Burmese Lives

Wen-Chin Chang is Associate Research Fellow at the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. She is a native of Tainan, Taiwan and a PhD graduate of the University of Leuven Belgium. Eric Tagliacozzo is Professor of History at Cornell University, and a PhD graduate of Yale University. Both have been working in Southeast Asian Studies for some two decades.

This volume explores the life stories of ordinary Burmese by drawing on the narratives of individual subjects and using an array of interdisciplinary approaches. The constituted stories highlight the protagonists' survival strategies in everyday life that demonstrate their constant courage and frustration in dealing with numerous social injustices and adversities.

ERIC TAGLIACOZZO AND WEN-CHIN CHANG ; INTRODUCTION: BURMESE LIVES IN A DIVIDED STATE ; I. THE SPECTER OF HARDSHIP ; 1. MANDY SADAN ; THE EXTRA-ORDINARINESS OF ORDINARY LIVES ; 2. PASCAL KHOO-THWE ; THE KAYAN PADAUNG COMMUNITY IN PEKHON, SOUTHERN SHAN STATE, BURMA ; II. NEGOTIATING WITH THE STATE ; 3 BENEDICTE BRAC DE LA PERRIERE ; A WOMAN OF MEDIATION ; 4 ERIC TAGLIACOZZO ; BURMESE AND MUSLIM: ISLAM AND THE HAJJ IN THE SANGHA STATE ; III. WAYS OF ESCAPE ; 5. HSIN-CHUN TASAW LU ; RECOUNTING, RESISTANCE, AND REFLECTION: AN ANALYSIS OF A BURMESE CLASSICAL MUSICIAN'S NARRATIVE ; 6. JAMES SCOTT ; DR. U TIN WIN, ESCAPE ARTIST ; IV. AT BURMA'S MARGINS ; 7. MAXIME BOUTRY ; THE MAUNG AYE'S LEGACY: BURMESE AND MOKEN ENCOUNTERS IN THE SOUTHERN BORDERLANDS OF MYANMAR, 1987-2007 ; 8. WEN-CHIN CHANG ; BY SEA AND BY LAND: STORIES OF TWO CHINESE TRADERS ; V. ETHNICITY AND THE SELF ; 9. MA THIDA ; A MIXED IDENTITY, A MIXED CAREER ; 10. KARIN EBERHARDT ; AT THE COMMUNITY'S SERVICE: A TRANSFORMATIONAL LIFE ; 11 ARDETH MAUNG THAWNGHMUNG ; FROM THE <"LOYAL>" TO THE <"REVOLUTIONARY>" KAREN: LOOKING AT BURMA'S POST-INDEPENDENT ERAS THROUGH THE LIFE OF MAUNG SIN KYE