Burmese Culture Research Articles

Treating drunk driving: Burmese refugees’ alcohol misuse and its implications for social work practice and education

ABSTRACT An alarming number of DUI/DWI arrests of Burmese refugees stirred public concerns in a Midwestern city. Unfortunately, the community’s responses to the crisis came to an end after years of effort to make a change. The study seeks to explain why this occurred and uses this case to reflect on refugee research and social work practice. This article analyzes how the ineffectiveness in three social institutions – the criminal justice system, the mental health care system, and Burmese churches – led to the failure to correct alcohol misuse behavior among the Burmese. Burmese offenders’ language barriers and unfamiliarity with the criminal justice system led to their quick conviction. Once entering court-ordered therapy, their cultural differences in perceiving mental illness and their lack of language proficiency minimized the intended benefit of alcohol addiction treatment. Furthermore, Burmese pastors normalized drinking as part of Burmese culture, which underestimates the indication of excessive drinking for potential mental health issues. Drawing from the findings, the article discusses the impact of excessive drinking on refugees’ social integration and the implications for social work practice and education.

Forensic Evaluation of Refugees from Myanmar.

Forensic evaluators may have little experience and knowledge of the political context of Myanmar, the Burmese people, and the refugee crisis. Oppression of several ethnic minority groups has marked Burmese military rule of Myanmar for several decades. Protracted trauma exposure, both pre- and post-migration, among refugee populations increases the risk for mental health disorders, particularly depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, and posttraumatic stress disorder. These experiences may result in anger and psychiatric manifestations that bring Burmese refugees in conflict with the law in their host country. Culture influences how mental distress is experienced and reported, and it can influence a forensic evaluator's assessment of psychological-legal matters, such as competency to stand trial and asylum evaluations. The salience of cultural competence becomes particularly pressing given the small number of those of Burmese background in the United States. Most evaluations will be performed by forensic mental health professionals who are not Burmese in ethnicity, nor familiar with Burmese culture. In this article, we provide a backdrop of the military suppression of ethnic minorities prior to discussing the integration of cultural matters in forensic assessments of competency to stand trial, competency for extradition, and asylum seekers in Burmese refugees.

Man Yar Pyae U Tin and the Burmese Slide Guitar: Constructing and Deconstructing Narratives of Cultural Exchange

The slide guitar's history in Burmese culture is interlaced with narratives that bind together themes of romance, modernization, royal patronage, and colonial maritime economies. Drawing from fieldwork with the last Burmese slide guitar master, Man Yar Pyae U Tin, this paper details the instrument's adaptation to Burmese musical tonalities and aesthetics and its role in the performing arts renaissance of the early twentieth century. This ethnographic project connects to a discussion on the framing of cultural exchange and the rhetoric of terminological choice, promoting a symbolic, functional, and material approach to understanding the slide guitar's journey through Asia.

Orwell’s Tattoos: Skin, Guilt, and Magic in ‘Shooting an Elephant’ (1936)

This paper considers the significance of the talismanic tattoos on Orwell’s hands, which he acquired in Burma during his time as a colonial policeman from 1922 to 1927. It examines historical evidence suggesting that such tattoos were understood differently by British and Burmese people, and concludes that, for Orwell, their meaning was multilayered: first, they were a means of understanding Burmese culture more intimately; second, they were a psychological attempt to cathect his feelings of guilt about his complicity in colonial injustice by remaking his ‘skin-ego’; and third, they were a gesture towards the possibility that inscription—first in the form of tattoos, and later in the written word—might be a way to understand and process his self-alienation. The paper goes on to examine Orwell’s 1936 essay ‘Shooting an Elephant’ in the light of Orwell’s interest in inscription, and traces its themes of mark-making, magic, and authorship, arguing that these ideas enabled him, at a crucial moment in his development as a writer, to map his experiences of colonialism onto his wider commitment to anti-fascist and anti-authoritarian politics.

Tharaphi Than. Women in Modern Burma. London and New York: Routledge, 2014, 182pp.

Women in Modern Burma Tharaphi Than London and New York: Routledge, 2014, 182pp.The 2015 election in Myanmar was a pivotal moment in history due to landslide victory of National League for Democracy, led by world-renowned politician Daw Aung San Su Kyi. The presence of an outstanding female leader appears to be a testament of popular narrative that Burmese are powerful agents granted equal rights and status in society. In Women in Modern Burma, Tharaphi Than challenges this notion and reassesses social, economic, and political position of in Burma throughout twentieth century.The introduction offers an overview that includes official narrative and popular image of Burmese along with a brief political and cultural outline of twentieth-century Burma. Than shows how national framework of historical writing has defended privileged positions of Burmese women, who have been portrayed as powerful agents enjoying high status and equal rights to men. Contrary to this narrative, book attempts to challenge concept of liberated Burmese women by showing that Burmese experience little freedom in reality. It accomplishes this by exploring world of female soldiers, politicians, writers, and prostitutes and by referencing women's writings, personal interviews, newspapers, and magazine articles (p. 4). Next, Myanmar's political and cultural situation in twentieth century is briefly outlined as follows: transition to independence (1945-48), Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) (194652), Pyidawtha or Happy Land Years (1952-56), Burma Socialist Program Party (1962-88), and post-1988 period with a post-independence media landscape.Chapter 2 focuses on how female journalists, editors, and writers struggled to achieve their positions in print media. After first English-language newspaper in Burma was published in 1910, print media, especially newspapers, flourished in country and regarded as nonlethal weapons with which to challenge British colonial rule. Thus, young, educated Burmese nationalists viewed journalists and teachers as most attractive professions that could build a full engagement with national politics. Educated Burmese elite men often moved easily within print media industry, politics, and business arena, while such mobility was not available to women. Daw Phwa Shin became first female editor and publisher of newspaper Tharawaddy. However, she used her husband's name as publisher and editor, because she feared that readers would think Tharawaddy was inferior if it was known to be run by a woman. Even Independent Daw San, who demonstrated that a woman was indeed capable of managing a newspaper, wrote under a male pseudonym for fear of being blamed for not embracing modesty. However, independence caused a seismic shift in discourse of Burmese literature and female writers. Women writers played a significant role in shaping national themes and goals for post-independence literature, particularly for preservation of Burmese culture and contributions to nation building and national identity formation.Chapter 3 takes up subject of women's education. On subject of female education in colonial period, Chie Ikeya (2011) has already argued that British education system was crucial to success of Burmese middle-class and that modern education triggered most radical transformation in history of female education and professionalism. On other hand, Than insists that while British education system might have triggered a transformation, the transformation may simply have been a matter of learning in an institution and that Burmese were not empowered to make their independent way in world, with few exceptions (p. 49). Certainly, statistical data obtained by local NGOs, United Nations Population Fund, and government show that either highly educated or highly illiterate (p. …

Analysis of the Antimicrobial Properties of Thanaka, a Burmese Powder Used to Treat Acne

Thanaka, powder from Hesperethusa crenulata tree bark, has been used in Burmese culture for acne treatment and prevention for over 2000 years. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial properties of thanaka against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Propionibacterium acnes. Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion revealed no zones of inhibition for thanaka against the tested microorganisms. Disk diffusion may not be the best modality for definitive analysis of the antimicrobial activity of thanaka. Furthermore, the utility of thanaka in acne treatment may be related to anti-inflammatory, rather than antimicrobial properties.

Burmese Culture during the Colonial Period in the Years 1885-1931. The World of Burmese Values in Reaction to the Inclusion of Colonialism

The colonial period in Burma marked the start of slow changes which would eventually turn a traditional society into a modern one. The changes in Burmese culture which took place in the colonial period were an important aspect of this transformation. In the period of British rule, Burmese culture found itself in an ambivalent situation, on the one hand opposing foreign models and ideas and, on the other, adopting numerous foreign cultural elements which, if treated as cultural tools, allowed for the protection of autotelic indigenous Burmese values.

INVOLUNTARY SIGHTSEEING: SOLDIERS AS TRAVEL WRITERS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF COLONIAL BURMA

British Burma has never beenadequately or even systematically studied as both students of modern Burmese history and British empire historians have given it relatively short shrift. Nonetheless, imperial rule lasted for nearly five generations and helped to produce the nation which now identifies itself as Myanmar. By the end of the nineteenth century, Burma was crucial to the wider South Asian economy, supplying oil, minerals, teak, and, above all, rice to destinations around the Indian Ocean. Yet, it took three Anglo-Burmese Wars to make Burma a part of British India. These conflicts are largely forgotten but they determined not only the fate of the country, but helped to shape its future trajectories. Military conflict proved more durable than colonization as independence brought with it a situation in which the “state has been continuously at war with the population mapped into its territorial claim” (Callahan 13). Nonetheless, the intellectual and cultural history of British Burma is rich and fascinating: colonial authors made the country their subject matter and they left behind a diverse corpus which bore the stamp of Victorian civilization. The experience of writing about Burma – particularly by those writers who identified with Burmese culture – produced some forgotten masterpieces. However, the dominant British understanding of the country arose from military conflict and occupation; this paper focuses on four British war narratives (which followed each of the Anglo-Burmese Wars) because they disclose more than their recounting of these conflicts might suggest. By exploring the works of John James Snodgrass, Henry Gouger, William F. B. Laurie, and Major Edmond Charles Browne, it will be possible to trace the beginnings of the colonizing narrative which helped to shape British rule. These writers experienced the Anglo-Burmese Wars directly and their narratives illustrate that they were “involuntary sightseers” recording not only the details of conflict, but their assessments of Burma and the Burmese.

Myanmar: An Endemic Country for Oral Cancer.

Myanmar: An Endemic Country for Oral Cancer.

How “The Generals” Think. Gustaaf Houtman and the Enigma of the Burmese Military Regime

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical introduction to Gustaaf Houtman’s work on the contemporary political situation in Burma in order to make this work better known beyond the circles of Burma scholars and in order to discuss its author’s stance. Houtman has propounded the most sophisticated interpretation of the current Burmese military regime, of its ideology and policy. Yet, it is argued, he has not drawn the obvious conclusion his work inspires, that is, “ the generals” are first and foremost Burmese, and their world view a product of Burmese culture.

Globalization Seen from ElsewhereLa Mondialisation Vue d’Ailleurs: L'Inde Désorientée. By Jackie Assayag. Paris: Editions de Seuil, 2005.

venture into: the fact that a serious interest in cosmology seems somehow out of place in the poststructuralist critical world. Cosmology is perhaps the “worst” kind of “culture” because it describes distinct systems of understanding how the universe operates and is ordered and that cohere by virtue of powerful principles internal to themselves. Basing a realist social scientific diagnosis on the structuring influence of cosmological beliefs is considered out-of-date in anthropology, and this may result in a deliberate blindness that is particularly debilitating when considering situations such as Jordt is exploring. While directly addressing this problem with only a few cursory and dismissive gestures aimed at contemporary critical theory, the book, by example, does prove its point by demonstrating how modern Buddhist cosmology helps explain the dynamics of legitimacy in a way that other approaches cannot. Jordt’s analysis is delivered in a traditional anthropological manner, invoking plain facts in support of a sober analysis of the structures of Burmese culture. The experience of Vipassana meditation does not seem to have displaced the normal ways of writing and thinking through anthropology. For that reason, it will probably be a book whose main interest will be to those who have an empirical interest in Burma, Southeast Asia, and Buddhism. But for every one of those people, it is an absolute “must read”; you simply cannot learn any of this any other way, and it is our unique fortune to get this information from someone as responsibly positioned as the author.

Introduction: Communities of interpretation and the construction of modern Myanmar

In the past 120 years, the idea of Myanmar (Burma) has come to be known, produced, and understood through a variety of perspectives that reveal particular and sometimes contested perceptions of the Burmese past, present, and future. One has only to take a cursory glance at our 'living' bibliography to view firsthand the numerous ways in which the subject of Myanmar has been delineated by a wide range of scholars, officials, and commentators over time and space. (1) From the proclamations of kings to the official communiques of colonial officers; from the 'classical' architecture of Pagan to the paintings of Sein Myint; through the study of nat (spirits) to the roles of Buddhism--the idea of Myanmar has emerged through a complicated mixture of historical, cultural, and political forms that have been continually shaped by an array of agendas, intellectual influences, and personalities. The discourses that characterise what has been generically spoken of as 'Burmese' are exemplified by the rich exchanges over its histories, institutions, memories, and cultures. Lively debates in scholarship, media, and in local teashops have produced often divergent views about what constitutes the social, political, and cultural domain that is known today as Myanmar. (2) The articles in this symposium represent an attempt to reflect upon the various ways through which predominantly English-writing scholars have produced the idea of Myanmar while suggesting ways in which differing interpretations might be examined together. (3) A useful approach to consider might be found in the concept of 'interpretive communities', in reference to what literary scholars identify as groups of readers (or interpreters) who share distinctive ways of defining, debating, and thinking about their texts. (4) Contributors to 'reader-response' theory have drawn our attention to the processes of interpreting, the strategies employed, and the contexts that produce interpretations rather than the differences in the interpretations themselves. (5) Simply put, our attention might be directed towards understanding how commentators have defined, categorised, and structured Myanmar and its vicissitudes. Examining how a writer's particular experiences can influence how Myanmar is 'read' recognises the diverse processes that lead us to ask certain questions, privilege certain approaches, and utilise certain methods. Attending to the role of those experiences (educational, political, geographical, cultural) and the various ways of writing about Myanmar enables us to examine differing interpretations on somewhat more equal footing while recognising their contribution to its larger epistemological history. For particular groups, the terms employed for describing the Myanmar they encountered may have stemmed from particular discourses of power-relations, such as the terms available to fourteenth-century Chinese emissaries, conceptions of Social Darwinism that informed colonial administrators at the end of the nineteenth century, or more contemporary terms associated with democracy, sanctions, and the 'war on terror'. At the same time, other communities of observers may have conceptualised 'their' Myanmar as a struggle against elites, the British, the Japanese, and even the state itself. In today's context, particular ideas about acceptable forms of governance, political ideology, and notions of legitimacy structure the debate over what Myanmar is, what it has been, and what it may become. (6) This recognition that many communities contribute to the construction of what we might call modern Myanmar draws attention to how shared socio-cultural, intellectual, and political experiences can play an important role in shaping how we understand the process of interpretation, the construction of meaning, and the writing of texts. (7) Travelogues in the nineteenth century paint particular images of the landscape reflecting not only what was deemed symbolic and significant of Burmese culture, but the particularly benign nature of the imperial project's encounter with Burmese society. …

A Glimpse into the Traditional Martial Arts in Burma

The traditional martial arts are an aspect of Burmese culture that has been virtually ignored by Burma scholars. Yet these martial arts have a rich heritage dating back to the early days of Burma. Historic events, religion, political necessities, and, more have shaped them recently into economic realities. The traditional martial art came close to extinction during the British colonial period, but was revived during the Japanese occupation. In past times, they were utilized for warfare and self-defense. Today the self-defense element remains, while the combat element has been transformed into sports and artistic cultural expression. The present economic conditions and the spread of foreign martial arts pose a current threat to the survival of the Burmese traditional martial arts and require the attention of Burma scholars to document this important component of the historic cultural identity of Burma.

The Development of Political Themes in Min-Thuwun's Poetry

Min-thuwun is perhaps the greatest of living Burmese poets. Over the past 70 years he has published more than 100 poems covering a broad range of topics, including young love, the hardships of village and student life, and Burmese nationalism. Following a brief biographical sketch of the poet, this article presents a series of readings of selected poems that show Min-thuwun to be a passionate promoter of Burmese culture and an astute and subtle social commentator whose political messages are conveyed in figurative verse notable for its depictions of the victims of injustice. By framing his discussion within the periodization of 20th-century Burmese literature put forth by the poetcritic Mya Zin, the author demonstrates how Min-thuwun's career can be taken to exemplify the development of modern Burmese literature as a whole.

Volunteers Who Work: The Community Health Care Project in Burma

The Community Health Care Project in Burma stimulates villager involvement in health issues and, simultaneously, extends the coverage of the government health services beyond existing subcenters, down to the village level. The Project, which began in 1977, is based on two voluntary part-time workers-a Community Health Worker (CHW) and an Auxiliary Midwife (AMW). CHWs have substantial curative as well as preventive and promotive responsibilities. AMWs are expected to perform deliveries as well as give pre-natal and post-natal advice. Village People's Councils select the CHWs and AMWs, develop drug resupply schemes, hold and spend funds, and participate in motivational campaigns. The majority of the volunteers in this national-scale program continue to perform their tasks several years after their initial training.Many similar programs, following an initial period of enthusiasm, have failed-or have succeeded only if their scale is kept small. Why is this program continuing to operate? Buddhism and other aspects of Burmese culture, the strong political support for voluntarism, the substantial quantity and power of community involvement vis-a-vis the voluntary workers, the large amount of supervision and an emphasis on drugs and deliveries appear to be the major reasons.