I have been remiss in posting to Ethnography.com. For about ten years, this ws a forum I really enjoyed. There was a community of bloggers, and the quality of ethnography posted was unusual in both its geographic spread, and the vigor of its writings about places as diverse as Dominica in the Caribbean, Tunisia, Madagascar, Tanznia, Myanmar, Romania, and other places around the world. I think I am one of the few people in the world who actually enjoys editing ethnograhpic writing. …
Category: Blogs by Tony
British Colonialism and Railways to Nowhere in Northern Burma
In Northern Burma there is a railway bridge, the Gokteik Viaduct. It was completed in 1900 by a Pennsylvania steel company under contract to the British government, which had recently conquered northern Burma following the British-Burma War of 1884-1885.
The British Empire was focused on their version of free trade and they wanted to project British notions of mercantilism to all corners of the world, including southern China. So they decided to build a railway from their new colony in Burma with its port on the Indian Ocean, to Kunming in southern China. …
Trying to Out the CIA, and Other Musings about Ethnography.com
Last June, I published an article about the role of the CIA in the post-World War II world order. I rather liked it, but no one seems to read it! So here’s a link, so that anyone who follows Ethnography.com might check it out!
This post is mainly though to get myself re-engaged with Ethnography.com, and perhaps you too. We have had several excellent submissions posted since just 2020 from Tunisia, Madagascar, Dominica, Tanzania, and India.…
Ghosts Look Over the Shoulders of Myanmar Peace Negotiators
Peace Studies researcher Elise Boulding wrote that peace, including the type sought today in Myanmar, is focused by a “two hundred year present.” By this she meant that how people think about their values, fears, loyalties and dreams is inherited from the memories of parents and grandparents who recall the emotional events they heard about as children from their elders.
This is how they came to think about who is the “us” that is loved and trustworthy, and the “them” that is to be feared, avoided and distrusted. …
Reading Myanmar—‘Miss Burma’ and the Liberal Conscience
Miss Burma (2017) by Charmaine Craig is a historical novel that tells the story of Burma from the perspective of a Karen family that was part of Rangoon’s elite after World War II. The book describes the Karen perspective on mid-20th-century wars in Burma, beginning with the Japanese invasion in 1942 and continuing today. Resonating particularly well is the focus on the betrayals that underlay ceasefire and peace negotiations conducted in the name of liberal democracy starting in the 1940s.
Searching for Classical Social Theory in Thailand
When I first taught in Thailand in 2011, I sought Thai sociologists to help me figure out what was different from my American-style sociology. In California, I taught many years of Classical Social Theory, focused on Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, and wondered: what might Thai Classical Theory look like?
The Thai sociologists I asked about Thai Social Theory often gave me a blank look and noted that they too used at least Weber and Durkheim. …
How to Read a WEIRD Evidence-Based Yangon Consultancy Report
By TONY WATERS 24 June 2019
(Reposted from The Irrawaddy of Yangon, Myanmar)
Yangon’s INGOs are full of consultancy reports which offer “professional” opinions about conditions in Myanmar. NGOs, INGOS, and UN agencies investigate transitions regarding democracy, environment, federalism, ethnicity and, of course, gender. These are the subjects that donors are interested in—and thus willing to pay consultant companies tens of thousands of dollars to “research.” This is largely because evidence-based research provides a basis for what well-funded development projects promise their home governments, all on the assumption that the Myanmar people have a “will” to transition from what is bad, to what is good.…
Thinking about Yangon: Normalcy or Conflict?
Christina says I should write about my trip to Yangon (Myanmar/Burma) these last few days, as it is a city unfamiliar to the readers of Ethnography.com. Her impressions, and those of our readers are probably in the context of the international news about Myanmar which focused last year on the Rohingya refugee crisis in which some 800,000 fled to Bangladesh, and more recent fighting in the western province of Rakhine, which briefly made the news a week or two ago. …
When is the country between India and Thailand called Burma or Myanmar?
English speakers seemingly use the word Burma or Myanmar to describe that country. My impression is that it is somewhat interchangeable. If you use Burma instead of “Myanmar” it is some how ok—you just sound a bit old-fashioned, which is perhaps how the United States Embassy in “Burma” sounds to ears inside Myanmar. On the other hand, some who are in opposition to the current Myanmar government prefer the more traditional name of “Burma,” and favor it when speaking English.…
Ethnography.com is reborn for 2019!
Well, it looks like Ethnography.com is going through a third or fourth re-design! Christina Quigley is taking over the web-master duties and getting the blog ready for 2019! This comes after a 1-2 year hiatus when little new content was posted. This will hopefully change, as both Christina and I begin to post ethnographic observations from around the world. In Christina’s case, this will be some combination of Chico, California, and Tanzania. …
My Life as an Honored Potted Plant
Meetings are rituals, and rituals need symbols, and decorations, in other words potted plants. I’ve been to a lot of meetings in my time as an academic where I sat bored and confused, but still clap on cue. The most obvious place I am such a decoration is in May graduation ceremonies. I sit in a hot black robe in May, with the faculty and react in unison with those around me. …
Gallows Tale II: The Hanging File of Tanganyika 1920-1928 and the Risk of Escape!
- The risk of escape of a condemned prisoner who is required to undergo a long journey on foot [of 230 miles] to the place of execution must be considerable
Britain had took control of German East Africa and renamed it Tanganyika Territory in 1920. This meant that the German justice system, which had been found throughout the territory would be replaced with a British system. Among other things, this meant that death by firing squad would be replaced by hanging.…