’s New Pubs features Aung on Myanmar’s revolutionary present; Saha on peasant insurgency in colonial Myanmar; and Insight Myanmar with a panel podcast “A Taste of Resilience” on Burmese food in a time of revolution.
As ever, see our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can.
Photo by Chulletin
Date: 2 February(Friday)
Time: 09:00 – 11:00 AM EST Time
Hosts: NYSEAN & Suny/Cuny SEAC
Panel abstract:
The junta that seized control of Myanmar’s government in February 2021, triggering a massive, nationwide civil disobedience movement and prompting intensive pushback from regional ethnic armed organizations, still has yet to cede power back to civilian authorities. In the meantime, the unseated civilian leadership continues as the National Unity Government (NUG), while grassroots protest continues and ethnic-minority states exercise differing levels of local control. Myanmar’s economy has been devastated; social services, from health care to education, have been disrupted; and untold numbers have fled the country. How will Myanmar recover from this political, economic, and social upheaval once the coup government falls—as must ultimately happen? Questions previously unresolved, of federalism and minority rights, of development trajectories, and of how to maintain sovereign authority in the face of insistent neighbors, will remain, alongside fundamental challenges of rebuilding a shattered polity. This panel brings together representatives of the NUG and ethnic-minority groups to discuss their expectations, plans and hopes for Myanmar’s post-junta future.
Kyaw Moe Tun – Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations
Kyaw Moe Tun currently serves as the Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations in New York. From 2018–2020, he served as Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, as well as to the Conference on Disarmament, the World Trade Organization, and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, while serving concurrently, too, as Ambassador to Switzerland. Before his appointment to the UN, from 2016–2018, he served as director-general of the International Organizations and Economic Development Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has held posts also in Myanmar’s embassies in Jakarta and Singapore. Following the 2021 coup, he remained loyal to the civilian government and resisted the military regime’s attempt to remove him from his post.
Moe Zaw Oo – Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Unity Government
Moe Zaw Oo actively participated in students’ demonstrations and later nationwide uprisings in 1988 when he studied at the Rangoon Arts and Science University. Then he joined the National League for Democracy led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in September 1988. He was arrested in 1990 for his involvement in political activities and released in 1999. He received a master’s degree after studying at the Chulalongkorn University in Thailand while he was in exile. Upon return to Myanmar in 2012, he served as a deputy Chief of Staff to the office of the NLD Chairperson – Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and then became the Chief of Staff of the office in February 2016. He received a degree from a post-graduate course in international strategic studies at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London in 2017. He served as an advisor to the Union Peace Commission until the attempted coup in February 2021. He is an Executive Director of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation – a charity organization chaired by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He was appointed by the CRPH and the National Unity Consultative Council as a deputy minister for the Foreign Affairs of the National Unity Government of Myanmar in April 2021.
Aung Kyaw Moe – Deputy Minister of Human Rights, National Unity Government
Aung Kyaw Moe is Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Human Rights of the National Unity Government and is a prominent Rohingya human rights activist and humanitarian. He has been awarded various international awards, including the 2019 Schuman Award by the EU, the French Republic Human Rights Prize by the French Government, and a global pluralism award. Aung Kyaw Moe has worked with diverse international organizations for over 15 years in Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Liberia. He has a Master’s Degree in Humanitarian Assistance from Deakin University, Australia. He is a Bush Liberty and Leadership Fellow at the Bush Presidential Center and completed both an Asia Pacific Leaders Fellowship at the Obama Presidential Center and a Dalai Lama fellowship at the United States Institute for Peace.
Evelyn – Member of Parliament, Karenni State Democratic Party
Evelyn is an elected Member of Parliament for the Karenni State Democratic Party, having won her seat in the 2020 general election for the Karenni State Assembly. She is a member of the Karenni State Interim Parliament. She was a member of the National Consultative Council and a Karenni State Consultative Council (KSCC) representative. She was elected vice-chairperson of the KSCC after the first congress of the KSCC in January 2023.
Moderator: Meredith Weiss
Professor of Political Science, University at Albany, SUNY
Director, SUNY/CUNY SEAC
Burma Studies Group 