Date: 2 February (Friday)

Time: 10:00 – 11:30 AM Sg Time

Hosts: ISEAS (Singapore)

Zoom

Min Zin is the executive director of the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar, an independent, nongovernmental Myanmar think-tank. He is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Min Zin studies comparative politics with a special focus on civil-military relations, democratization, and contentious politics, and has written for the New York Times and Foreign Policy, among others. His writings appear in many edited volumes, Journal of Democracy, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Social Research: An International Quarterly, Contemporary Southeast Asia, and Asian Survey.

Mary Callahan is Associate Professor in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. She teaches classes on Southeast Asian politics, Human Rights in Asia, and The Politics of Development Assistance. On leave from the university, she spent twelve years based in Yangon, Myanmar, where she carried out research on election politics, political economy, census methodology, gender issues, and conflict dynamics. She is currently working on a book manuscript on revolutionary politics in the Dry Zone.

This week’s New Pubs features Roberts and Girke on the troubling potential of the Secretariat; Cheong on how Rohingya are racial excluded by bureaucratic omission; and Easley and Chow on China’s support of Myanmar (as well as other pariah countries).

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.

Date: January 29^th, 2024 (Monday)

Time: 06:00 – 07:00 PM AEST Time (13:30-14:30 Myanmar/Yangon Time)

Zoom: here

Host: Australia Myanmar Initiative

Richard Horsey is a widely published political analyst and has been a close observer of Myanmar for over 25 years. He specializes in the politics, political economy and illicit economy of the country, as well as the armed conflict. Since 2009, he has been Senior Adviser on Myanmar to the International Crisis Group, and also advises a number of other organisations. He was formerly the Myanmar representative of the International Labour Organization (2002-2007) working to end the practice of forced labour imposed by the previous military regime. He was subsequently a senior adviser and spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs following Cyclone Nargis. He is the author of more than a hundred reports on Myanmar, as well as numerous articles and opinion pieces. He is a fluent Burmese speaker and holds a PhD in psychology from University College London.

Min Zin is the Executive Director of the Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar. The Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental think tank. Established in 2016, it aims to promote democratic leadership and strengthen civic participation in Myanmar through its key strategic programs and initiatives. The Institute primarily focuses on research, capacity building, leadership engagement, communication and outreach programs, and desk initiatives on peace and China issues.

Questions and Answers will follow the presentations.

This week’s New Pubs features Ohmar Khine inquiring whether the BSPP created jobs equitably; Kudo on the relationship between the coup and economic growth; and Saung Yanant Pyae Kyaw and Sasiphattra on post-coup China/Myanmar relations.

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.

This week’s New Pubs features Lubina on Burmese political thought as seen through U Thant and ASSK; Thweep’s book on photography in Burma between 1862-1962; and Chessman’s short book on Myanmar’s political lexicon (Open Access until 25 January!)

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.

while Harvard hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory lately, and in our professional opinion should be mocked as much as possible, it still throws a good conf from time to time – especially when the inimitable Anna Tsing is involved!

See here for details, due date is 30 Jan 2024.

This week’s New Pubs features Thayza Thara and Veetakarn on Burmese linguistics (aspect); Buscemi and Proto on “telluric geographies” and weapons in Myanmar’s borderlands; and Palmiano Federer with some “unsettled reflections” from Yangon’s Golden Valley.

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.

This week’s New Pubs features Dean on the local dynamics of BRI in Northern Myanmar; Liew et al analyzing Obama’s “pragmatic liberalism” in Burma; and Insight Myanmar podcast’s panel discussion on why Myanmar’s struggle for democracy has been ignored, with five speakers (see image below).

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.

This week’s New Pubs features Edwards on Graeber, Leach, and Revolution in Myanmar; IISS on how Competing armed groups pose new threat to Rohingya in Bangladesh; and Ware and Skidmore with an edited volume “After the Coup: Myanmar’s Political and Humanitarian Crises.”

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.

Australian National University offers an online Burmese language course for a degree (Minor) for students within ANU, and other universities in Australia through ANU’s cross-institutional program.  For those who wish to learn the language only, the best way is to enrol through the Open Universities of Australia as their tuition fee is very reasonable.  Please refer to the links as shown below. 

2024 Semester 1 course (Burmese 1 and Burmese 3) will start on 19 February!  

*Burmese 2 and Burmese 4 will be offered for 2024 Semester 2 (begins on 22 July).

ANU Cross-Institutional program   

https://www.anu.edu.au/…/cross-institutional-applications

OUA (Open Universities of Australia)

https://www.open.edu.au/courses/subjects?keyword=Burmese

You may be eligible to OUA’s further financial assistance. Please check here.

https://www.open.edu.au/your-studies/financial-options/fees

The syllabus of ANU Burmese course is designed as teaching Burmese as a foreign language for adult learners, including the second generation of Myanmar families who have grown up speaking English.

https://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/2024/minor/burm-min

Questions?  Please contact

ANU CAP Student Centre

Tel:  61 2 6125 3207    

Email:  cap.student [at] anu.edu.au