Myanmar Musings

Dr Tomas Martin discusses prisons in Myanmar in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the military coup and argues for conceptualising crisis as their enduring, perpetual context. This seminar was recorded as part of the Myanmar Update 2021 conference last month.

Three economists from the Overseas Development Institute delve into assessing the sustainability of the Myanmar economy's current development model in light of COVID-19's effects, both domestically and in other nations, and in the current political context. This is a recorded seminar from the Myanmar Update 2021 conference held in July 2021.

Dr Andrea Passeri of the University of Malaya and Hunter Marston, PhD Candidate at the Australian National University, go over the foreign policy of the Myanmar state from 2010-2020 and what characterises the country's approach to non-alignment, in particular. This seminar was recorded at the Myanmar Update 2021 conference.

The garment manufacturing sector in Myanmar has strengthened with the political reforms of the last decade, offering jobs to millions of Myanmar workers. However, it has suffered huge contractions in the wake of the 1 February military coup, with associated indiscriminate murder of protesting workers and factory arson. In this talk given to the Myanmar Update 2021 conference, Sara Tödt of RMIT Uni...

What is the microfinance ecosystem in Myanmar, what has it been achieving and how has it endured the COVID-19 crisis and the devastating military coup of 1 February? In this seminar at the Myanmar Update 2021 conference, Dr Russell Toth from the University of Sydney gives a detailed overview of all this and more. If you're microfinance minded, don't miss it.

In this recording of a seminar from the ANU Myanmar Update 2021 conference last month, Dr Sophie Gaudet, an independent expert, discusses a recent survey undertaken on child and maternal nutrition in Yangon, Myanmar, including important findings for future public healthcare in Myanmar.

In this presentation, Afke Jager, Myanmar Country Director for Innovations for Poverty-Action-Myanmar, talks about recent survey data on how people in Myanmar are strategising under the complex political and healthcare crises ongoing in the country. This is a recording of a talk given to the Myanmar Update 2021 conference at the Australian National University.

Dr Gerard McCarthy of the National University of Singapore discusses a mixed-methods research project conducted by himself and three colleagues on how state aid assistance meant to ameliorate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was perceived by people before the 1 February coup. He also answers questions on the coup and ethnic politics.

In this recorded seminar from the Myanmar Update 2021 conference, Dr Mie Mie Kyaw, an independent expert on water and fishery resources in Myanmar, talks about how the COVID-19 pandemic and infection control responses have affected people's livelihoods on the Ayeyarwady River.

What can other nations and multilateral institutions realistically expect to achieve with their responses to the 2021 military coup and the ongoing crimes of the Tatmadaw in Myanmar? Nicholas Coppel, adjunct associate professor at Monash University and former Australian ambassador to Myanmar, delivers straight talk on the limitations of most actors - besides China - in this July 16 seminar held at...

What is the difference between "functional state failure" and "state collapse", and what is the likelihood of a reduction in conflict in Myanmar's near future? Nicola Williams, PhD Candidate at the Australian National University, talks through how she sees the current contested state of the "State" in Myanmar, primarily stressing the importance of the politics of ethnicity. This seminar was record...

Salai Samuel Hmung, Masters graduate of the Australian National University, shares his thoughts on the formation of People's Defence Forces and the varied politics of ethnic armed organisations in the wake of the 1 February military coup. This talk was recorded at the Myanmar Update 2021 conference held at the ANU earlier in July, 2021.

How do we make sense of all the boomeranging signs and memes associated with the anti-coup movement in Myanmar? Dr Elliott Prasse-Freeman of the National University of Singapore takes us on a semiotic tour of engaged digital ethnography in this recording of a July 15 seminar held at the Myanmar Update 2021 conference.

In this recording from a panel at the Myanmar Update 2021 conference, Michael Dunford, PhD Candidate at ANU, quickly breaks down the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in relation to what he sees as the ongoing military occupation of Myanmar and colonial political domination of the Tatmadaw. He argues the heterogeneity of the CDM is its key strength and analytical value.

This episode is a recording of the Economic Update delivered at the Myanmar Update 2021 conference on July 17. Edgard Rodriguez of the International Development Resource Centre convenes talks by Vicky Bowman, of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business and Dr Htwe Htwe Thein, Associate Professor in International Business at Curtin University. They discuss the coup, tax, cronies and much more, w...

In this recorded seminar from the Myanmar Update conference on July 16, 2021, Salai Lian Hmung Sakhon, Minister of Federal Union Affairs in the National Unity Government, talks to Dr Jane Ferguson of the Australian National University about federalism, youth, human rights and the future of Myanmar. He outlines why the Tatmadaw must step away from politics and touches on some of the many complex is...

In this recorded seminar, Dr Morten Pedersen, Senior Lecturer in International and Political Studies at the University of New South Wales, Canberra (ADFA), delivers this year's Political Update to the Myanmar Update 2021 conference held at the Australian National University from July 15-17. Morten touches on the reasons behind the 1 February military coup, the future of Myanmar politics and confli...

In this recording of a live event from July 15, 2021, Khin Zaw Win, ex-political prisoner, writer, analyst and director of the Tampadipa Institute, sits in conversation with Professor Nicholas Farrelly, Head of Social Sciences at the University of Tasmania, to cap off the first day of the Myanmar Update 2021 conference. The pair discuss the state of play in Myanmar politics and some prospects for...

This episode is a recording of Yanghee Lee's July 15 keynote address to the Myanmar Update 2021 conference held at the Australian National University. Professor Yanghee Lee is former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar as well as a developmental psychologist and professor in the faculty of Child Psychology and Education at Sungkyunkwan University. In this episode she...

Mark July 15-17 in your diaries, because the Myanmar Update 2021 is coming to town - online, and completely free. The three-day conference features special guest speakers, cutting edge research presentations and Q&A sessions with experts on the current situation in Myanmar. In this episode, Dr Justine Chambers and Michael Dunford from the Australian National University discuss the conference, gues...

It is often commented that Facebook is the internet in Myanmar. What does this mean in a country with so many ethnic armed groups, unending civil war, and now another military coup and targeted executions of civilians in major towns and cities? Sparked by a recent article in the Journal of Contemporary Asia , we are joined by two of its authors Stein Tønnesson, of the Peace Research Institute Oslo...

There's a great new film festival packed full of Myanmar content online for streaming right now. Hear all about it in this conversation with two organisers of the Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival : Jeanne Marie Hallacy, a film-maker and co-founder of Kirana Productions, and Kenneth Wong, author, translator and teacher of the Burmese language at the University of California, Berkeley.

What exactly is torture in Myanmar and how is it anti-political? Dr Nick Cheesman, Fellow in the Department of Political and Social Change at the Australian National University, discusses his views on how to best understand torture, torturers and torture survivors with intellectual honesty. Nick has spent years reading and analysing torture testimonies from neighbouring Thailand and Myanmar.

Myanmar has a bunch of interesting movie theatres dotted across not only the major cities but also provincial towns and regions. Philip Jablon, Creator of the Southeast Asia Movie Theatre Project, a written and photographic archive of free-standing movie theatres, has carried out extensive research on this cinematic legacy and comes on the show to discuss the architecture, heritage and magic of Bu...

It is a dynamic time in Myanmar politics, with suffering on the streets and conflict at the highest levels - including over the very Constitution of the country. In this podcast Melissa Crouch, Professor in the Faculty of Law and Justice at the University of New South Wales, discusses her book on the 2008 Constitution and analyses recent events in light of this divisive document.