Published for the Institute for East Asian Studies (SIEAS), Sogang University, South KoreaTRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia is a new journal in the field of Southeast Asian studies, encouraging research that crosses not only national or regional borders, but also disciplinary borders. Traditionally, area studies have been bounded by national or regional location. Transnational studies posit that these boundaries are unnecessarily limiting, and attempt to examine issues on the supra-national level. TRaNS takes a specifically trans-regional and -national perspective, inclusive of virtually all social sciences, publishing articles in the disciplines of political science, anthropology, sociology, history, geography, and economics. The journal occupies a unique niche among both Southeast Asian studies journals and transnational studies journals.
A great opportunity for a Burmese scholar to present at the Association for Asian Studies Conference, but a very short deadline!
SEAC Call For Papers
Transnational Borderland Identities in Southeast Asia
Rising Voices in Southeast Asian Studies
Deadline July 1, 2016
The Southeast Asia Council (SEAC) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is seeking paper proposals from up-and-coming scholars to join a “Rising Voices” panel on the broad topic of “transnational borderland identities in Southeast Asia.” We seek to recruit three early career scholars from Southeast Asian countries in order to form a panel for eventual inclusion in the 2017 Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, to be held in Toronto, Canada from March 16–19, 2017.
Panel Topic Details:
For this year’s Rising Voices Panel, we seek to build a panel on the broad topic of “Transnational Borderland Identities in Southeast Asia.” In addition to receiving financial support from the AAS/SEAC, this year’s Rising Voices Panel also has financial support provided by TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia:http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=TRN.
The exact panel description will be developed and refined once panelists have been selected, but the theme is designed to be inclusive enough to solicit a wide range of applicants. Papers can discuss ways that transnational borderland identities are both formed and performed in various contexts, and may pursue the topic from any disciplinary angle, either contemporary or historical. Topics might include, but are not limited to:
border zone geographies
migration
trade and/or smuggling
border identities
regimes of border governance and policing
gender, class, ethnic, religious, and spatial dynamics in Southeast Asian borderlands
The only restriction regarding proposed paper topics is that they must be about “Southeast Asia” and “Transnational Borderland Identities.”
For further details on this year’s panel topic, eligibility, and selection criteria, please visit the call for papers at http://www.asian-studies.org/SEAC-Rising-Voices. Further questions may be addressed to this year’s panel organizer: [email protected].
Myanmar's powerful army chief Min Aung Hlaing and his deputy are slated to extend their terms for another five years, a local newspaper said on Saturday, as the military and democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi negotiate the terms of transition.
One Bangladesh border guard is wounded and another seized by his Burmese counterparts after the two sides exchanged gunfire while chasing drug smugglers.
Despite being a world away from their former homes, the Karen youth of San Diego vividly remember the poverty and privation of their childhood.
SAN DIEGO, California — Despite being a world away from their former homes, the Karen youth of San Diego vividly remember the poverty and privation of their childhoods.
The southern Californian city is home to some 1,500 refugees from Burma, most of them ethnic Karen, since a United Nations resettlement plan began in 2006. After fleeing civil war in Burma and years in Thai refugee camps, many are now thriving in their adoptive US home, but many dream of returning and fostering a better life for their Karen brethren.
“After growing up in a place like I did, I wanted to become a nurse,” said Mu Aye, a student at San Diego City College studying social work and nursing. “I wanted to help sick people. I want to travel to refugee camps in Thailand and care for people who cannot afford medication. I always believed that nursing is a career that can help people.”
Mu Aye spent her childhood in the Umpiem Mai refugee camp, 90 kilometers southeast of Mae Sot and home to nearly 20,000 people at its peak. She credits her career choice to the experience of growing up without a reliable water supply and access to medicine.
“Medical care in the camp was not good as it is in America,” she said. “In the camp, we could not be covered if we did not have money to pay for our medication. Many of us became very ill when we were not properly protected from diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and cholera.”
Karen refugees, especially the young, have bright futures in the United States. The prospect of a formal education, university and a career would have been unthinkable had their families remained stuck in refugee camps or displaced in rural Burma. Though many arrived in the US at a young age and speak in a California drawl, members of San Diego’s tightknit Karen community are conscious of their good fortunes, their thoughts dwelling on those who didn’t share their luck.
Eh De Gray, a recent graduate from San Diego’s Crawford High School preparing to enter college for a law degree, told The Irrawaddy he also had aspirations to travel back to his home country and help the Karen community.
“I want to go back there and meet with kids at schools,” he said. “I want to share my knowledge and experiences with them.”
Crucible or Melting Pot?
Many older refugees, who traveled to the US for the sake of their children, have found it more difficult to adjust. The language barrier, the culture shock and a lack of formal schooling have all in many cases impeded their job prospects and rendered them alienated from the wider community.
“We can’t help our children much because we were born in a village and have no education,” said Shae Paw, a mother of five who moved to San Diego in 2010. “In the refugee camp, we couldn’t even imagine what it was like to touch a car. But we moved here to see better opportunities for our children.”
She added that she and her husband still struggle to speak and read English despite their five years in the US. Other parents made abortive efforts to learn before deciding they were too old to grasp a new language.
Gary Weaver, a professor of American University’s School of International Service in Washington DC, told The Irrawaddy that while first generation migrants often struggled with the US education system, an American schooling generally had a profound effect on the children and grandchildren of migrants.
“They become educated and contribute to American society,” he said. “They speak and think like Americans and they sometimes marry Americans rather than members of their own ethnic communities.”
Prodigal Sons
Life in San Diego isn’t always rosy for refugee youth. Many Karen families life in the vicinity of the City Heights neighborhood, which although gentrifying in recent years, remains the site of substantial gang activity. Murder, drug use, robbery and street fights are all common occurrences.
Alarmed by reports of violence and substance abuse among some Karen teenagers community leaders approached former police officer Kevin LaChapelle for help.
“They told me they were concerned many Karen young people were using drugs and alcohol. And they wanted to share some of the politics within the culture to help me understand how to help them,” he told The Irrawaddy.
LaChapelle is the founder of PowerMentor, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing positive support for young San Diego residents at risk of being lured by criminal activity. He recently developed a Karen Leadership Academy, hoping to inspire the refugee youth to resist the negative influences of their neighborhoods, offering assistance where he can to steer his charges towards their goals.
“They had shared with me that they wanted to become nurses, and two wanted to become pilots, and one wanted to become an attorney,” he said. “I happened to have a friend that was a flight instructor, and PowerMentor has a pipeline to a local law school, so I knew this was no coincidence.”
With many of those under his wing hoping to one day return to their birthplaces, LaChapelle has been a strong supporter of their desire to return to Burma and work to improve the communities they left behind.
“I have always told the Karen guys that our desire is to help them accomplish whatever their dreams are, and we wanted them to determine their goals without influence from others,” he said. “We believe in their desire to return to Karen state to offer medical aid after they complete nursing school. My friends who work in health care and I offered our support to one day help them start a clinic in Karen State if they so desire. And that is where we stand now.”
A commemoration for an important national poet, this mausoleum is one of the boldest manifestations of modern Burmese architecture. U Kyaw Min used pure and geometric forms; the daring use of deep red and gold in the interior resembles the traditional colour combination of ancient Burmese palaces. The architect stood for parliament as an opposition candidate in the 1990 elections, which were eventually annulled by the military junta. He would spend much of the 1990s in Insein prison, the country’s most notorious jail, contracting liver disease, which would plague him until his death.
While this was one of the first major public constructions after Burmese independence, the brief was given to British architect Raglan Squire, who had made a name for himself during the reconstruction of war-damaged London. With this Yangon assignment, a long and fruitful international career kicked off that would see Squire build in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Almost 60 years old, the Engineering College is strikingly modern and even today, it still exudes the spirit of a newly independent nation that placed a heavy emphasis on the education of its young. Take a walk around and take in the beauty of the wall mosaics.
The Soviet Union donated several buildings to the fledgling Burmese nation in the late 1950s, including the Inya Lake Hotel, which closely follows the tried and tested Soviet sanatorium (i.e. rest and relaxation resorts) architectural style, except in two major aspects. A giant steamship funnel decorates the roof and creates a playful maritime association. The entrance canopy, much larger than in the hundreds of sanatoria found from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok, is an homage to Burmese climatic realities, since torrential rainfalls inundate the city several months of the year. A cold beverage in the hotel’s garden bar, overlooking peaceful Inya Lake, is a much recommended conclusion to a day of exploring Yangon.
American architect Polk, who ran his architectural practice from New Delhi, was asked to incorporate a number of highly symbolic elements and numbers into the design of this library and Buddhist museum. It was built on the occasion of an important gathering of Buddhist dignitaries that took place in Yangon from 1954-1956. Post-independence prime minister U Nu was a deeply spiritual man, and used Buddhism as an expedient tool for nation building. This building is magical. With its bold architectural design, it conveys the bygone optimism of a young nation. The entire Kaba Aye (World Peace) complex, replete with hollow pagoda, is worthwhile checking out. Be sure to take a peek inside the massive man-made cave!
The recent lowering of tensions with Cuba, and subsequent loosening of travel restrictions, has given Americans a chance to rediscover the island's cultural and architectural treasures. But Cuba isn't the only country re-emerging from a period of isolation. Myanmar, formerly a pariah state ruled by a military junta, has slowly re-established itself on the international stage over the last few years, giving visitors a chance to observe the country's unique landscape, a fusion of Buddhist pagodas, remnants of the colonial past and modern high-rises. Curbed spoke with Ben Bansal, one of the authors of the forthcoming Yangon Architectural Guide, to learn about some of the country's lesser-known modern gems.
Returning from the 1970 World Exposition in Osaka, General Ne Win was so taken with the Burmese pavilion displayed there that he decreed for a vast replica to be built in Yangon, on Kandawgyi Lake. Today, this swimming restaurant is one of the stranger sights in the city. Its design goes back to the royal barges used by Burmese kings during ceremonial processions in Mandalay, their last capital. The seven-tiered pyatthat roof is typical of traditional architecture. Karaweik Palace is often used for folklore dinners and other cultural shows.
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