Metamorphosis
Studies in social and political change in Myanmar
Dirigé par Renaud Egreteau & François Robinne
NUS Press, Singapour, octobre 2015, 428 p.
ISBN : 978-997-1698-66-9
English text
With a young population of more than 52 million, an ambitious roadmap for political reform, and on the cusp of rapid economic development, since 2010 the world’s attention has been drawn to Myanmar or Burma.
But underlying recent political transitions are other wrenching social changes and shocks, a set of transformations less clearly mapped out. Relations between ethnic and religious groups, in the context of Burma’s political model of a state composed of ethnic groups, are a particularly important “unsolved equation”.
The editors use the notion of metamorphosis to look at Myanmar today and tomorrow—a term that accommodates linear change, stubborn persistence and the possibility of dramatic transformation. Divided into four sections, on politics, identity and ethnic relations, social change in fields like education and medicine, and the evolutions of religious institutions, the volume takes a broad view, combining an anthropological approach with views from political scientists and historians. This volume is an essential guide to the political and social challenges ahead for Myanmar.
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CONTENT
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction — Metamorphosis : Studies in Social and Political Change in Myanmar (Renaud Egreteau and François Robinne)
PART ONE : EVOLVING POLITICAL ECOLOGIES
- Soldiers as Lawmakers ? Assessing the New Legislative Role of the Burmese Armed Forces (2010–15) (Renaud Egreteau)
- The 2010 Election and the Making of a Parliamentary Representative (Alexandra de Mersan)
- Grassroots Protest Movements and Mutating Conceptions of ‘the Political’ in an Evolving Burma (Elliott Prasse-Freeman)
PART TWO : CONTINUING STRUGGLES FOR IDENTITY AND NATION-BUILDING
- How Far from National Identity ? Dealing with the Concealed Diversity of Myanmar (Maxime Boutry)
- Ethno-nationalism and Participation in Myanmar : Views from the Shan State and Beyond (Jane M. Ferguson)
- Competing Identities and the Hybridized History of Rohingyas (Jacques P. Leider)
- Unwanted War, Unachievable Peace : Examining Some Kachin Narratives in Times of Conflict (Carine Jaquet)
PART THREE : TRAJECTO RIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE
- Students and Teachers as Agents of Democratisation and National Reconciliation in Burma : Realities and Possibilities (Rosalie Metro)
- Transnational Activism as Practised by Activists from Burma : Negotiating Precarity, Mobility and Resistance (Susan Banki)
- Accessibility to Biomedicine in Contemporary Rakhine State (Céline Coderey)
PART FOUR : A TRANSITIONAL “BUDDHIC” LANDSCAPE
- Is There a Future for Buddhist Nuns in Myanmar ? (Hiroko Kawanami)
- A Generation of Monks in the Democratic Transition (Bénédicte Brac de la Perrière)
- To be Burmese is Not (Only) Being Buddhist (François Robinne)
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
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Book review published in Irrawady
Book review published in Asia Sentinel
Book review by Alexandre Pelletier
Book review by Southeast Asian Studies
