This week’s New Pubs features Rahman at al on the role of religion for Rohingya life in Aceh; Deejay et al on Facebook’s damaging utopian narratives of technologically-driven social change in Myanmar; and Wardani and Shahpur consider interpretation and positionality in Rakhine state.
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.
** Our cupboard is a bit dry here, so if you have pubs you want to circulate, please send them on **
This week’s New Pubs features Matelski on contested civil society in Myanmar; Stokke and Nyi Nyi Kyaw on revolutionary resistance to full autocratization; and Ganesan on whether the coup is paving a revolutionary road to democratization.
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.
‘Call for small research proposals – Myanmar’s current issues in the “digital space”’
The Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar (K4DM)-Phase-II Initiative run program invites researchers in Myanmar and the diaspora to submit proposals for research projects on issues of importance to the many social, political and economic challenges facing Myanmar and its citizens. We are particularly interested in research making use of digital tools (online surveys, online focus groups, etc) as well as research at the intersection of digital technology and current policy affairs (see more on topics below).
Gosling-Lim Postdoctoral Fellowship in Southeast Asian Studies
This fellowship is focused on capability-building in Southeast Asian Studies among scholars who are Southeast Asian nationals based in Southeast Asia and at Southeast Asian institutions. Its goal is to enable such scholars to concentrate on publishing their dissertation research, and/or embark on new post-dissertation research, without the distraction of having to teach, consult, or shoulder administrative burdens, and with the opportunity to expand their scholarly networks and expertise. The intent is that fellowship recipients will develop their careers in Southeast Asia, helping to advance the field of Southeast Asian Studies within the region.
The fellowship provides US $52,000 of funding for postdoctoral research and writing, to be expended over 8-12 months while the recipient is in residence or otherwise based at an academic institution, in Southeast Asia or abroad, other than their home institution and the institution at which their doctorate was obtained. The fellowship may be used in any discipline and for any country of Southeast Asia (i.e., Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam).
This week’s New Pubs features Buscemi on the political ecologies of landmines in Myanmar’s borderlands; Morton on the double bind of indigeneity in Myanmar; and Crouch & Hmung on law and military overreach during Myanmar’s Covid-19.
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 Department of Asian Studies seeks a collegial and talented colleague to support a new interdepartmental initiative to expand and connect Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific Islander Studies through Environmental Humanities lenses that emphasize the shared histories and futures of Asia/Oceania/America. Review of applications will begin January 15, 2024, and continue until the position is filled. apply here.
This week’s New Pubs features Loong on post-war (pre-coup) Karen civil society; Bell on Rohingya life in Sydney; and Faxon and Wittekind on scams in Myanmar’s digital land markets.
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.
Fig. 1. As part of the community visit, BSCA students introduce themselves to villagers (source: Shona Loong).
“Belonging, Suffering and the Body of Others. Practices of ‘We-Formation‘ During Mourning Rituals Among Shia Muslims in Myanmar”
Judith Beyer (University of Konstanz) develops an existential anthropological approach towards understanding mourning practices of Shia Muslims in Myanmar. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in the country’s former capital Yangon, she designates Shia mourning rituals as existential situations through which individuals come to experience themselves and others. Drawing on Jean-Paul Sartre’s theory of the body and Tine Gammeltoft’s framework of belonging as well as an ethnomethodological analysis of micro-interactions, she develops how in such existential situations a largely pre-reflective self-consciousness can lead to what she calls ‘we-formation‘ — the forming of groups that does not rely on ethno-religious or other classifications along the lines of identity, race or class.
The latest issue of the Independent Journal of Burmese Scholarship has been released. It is issue one of a two-part special volume on feminism, with issue two to be released in 2024. It features two introductory articles, and seven articles and six poems from contributors identifying as either female or LGBTQ. As part of the “Dawei Collective” they write on topics such as how feminism intersects with Marxism and economics, ethnicity, religion, and democratic and labor union politics, how feminism in Myanmar and the Global South differs from feminism in the West, and how feminists are engaging in the ongoing revolutionary struggle against patriarchal military rule in Myanmar. Their voices are grounded, honest, and uncompromising, and this special issue throws into relief how feminists of diverse backgrounds have been affected by, and are affecting, the dynamic and complex societies within Myanmar today.
This week’s New Pubs features Ma Cheria and Cielo on understanding the current struggle of Myanmar’s farmers; Meehan and Seng Lawn Dan on opium cultivation and drug use in Myanmar/China border; and Schissler on Facebook and genocide.
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.
Burma Studies Group 