Burma Past and Present: Religion, Ethnicity and Power is an event series of readings and discussions of works in progress. We focus on issues of identity, conflict and religion in Burma from the nineteenth century to the present.
This is a pivotal moment for Burma and the study of Burma. The next years will see a huge transition for the country and its diasporas. It is key to think through both the long history of the current fractures in Burmese society (religious identities, ethnic identities) as well as how the contemporary situation reconfigures these in important ways. The speakers are organized in four thematic clusters: Religious Minorities; Ethnicities and Belonging; Critical Studies of Buddhist Monasticism; Economy, Activism and Politics. The series is organized by Alicia Turner (Humanities).
All are welcome.
Series events for Fall 2023
Women’s Voices Unplugged: Aural Disturbances and Buddhism Debased with Andrew Dade, University of Toronto | 21 September 2023
Evolution of China-Myanmar Relations in the Aftermath of the February 2021 Coup with Wa Lone, University of Toronto | 26 October 2023
Living Off the Land; Migration from Myanmar and the (Dis)Locations of Nature in Refugee Lives with Nicole T. Venker, Cornell University | 02 November 2023
The Return of Mi Shwe Tin? Speculative Property and Vernacular Capitalism in a Burmese Oilfield, 1890-1920 with Chao Ren, University of Michigan | 09 November 2023
The Middle Man: Dr. Clement Williams in Mindon’s Mandalay 1861–79 with Ron Graham, political author and journalist | 30 November 2023
Deconstructing and Reinforcing Gender Norms and Cultural Taboos in Myanmar’s Spring Revolution with Aye Lei Tun, McMaster University | 07 December 2023 (TBC)
Earlier Series Events
Pāramī and Rebirth in the Lives of Thilashin with M K Long, Cornell University | 25 April 2023
Ma Ba Tha in Myanmar: Contesting and Shaping Modern Buddhist Subjectivities with Matthew J Walton, University of Toronto | 28 March 2023
A Political Lexicon of Myanmar with Nick Cheesman, Australian National University | 10 February 2023
‘Peace’ as ‘peace for business and development’ or ‘peace’ as ‘an end to violence, oppression’ and ‘presence of justice’?: Understanding Karen people’ assertion of ‘genuine’ peace and peacebuilding process through the Salween Peace Park with Sheila Htoo, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University | 25 November 2022
Making Religion through Moral Practice in Colonial Burma: Intoxication, Women and Inter-religious Collaboration with Hitomi Fujimura, York Centre for Asian Research, York University | 28 October 2022
Discourses on Secularism and Burmese Anti-colonial Subjectivities with Htet Min Lwin, Religious Studies, York University | 14 October 2022
Real Change: Converting Politics in Myanmar with Michael Edwards, Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge | 12 April 2022
Imagining an Overseas Chinese Community in Colonial Burma with Siew Han Yeo, Doctoral Candidate in History, University of Toronto | 7 April 2022
Women’s Participation and Visibility in the Anti-Military Online Movement in Myanmar with Isabella Aung, PhD Student, Department of Political Studies, Queen’s University | 15 March 2022
Exposing Enlightenment: The ‘Living Arahant’ in Photography and Print in Post-colonial Burma with Tony Scott, Department of the Study of Religion, University of Toronto | 01 March 2022
Hitomi Fujimura, Awareness of Nationality and the Responsibility for Nation through the Christian Youth Networks: A Case Study of the Burmese Baptists in the 1900s, Post Doctoral Fellow, York University, Feb 2 2022
Alexandra Kaloyanides, Objects of Religious Change in the Konbaung Kingdom, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Feb 16 2022
Carli Melo, Geographies of Production and Reproduction: The Case of Myanmar Migrant Factory Workers in Thailand, PhD student, Geography York University | Nov 18, 2021
Stephen Campbell, Negotiating antifascist solidarity across ethnic difference in Myanmar: Bhamo Tin Aung’s Yoma Taikbwe,Assistant Professor, Social Sciences, Nanyang Technical University, Singapore | Dec 15 2021
