ISBN
978-1529240467Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressISBN
978-1529240481Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
The Army-State and Spatial Politics in Burma
This book paints a clear picture of Burmese political and social dynamics between 1948 – 2024 that is not distorted by seeing Burma as simply another case of western-inspired democratization or its failure.
The book makes the argument that instead of focussing exclusively on the faults of Burma’s army-state and political leaders, the country’s spatial constitution is fundamental to understanding its post-1948 failure to achieve national unity. Throughout the analysis, Seekins reveals how the struggle to defend space from the homogenizing and coercive power of the state is essentially one of autonomy.
Donald M. Seekins is Emeritus Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Meio University, Okinawa, Japan.
Introduction
1. Objective Spaces: Burma Mapped
2. Subjective Spaces: “Our Space” and “Their Space”
3. Strategic Spaces: State and Non-State Spaces
4. Commercial and Productive Spaces: Socialist and Post-Socialist Burma
5. Sacred and Monumental Spaces: Asserting Burman/Buddhist Identity
6. Micro-Spaces: The Spatiality of Human Relations
Conclusions
