Burmese Women Research Articles

Refugee-Ness and Exploitation: A Feminist Geography of Shitty Jobs

ABSTRACT Few people who participate in refugee resettlement programs expect long-term employment in shitty jobs, yet this is what many find in the United States. For Shamimah, Azizah, and Nila, three Burmese Muslim women who were resettled in Aurora, Colorado from Malaysia, the local workplaces where they find themselves are crucibles of oppression, albeit ones that are distinctively global. This essay is concerned with theorizing the relationship between global topographies of displacement (Katz 2001), resettlement programs, and capitalism through a study of two Colorado workplaces that affix refugee-ness to people through specific forms of worker discipline and subjectivization. While a significant subset of feminist scholarship on refugees and re/settlement rightfully focuses on state institutions, the workplace remains understudied. I argue that affixing refugee-ness to women is both an expression of racial capitalism and a process of commodification. Burmese women’s experiences clarify how refugee-ness works both as otherness and a discrete identity to dehumanize immigrants, smooth processes of exploitation, and sow division among similarly racialized immigrants. Though employers may foreclose many forms of immigrant solidarity, the women’s forceful rebukes of workplace abuse and their community activities outside work likewise underscore their toughness, creativity, and the enduring significance of social reproduction spaces for supporting solidarities between precarious workers.

Gendering Transnational Business Spaces: Cross-Border Burmese Women Jadeite Traders in Yunnan, China

As the world’s primary source of top-grade jadeite, Myanmar is the home to a thriving black market in which raw stones are smuggled from the Kachin State across the border into China. Among the people of different nationalities and ethnicities facilitating the cross-border trade and networks, Burmese women are increasingly highlighted through popular short videos on a video-focused Chinese social media application, Douyin. These scripted popular short videos show bargains and negotiations between Chinese businessmen and Burmese women jadeite traders, while highlighting Burmese women’s sexuality. In order to understand their representations in these short videos, this paper adopts digital ethnography approaches to capture the cultural expectations placed on Burmese women jadeite traders in China. I argue that these videos (re)produce gendered expectations of these women traders by amplifying their femininity, physicality, romantic availability, and representation as ‘Third World subjects’ to affirm Chinese masculinity and nationalism.

Producing and Embodying the Humanitarian Border: The Gendered Geopolitics of Responding to (and Preventing) Gender-Based Violence Among Burmese Displaced in Thailand

ABSTRACT Recent scholarship on forced migration, geopolitics, and the aid industry has built on William Walter’s concept of ‘humanitarian borders’, which refers to the ways in which humanitarian aid delivery becomes entangled with the enforcement of Global South-Global North borders. In this article, I apply a feminist geopolitics lens to expand on this idea, looking at humanitarian action related to the prevention of and response to gender-based violence (GBV) among Burmese who are displaced in Thailand. I ask how humanitarian borders themselves are gendered, produced through gendered violence and implicated in the ways forced migrants navigate exile. Based on ethnographic research conducted on the Thai-Burmese border over a ten-year period, this article analyzes multiple levels of discourse related to GBV intervention, including the perspectives of Global North donors, international aid workers, Thai and Burmese women’s rights advocates, and Burmese forced migrants who work on farms and in the garment industry. Following the work of feminist geographers, I offer a lens that recognises the linkages between multiple forms of violence, especially those between intimate partner violence among Burmese forced migrants in Thailand and the violence of the exploitative living and working conditions faced by Burmese forced migrants outside refugee camps . Through this lens, I show that the humanitarian border operates not only to contain forced migrant mobilities vis-à-vis the Global North, but to affix the border and its insecurities to forced migrants in ways that reinforce gendered geopolitical hierarchies.

Burmese Women Portrait Under the British Imperialism in Orwell’s Burmese Days

This study aims to expose the Burmese women portrait under British Imperialism. The writer believes that Burmese Days is created as a response to the social phenomenon that was happening during the process of its creation. This study used a qualitative method using a sociological approach by Laurenson and Swingewood. The data of this study were collected from the description and utterances of the characters and narrator in the novel. The result of this study shows that the women were portrayed as the slave of the English men. The women are not valuable, they merely become entertainment for the English men to entertain them. Even, some of the Europeans have concubines to accompany them in killing their time or killing their boredom. It looks like the women are created for the English men as dolls which can be played as often as they can, and of course, like a doll, they can be thrown easily after the English men being bored. As this research limited to the analysis of women portrait as a concubine for the English men, it is suggested for other researchers to analyze and find the relevant problems that still exist around the society, such as social inequality, resistance, obedience, strategy, gender, racism, corruption and other social aspects in the novel Burmese Days.

The Venomous

The Venomous Pandora (bio) Translated from Burmese by ko ko thett I get delicateEach time I shed my skinDon't you dare thinkI am softIf I change colorsI only want to adaptTo the shifting sandTo the strange watersI am not the type thatFlaunts my neck hoodFor hissing and missing. My wink can smolderMy stare can hypnotizeMy bite can snatch a flyMy head lying low doesn't meanI'm asleep. Clear your own pathCurl up in your own holeWatch yourselfIf you don't know anythingJust coil up and be quietDon't you try to invokeMy recessive traits Next timeI won't just rattle. [End Page 227] Pandora Pandora is a Burmese poet, essayist, and blogger. She has published two anthologies of Burmese women's poetry, the first of their kind in Myanmar. Her poems have been anthologized in Bones Will Crow: 15 Contemporary Burmese Poets (2012), and translations of her work have been published in Asymptote, Poetry Review, and Sampsonia Way. She currently works for the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. Ko Ko Thett ko ko thett is a bilingual poet and author of several collections of poetry and poetry translations in Burmese and English. He has been featured at literary events from Sharjah to Shanghai, and his poems and translations have appeared in literary journals and anthologies worldwide. He was the poetry editor for Mekong Review from 2017 to 2022. His most recent volume is Bamboophobia (Zephyr, 2022). He lives in Norwich, U.K. Copyright © 2022 University of Hawai'i Press

The perceptions and practices of Thai health professionals providing maternity care for migrant Burmese women: An ethnographic study

BackgroundAcross the globe, many women including economic and humanitarian migrants receive inadequate antenatal care. Understanding the difficulties that migrant women encounter when accessing maternity care, including the approach of health professionals, is necessary because inadequate care is associated with increasing rates of morbidity and mortality. There are very few studies of migrant women’s access to and experience of maternity services when they have migrated from a low- to a middle-income country. AimTo examine the perceptions and practices of Thai health professionals providing maternity care for migrant Burmese women, and to describe women’s experiences of their encounters with health professionals providing maternity care in Ranong Province in southern Thailand. MethodsEthnography informed the study design. Individual interviews were conducted with 13 healthcare professionals and 10 Burmese women before and after birth. Observations of interactions (130 h) between health care providers and Burmese women were also conducted. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. FindingsThe healthcare professionals’ practices differed between the antenatal clinics and the postnatal ward. Numerous barriers to accessing culturally appropriate antenatal care were evident. In contrast, the care provided in the postnatal ward was woman and family centered and culturally sensitive. One overarching theme, “The system is in control’ was identified, and comprised three sub-themes (1) ‘Being processed’ (2) ‘Insensitivity to cultural practices’ and, (3) ‘The space to care’. Discussion and conclusionsThe health system and healthcare professionals controlled the way antenatal care was provided to Burmese migrant women. This bureaucratic and culturally insensitive approach to antenatal care impacted on some women’s decision to engage in antenatal care. Conversely, the more positive examples of woman-centered care evident after birth in the postnatal ward, can inform service delivery.

Improvement of Thanaka Powder by Gamma Radiation: Microbial and Chemical Properties

Thanaka powder is made from the stem bark of the Hesperethusa crenulata plant. Most Burmese women use it on the skin of the face as sun protection, a moisturizing agent and acne treatment. For a hygiene purpose, gamma radiation is currently used to control microorganisms and insect contamination in many products. In this experiment, the the effects of gamma radiation on the microbial numeration, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity, and chemical constituent alterations in Thanaka powder were investigated. Gamma irradiation was applied to powder samples at 5, 10, 15 and 20 kGy. The total bacterial count and total yeast and mold count were decreased with increasing irradiation dose. Gamma irradiation at a dose of 5 kGy was sufficient to reduce the microbial load in the powder to meet the standards of microbial quality for cosmetic products in Thailand. No significant change in the DPPH activity of the Thanaka powder was observed after irradiation. Additionally, the radiation process caused significant increases in total phenolic content, FRAP value and arbutin content. At a dose of 20 kGy, the total phenolic content, FRAP value and arbutin content were significantly higher than the non-irradiated Thanaka powder at 7.45, 9.59 and 16.04%, respectively.

Burmese Women in the Colonial Imaginary: Gendered Representations in Kipling’s “Mandalay” and Croker’s The Road to Mandalay

Burmese Women in the Colonial Imaginary: Gendered Representations in Kipling’s “Mandalay” and Croker’s The Road to Mandalay

Claiming rights in exile: women’s insurgent citizenship practices in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands

ABSTRACTThis paper examines insurgent citizenship practices employed by activists in the exiled Burmese women’s movement from the 1990s and onwards. Consisting of political exiles, refugees and ethnic insurgents, this movement has successfully used the transnational, transitory space of the borderlands to constitute its participants as political subjects with legitimate claims to rights, citizenship and leadership. Drawing on interviews, this analysis interrogates women’s activism through the lens of insurgent citizenship practices. Thus, how have Burmese women’s activists claimed rights and lived citizenship in exile? Three main strategies are examined: firstly, women activists have positioned themselves as political actors and authorities through involvement in governance and humanitarian aid delivery in refugee camps. Secondly, they have claimed rights and political subjectivity through engagement with international norms, networks and arenas. Thirdly, they have claimed citizenship and political influence in oppositional nation-making projects through engaging with and negotiating ethno-nationalist armed struggles. The analysis highlights the multifaceted nature of women’s insurgent citizenship practices, showing how they navigate multiple marginalized subject positions, direct their rights claims towards multiple governing authorities, and enact multiple political communities.

Militarized nationalism as a platform for feminist mobilization? The case of the exiled Burmese women's movement

Feminist scholars have convincingly demonstrated how militarism and nationalism rely on the (re)production of gendered hierarchies. As a result, feminism is often assumed to be at odds with these political projects. In this article, we demonstrate that this is not always and not necessarily the case: in contrast, militarized nationalism may even constitute fertile ground for the mobilization of feminist organization and activism. We make this argument drawing on an in-depth case study of the emergence and evolution of an exiled Burmese women's movement from within armed ethno-nationalist struggles in the borderlands of Myanmar. Drawing on interviews with women activists, we examine when and how militarized nationalism can provide a space from which feminist agendas can be articulated and successfully pursued. This case demonstrates that militarized nationalism does not only have the potential to mobilize women's participation, but can provide a platform for feminist organization and activism that transcends, challenges, and eventually reshapes militarized nationalist projects in ways that advance women's rights and equality. These findings call into question generalized assumptions about the conflictual relationship between feminism, militarism and nationalism, and contributes to advance feminist debates about women's mobilization in contexts of armed conflicts and nationalist struggles.

Family violence knowledge in culturally diverse communities and organisational preparedness to disseminate information.

Family violence presents a significant threat to the physical and psychological health of individuals and communities, with women from culturally diverse groups experiencing an increased risk of exposure to family violence and barriers to accessing support. It is necessary to examine the knowledge of family violence among these communities and their preferred source of knowledge to facilitate successful family violence prevention strategies. Thirty-one women (19 Indian and 12 Burmese) completed surveys on their knowledge of family violence, while 10 representatives from community organisations completed surveys on their readiness to participate in family violence prevention efforts. This was followed by 54 community organisations disseminating information about family violence through a poster. Findings showed that the level of knowledge among culturally diverse communities is variable, with Indian women showing a greater understanding of a range of aspects of family violence compared to Burmese women. Findings also indicated a high degree of preparedness within organisations serving these communities to address family violence. The findings from the present study elucidate the state of family violence-related knowledge amongst the Indian and Burmese communities in a large municipality in Melbourne, Australia, and provide insight into community readiness to diffuse family violence-related information. This increased understanding could be used to enhance family violence prevention efforts in culturally diverse communities. SO WHAT?: This study provides justification for the need for educational family violence prevention efforts within the Burmese and Indian communities. It also informs us of the importance of engaging with community organisations to implement family violence prevention strategies.

Migrant Burmese women living in southern Thailand and motherhood: An ethnographic study.

Migrants to Thailand come from low-income border countries, such as Burma (Myanmar). Generally, migrant women experience difficulties obtaining high-quality health care due to socioeconomic barriers and conflicts with their practices. The aim of this study was to explore migrant Burmese women's experiences of becoming a mother while living in Thailand and their perceptions of motherhood, family support, and traditional postpartum practices. The study used an ethnographic design. In 2015, data were gathered through individual interviews with 10 migrant Burmese women before and after birth. Interview and field note data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Four themes emerged from the data: (i) the more children, the stronger the family; (ii) finding ways to promote baby's health and growth; (iii) sharing responsibility to fulfill parenting role; and (iv) peer and family support. Becoming a mother was important to the Burmese women interviewed; however, as migrants in Thailand, they had to juggle work and care for young children. Most decided that once their child was school age they would be sent to Burma to live with relatives. They engaged in a range of traditional practices to support their infant's health and well-being and protect their baby from evil spirits. Support from family, and the ability to participate in postpartum practices, were important for Burmese migrant women becoming mothers in Thailand.

Protecting my baby: a qualitative study of the health promoting practices of pregnant Burmese migrant women living in Thailand

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe Burmese migrant women’s perceptions of health and well-being during pregnancy, their health promoting practices and their experiences with the Thai antenatal services.Design/methodology/approachThe study used an ethnographic design. Observations were conducted in two antenatal clinics in southern Thailand. Ten Burmese migrant women and three Burmese interpreters participated in interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.FindingsThe Burmese women wanted to take care of themselves and their baby to the best of their ability. This included following traditional practices and attending the antenatal clinic if able. Negotiating the demands of earning an income, and protecting their unborn baby, sometimes led to unhealthy practices such as consuming energy drinks and herbal tonics to improve performance. Accessing antenatal care was a positive health seeking behaviour noted in this community, however, it was not available to all.Research limitations/implicationsThis is a small ethnographic study conducted in one Province in Thailand and all Burmese participants were legal migrants. Further research is required to understand the needs of pregnant women not able to access maternity services because of their status as an illegal migrant.Practical implicationsCommunity-based health promotion initiatives need to focus on the nutrition of pregnant women who are migrants living in southern Thailand. New models of care may increase migrant women’s use of antenatal services.Originality/valueMost studies of the health of migrant women are conducted in high-income countries. This study demonstrates the difficulties experienced by women migrating from a low to middle-income country.

I think someone is walking with me: the use of mobile phone for social capital development among women in four refugee communities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a mixed method study of social capital development and use, based on an intervention which provided women from refugee backgrounds with social capital development skills and tools. Design/methodology/approach In total, 111 Afghan, Burmese and Sudanese women living in Melbourne, Australia, received peer-support training and a free unlimited fixed-dial mobile phone for one year. Findings Interview and call log data suggest that the training sessions and mobile phones played important roles in bonding social capital development, resulting in a complex support network among participants. To a lesser extent, there was also evidence of bridging social capital creation. By providing linkages to government institutions through an interpreter service, the mobile phones gave participants easy access to linking social capital, in their heritage language. Originality/value The program supplements existing community resources with mobile phone technology to create social capital rich networks within these disadvantaged communities, and the authors describe the community characteristics that make participants amenable to such an intervention.

Time to go home? The conflictual politics of diaspora return in the Burmese women’s movement

ABSTRACTThe initiation of political reforms and a peace process in Myanmar has fundamentally altered the conditions for Burmese diasporic politics, and diaspora groups that have mobilized in Myanmar’s neighbouring countries are beginning to return. This article explores how return to Myanmar is debated within the Burmese women’s movement, a significant and internationally renowned segment of the Burmese diaspora. Does return represent the fulfilment of diasporic dreams; a pragmatic choice in response to less than ideal circumstances; or a threat to the very identity and the feminist politics of the women’s movement? Contrasting these competing perspectives, the analysis offers insights into the ongoing negotiations and difficult choices involved in return, and reveals the process of return as highly conflictual and contentious. In particular, the analysis sheds light on the gendered dimensions of diaspora activism and return, demonstrating how opportunities for women's activism are challenged, debated and reshaped in relation to return.

Adulteration of pure native blood by aliens? mixed race kapya in colonial and post-Colonial Myanmar

ABSTRACTColonization may be viewed not only as loss of sovereignty and territory but also of ‘purity’ of a native race to an alien power. After the British colonized Burma in the late nineteenth century, they brought in Chinese and Indians to the sparsely populated colony as labour for new administrative and economic activities. Intermarriage, mainly between native Burmese women and men of alien races – British, European, Chinese and Indian – was thus inevitable. Mixed-race peoples – kapya in Burmese – were then born out of these relationships, and their identities became a key political issue in colonial Burma. Importantly, all natives, foreigners, and kapya were British subjects at that time. Independent Burma from 1948 through 1962 was not expressly anti-foreigner/kapya; working to naturalize those who had overstayed or remained. However, the Ne Win government from 1962 through 1988 was openly against ex-foreigner and kapya citizens, passing a new citizenship act in 1982 to downgrade their citizenship to a second class tier. The Myanmar Citizenship Law (1982), which remains in force, has downgraded the legal, political and social stature of ex-foreigner and kapya citizens. A more problematic and racist term thway-nhaw or ‘adulterated’ race has come to the fore, being used in official law-like language in recent years and highlighting the racist roots of the Myanmar Citizenship Law.

Validation of the Refugee Health Screener-15 for the assessment of perinatal depression among Karen and Burmese women on the Thai-Myanmar border.

Perinatal depression is common, and left untreated can have significant and long-lasting consequences for women, their children and their families. Migrant women are at particular risk of perinatal depression as a result of a multitude of stressors experienced before, during and after migration. Identification of perinatal depression among migrant women—particularly those living in low- and middle-income regions—remains challenging, partly due to the lack of locally-validated and culturally appropriate screens tools. This study formally validates Burmese and Sgaw Karen versions of the Refugee Health Screener-15 (RHS-15) as a screening tool for perinatal depression among migrant women living on the Thai-Myanmar border. The Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnosis of DSM-IV Disorders (SCID) was used as the gold-standard comparator. Complete results were obtained for 235 Burmese-speaking and 275 Sgaw Karen-speaking women. Despite displaying reasonable psychometric properties, a number of shortcomings associated with the RHS-15 limited its utility in this setting. The Likert-type response categories of the RHS-15 proved problematic in this low-literacy population. Combined with the relative superiority and greater ease of administration of the SCID, the RHS-15 is not recommended as the tool of choice for detecting perinatal depression in this setting.

Overcoming barriers: Myanmar's recent elections and women's political participation

AbstractMyanmar's 2015 elections have been credited with bringing about a myriad of changes within the country. Much has been written about the changing political climate within Myanmar. One topic which has not yet been discussed adequately, however, is the role of Burmese women in these recent elections. This paper seeks to examine women's political participation in Myanmar's recent move towards democratisation. Using rates of female candidacies in Burmese elections, comparing these figures with rates of female participation in other Southeast Asian countries, and ethnographic research with the Burmese voting public, this paper will contribute to the sparse scholarship regarding the role of women in new democracies and regime transitions. This paper finds that beliefs about traditional gender roles, rooted in traditional Buddhism, still shape the way both men and women in Myanmar view women's political participation. While women are better represented in Myanmar's government than they were in the past, this paper suggests that measures such as quotas or reserved seats based on gender may be the best way to increase Burmese women's political representation in the future.

International Humanitarian Award: Kathryn L. Norsworthy.

The International Humanitarian Award recognizes extraordinary humanitarian services and activism by psychologists, including professional and volunteer work conducted primarily in the field with underserved populations. The 2017 award winner is Kathryn L. Norsworthy, for work as an educator, activist, and scholar of international humanitarian work. Among her notable achievements, she has "helped to strengthen the identity of Nepali, Thai, and Burmese women, assisted them in preventing and confronting human rights abuses, and contributed to their mobilization as influential leaders." Her award citation, biography, and selected bibliography are presented here. (PsycINFO Database Record

The experiences of Burmese healthcare interpreters (Iam) in maternity services in Thailand.

Interpreters (lam in Thai) have been employed in maternity services in Thailand due to increasing numbers of Burmese women migrating to Thailand. Access to healthcare interpreters is crucial for health professionals and Burmese migrant women using Thai maternity services but no studies have examined the role of the lam. This paper explores the role and experiences of healthcare interpreters (lam) working in Thailand. The perspectives of nurse-midwives and migrant Burmese women regarding the role of the lam are also included. Ethnographic methods including observation of interactions between women, nurse-midwives, other health professionals and the lam were used. Individual interviews were conducted with four Burmese lam, nine health professionals, and 10 Burmese women. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Three major themes captured the role and experiences of the Burmese lam; 'more than an interpreter', 'challenges in sustaining the role of the lam', and 'benefits for me and my community'. The Burmese lam had two key components to their role: interpreter and, healthcare worker. Key challenges included lack of clarity around role boundaries, limited training, and, low remuneration. Despite the challenges, the lam believed their presence encouraged Burmese women to attend antenatal care. They described benefits for themselves, including 'on-the-job' training. Community trust in the lam meant that Burmese women and families sought their advice within the community. This study demonstrates the important role that migrant workers play in collaborating with nurse-midwives to ensure access to maternity services in middle-income countries.