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Month: March 2021

ICBMS Statement on Military Takeover of Myanmar Universities

March 15, 2021
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Dr Chayan Vaddhanaphuti from the ICBMS academic committee with a statement on the recent entrance into and takeover of university campuses (as well as hospitals) by the security forces of Myanmar, nationwide.  "It pains us deeply to see the work, progress, and freedoms of our academic friends and colleagues being destroyed by the actions of the military"  How you can help: Visit Mutual Aid Myanmar at their website www.mutualaidmyanmar.org to make a contribution that will go directly to help people on strike and participating in the civil disobedience movement (CDM) For those in Thailand: สามารถบริจาคผ่านเพจ Friends Against Dictatorship - FAD หรือโอนโดยตรงที่บัญชี กสิกร 091-8-54057-1

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Roundtable: Resilience and Resistance: Migrant Workers’ Struggle for Rights in Thailand

March 7, 2021
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Session 31, Sunday 7 March 10.15-11.45Coordinator: Kyaw Kyaw Min HtutDiscussant: Brahm Press BEAM Education Foundation and MAP Foundation have been working to assist migrant workers for a decade. MAP is in Chiang Mai and Mae Sot, and BEAM works through a network in 7 provinces in Thailand. Both organizations run a number of programs aimed at empowering migrant workers to receive rights, including labor rights, women’s rights, access to health care, youth, and children’s education. As organizers of this panel, speakers will draw on their experience to give examples of how migrants face up to the various systemic problems they...

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Panel: Roles of Ethnic Organizations in Promoting Grassroots Peace and Community Security in Myanmar

March 7, 2021
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Session 35: Sunday, 7 March, 10.15-11.45Convener: Makiko TakedaDiscussant: Chosein Yamahata In this panel, each author focuses on a different type of ethnic organization in Myanmar and analyses the approaches and means to foster peace, security, and social transformation from the grassroots level. Four research papers by the panelists will be tabled for discussion with the following objectives: (1) identify similarities and differences among different types ofethnic organizations (2) reveal their ways and means to approach the problems, issues, and challenges in the form of community initiatives (3) list the measures and steps to empower them and intervene towards transforming negative...

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Panel: Astrological & Divinatory Knowledge and Practice in Burma

March 6, 2021
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Session 20, 6 March, 13.30-15.00 Convened by Aurore Candier, this panel will present papers on The Emergence and Evolution of the Bedin Category in Burma: The Transition of the Nineteenth Centurypresented by Aurore CandierMin Thein Kha - Biography as a Construction of the Astrologer Personalitypresented by Bénédicte Brac de la PerrièreThe Arakanese Calendar: Ways of Mastering Space?presented by Alexandra de Mersan

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Panel: Cross-stressing in the Periphery – Historic Migratory Populations & Practices along the Myanmar-Thailand Border

March 6, 2021
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Sessions 19 & 25: Saturday, 6 March, 13.30-15.00 and 15.15-16.45 Convened by Thanyarat Apiwong, Department of History, Chiang Mai University and Thomas Bruce, Thammasat University The papers of this panel examine the histories of transnational communities in Myanmar and Thailand as places of crossroads activity and sites of cross-cultural interaction. They examine different communities that have negotiated cultural enclaves and bring to the fore aspects of their cultural repertoire to suit the occasion. The papers reflect the mixture of stability, plurality, and flexibility of various communities in key areas, namely local production, trade, and consumption, including Chinese migrant involvement, varieties...

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Panel: Voices from the Margin – Disability and Inequality in Myanmar

March 6, 2021
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Session 14, Saturday 6 March 10.45 - 12.15 Convened and chaired by Mike Griffiths, Social Policy & Poverty Research Group This panel first presents an overview of a decade of research on disability and inequality in Myanmar, particularly looking at the intersection of gender, disability and geography. This is followed by an in-depth study of disability and self-identity, exploring how religious beliefs intersect with gender to shape the narratives of disabilities amongst people with disabilities and their near-community. The third paper follows this, looking more specifically at how autism is constructed narratively, attempting to analyze the curious phenomenon of the...

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Roundtable: Dawei – Change and Regional Connectivity

March 6, 2021
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Session 12, 6 March, 10.45 - 12.15 This roundtable, coordinated by Areewan Sombunwatthanakun, will take on the proposed special economic zone for Dawei and what it portends for the future of the area's people and environment. Five centuries of history as a crossroads of economic and intellectual exchange has endowed Dawei with a rich cultural and social heritage. Located along with the Tanintharyi mountain range and the Andaman coast, Dawei is abundant in natural resources. Within this unique historical and geographic context, the area has been targeted for the development ofthe Dawei Special Economic Zone (DSEZ) project, which, if realized,...

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Plenary: Reflections on the Military Coup and CDM in Myanmar

March 5, 2021
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Saturday begins with the ICBMS3 plenary session, “Reflections on the military coup and Civil Disobedience Movement in Myanmar” with three speakers taking on the elephant in the room: the coup and the anti-coup CDM movement. Speakers include: Dr. Khin Mar Mar Kyi, International Gender Studies, The University of Oxford, “Thanakha's Defiance: Generations, Gender & Social Movement in Myanmar against the Military Regime” Naw May Oo Mutraw, Senior Policy Advisor, The Salween Institute for Public Policy, “Burma: a Chronic Constitutional Crisis and a Call for a New Political Culture” Dr. Ashley South, Research Fellow, Chiang Mai University"Reflections on the Military coup,...

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Panel: Languages of Myanmar Adapting to the 21st Century

March 4, 2021
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Session 7, Friday 5 March 14.45 - 16.15 While Burmese has become the language of national communication, local languages have profited from eased censorship requirements as well as the new opportunities offered by low-cost digital productions and online publications. Subtitled music videos, interactive dictionaries and phrase books with linked audio files no longer need professional equipment and large budgets. Local communities are making good use of these new possibilities to promote their cultures and languages, as numerous Facebook pages, websites, and YouTube videos in numerous languages prove. These technological innovations and their ready availability provide a good opportunity for language...

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