Mikael Gravers and Flemming Ytzen, eds. Burma/Myanmar: Where Now? Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2014, xiv+447pp. // Renaud Egreteau and François Robinne, eds. Metamorphosis: Studies in Social and Political Change in Myanmar. Singapore: NUS Press in association with IRASEC, 2015, xiv+428pp.

Abstract

Burma/Myanmar: Where Now? Mikael Gravers and Flemming Ytzen, eds. Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2014, xiv+447pp.Metamorphosis: Studies in Social and Political Change in Myanmar Renaud Egreteau and Francois Robinne, eds. Singapore: NUS Press in association with IRASEC, 2015, xiv+428pp.Political developments in Burma/Myanmar in recent years have been so unexpectedly rapid, if spotty and times inscrutable, that people both inside and outside the country are often hard pressed to keep track of what is going on. The pace of events explains both the need for the kinds of books under review here, books whose titles indicate the urgency with which the question of change presents itself, and the same time the reason why they appear dated virtually from the moment they appear, given the unavoidable lag between the time of a book's preparation and its actual appearance.The collection of pieces edited by Mikael Gravers and Flemming Ytzen appeared in 2014, whereas Renaud Egreteau and Francois Robinne's collection appeared in 2015. As a result, the former necessarily suffers particularly acutely from a reader's desire to pose the question Yes, and then what happened? To the extent that the book provides timely background accounts with which better to understand recent developments, however, it serves a very useful function. Its many parts, most of them short (even as short as just a couple of pages), catch readers up on a great range of topics that come to mind, or should, when thinking about a country that most of the world did not think about for decades. So there are brief accounts of Burma's recent political thaw, its transition from colonial rule to independence, the major actors in current politics, the troubled relations between the authorities and the press, the role of monks, the situation of women, the vagaries of ethnic minorities' struggles against the Burman-dominated central government, as well as their struggles among themselves, the consequences of international investment, etc.If the above list appears disheveled, then it conveys an impression the book itself makes. The editors have clearly had to keep in mind the nature of the series, the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies' Asia Insights, in which their appears, a series aimed (we read on the page facing the frontispiece) at increasing an understanding of contemporary Asia among policy-makers, NGOs, businesses [sic], journalists and other members of the general public as well as scholars and students. That addressing this combined audience troubled the editors shows up in an odd admission they make on the first page of their preface, when they note that it has not been easy to draw these diverse contributions together in a completely coherent volume (Gravers and Ytzen, p. vii). They then provide a list of bullet points as to why someone should read the book.As an academic, I am allergic to bullet points: they mark the divide between reflection and marketing, analysis and debating points, nuance and executive summaries. (Full disclosure: I also hate PowerPoint slides.) Nevertheless, I admit that in reading through all the pieces, I did indeed fill in many gaps in my knowledge of, say, the long-term and recent twists and turns in Karen history, or the complex (and for that reason particularly vexed) nature of Burma's citizenship laws. All of this information is useful and handy, providing a kind of reference guide to Burma's cascading acronyms, proliferating local conflicts, and apparently irresolvable political quandaries. If there is an overarching message the editors wish to convey above and beyond the book's purpose as a general but extensive background briefing, it appears in the final one of those prefatory bullet points, in which they promise potential readers that reading the book will help them face up to the discrepancy between the current optimism and the many stumbling blocks (Gravers and Ytzen, p. vii).Still, by throwing up their hands, as they seem to have done, the prospect of pulling the contents together more tightly, the editors have let the problem of repetition, and even occasional incoherence, go unaddressed. …