Beyond Groupism: Identity, Identity Politics and Transformation In Post-Coup Myanmar
Beyond Groupism: Identity, Identity Politics and Transformation In Post-Coup Myanmar
Abstract Submissions Closed
RC05 Racism, Nationalism, Indigeneity and Ethnicity (host committee)
Language: English
Session Type: Oral
This panel project explores the experiences of inclusion and exclusion among the Rohingya and other Muslim communities in the Thailand-Myanmar borderlands. More than five years after the 2021 coup the people of Myanmar remain caught in mutually reinforcing crises of war, mass forced displacement and humanitarian needs. The opposition to the military has been framed around the language of ‘revolution’, promising a more inclusive society. Yet, how inclusive has the ‘revolution’ been so far? How do visions of and steps towards peace differ among communities?
Myanmar (Burma) is home to some of the world’s longest-running conflicts. The opposition to the military has been framed around the language of ‘revolution’ (the anti-coup pro-democracy movement refers to the events as Nway Oo Tawhlanyay, or Spring Revolution), promising a more inclusive society. The situation on the ground remains complex and constantly evolving, either because of shifting battlegrounds and alliances, the fragmentation of the country’s sovereignty, the emergence of new hybrid governance arrangements and peace-making actors, often working at cross-purposes.
All these changes notwithstanding, the debates over a future, peaceful and post-military Myanmar remains unchanged, in that it is still primarily confined to the members of the 135 officially recognised ‘national races’ (taingyintha) with the so-called ‘unofficial minorities’ such as, among others, the Rohingya and the Chinese communities excluded from citizenship and at the margins of Myanmar’s societal fabric.
Myanmar (Burma) is home to some of the world’s longest-running conflicts. The opposition to the military has been framed around the language of ‘revolution’ (the anti-coup pro-democracy movement refers to the events as Nway Oo Tawhlanyay, or Spring Revolution), promising a more inclusive society. The situation on the ground remains complex and constantly evolving, either because of shifting battlegrounds and alliances, the fragmentation of the country’s sovereignty, the emergence of new hybrid governance arrangements and peace-making actors, often working at cross-purposes.
All these changes notwithstanding, the debates over a future, peaceful and post-military Myanmar remains unchanged, in that it is still primarily confined to the members of the 135 officially recognised ‘national races’ (taingyintha) with the so-called ‘unofficial minorities’ such as, among others, the Rohingya and the Chinese communities excluded from citizenship and at the margins of Myanmar’s societal fabric.
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