Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

Burmese History as a Prism for Global Perspectives and Comparative Analysis

Sat, April 2, 8:30 to 10:30am, Washington State Convention Center, Floor: 3rd Floor, Room 303

Abstract

For a graduate student in search of a viable (and ultimately publishable) dissertation topic, Burma in the era of British colonization was very soon the obvious choice. Given that I was determined at the outset of my scholarly career to focus on comparative (and ultimately global history), this may seem a curious choice. But the marginalization under a succession of military regimes of Burmese society in the world community since the end of World War II, can best be seen as an anomaly in the context of its millennia of active engagement in and contributions to Southeast Asian political, religious and artistic development and the important roles it has played in cross-cultural exchanges in the region and beyond. Arguably, its place in global history peaked in the era of “high” imperialism from the middle of the 19th century through the Second World War. Drawing on the early decades of my research and writing, I will consider some of the ways in which Burma became a major force in global history and a superb comparative case example.  I will focus on the decades when Burma became the world’s major exporter of rice and perhaps the most successful experiment in peasant capitalism in the history of Euro-American colonization, and provide overviews of the arch-typical multi-ethnic plural society that developed, its demise in depression, rebellion and war, and of the forces that turned Burmese nationalism inward in the last half of the 20th century.

Author