Thinking through race and identity in Myanmar, Thailand and Beyond
We’re going to be discussing the paper by Ikeya today. But first, I want you to think about your own experience.
Opening Questions
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What do race and ethnicity mean to you? Do they mean the same thing to you? If not, what are the differences?
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What race and/or ethnicity do you identify with/as? (think about both လူမျိုး and တိုင်းရင်းသား).
3. In what ways are race and ethnicity significant factors in your own community/communities?
4. How have ideas of race / ethnicity affected you personally?
After you’ve had five minutes to make notes on these questions, I’ll put you in breakout groups. We’ll feed back on the breakout groups afterwards.
The Historical Development of Race
Let’s now discuss the text in more detail. What I want you to do is to divide into breakout groups, and talk about the following questions:
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What sections of this paper particularly struck you as interesting or engaging?
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Did anything in the text challenge your views of the history of race and ethnicity in Myanmar/Burma? If so, what?
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How has bureaucracy impacted notions of race/ethnicity in Myanmar/Burma, both historically, and more recently?
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What implications does the historical fact of extensive intermarriage in Burma/Myanmar have for how we think about race and ethnicity?
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In what ways can Hall’s notion of race as a ““floating signifier”throw light on these historical processes?
Homework
There’s no homework this time! We’re going to have a quiz next time, and an assignment briefing.