Recent News: Burma

I usually sign up for Google Alerts for daily emails of top articles related to the country that I am researching each month. The articles from Burma have been more varied and related to really significant change compared to any other country I have virtually traveled to so far. I have a feeling that the people of Burma themselves are talking a great deal about some of these topics as it seems their country's status internationally is at a moment where it could go one of two ways - gaining respect from some of the peace-keeping/humanitarian allied countries, or drawing increasing criticism for the oppressive leadership and human rights issues.

A crowd of relatives and friends wait in front of Insein Prison in Rangoon on May 17, 2011, eagerly looking for their loved ones to appear as part of a general prisoner amnesty release.

Here's some recent articles if you want some more detailed info on recent events:

US and Burmese Diplomats Hold Rare Meeting in Washington

Bringing Burma's Nuclear Secrets to the Table

Rechecking the Number of Political Prisoners in Burma

Monastic Education the Only Choice for Burma's Poor

US Urges India to Wield Influence over Burma

Recent peaceful protest in Burma - sign of change to come?

Protesters in Burma offer prayers at the Sule Pagoda after they agreed to call off a rally when asked by the authorities to do so, in downtown Rangoon on September 26, 2011

An article was just posted at Time.com that is worth a read - a great rundown of recent events:

Burma: Could a Small, Peaceful Protest Signal Real Reform?


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Padaung Women of Eastern Burma

Eastern Burma has a lot of diversity with many ethnic minorities from neighboring regions, including the Padaung people who are a small subset of the Karen ethnic group. You are probably most familiar with the Padaung because of a particular accessory:

In Padaung culture, the tradition of neck rings being worn by girls starts young - around the age of 5 or 6 - and by the time they reach adulthood they usually have 20-30 rings that measure 10"-15" from top to bottom.  They aren't actually rings that are added independently each time - instead it is a coil that is added to that wraps up around the woman's neck.  The weight of the rings pushes down the collar bone and upper ribs, giving the illusion of a longer neck.

X-ray comparison of a typical woman's collarbone versus a Padaung "long-necked" woman's pushed down collarbone.

Although the accessories appear elegant and beautiful, they come at a cost. Women with neck rings often cannot drink from a cup because by tipping their head back they become unbalanced and can fall over - thus drinking out a straw becomes the only option.

I've not been able to ascertain exactly when this practice started, but it is a longstanding tradition linked with the tribal group's mythology. According to folklore, the rings were first a protective measure to keep  tigers from breaking the necks of girls and women in the tribe.  However, modern critics have put forth the idea that the rings make the women less attractive to slave traders, or conversely that they are a tribal sign of beauty and wealth that will attract a good husband.  The neck rings play a pivotal role in some of the punishments of women in the tribe; adulturesses have their rings forcibly removed, and usually their neck muscles have atrophied to the point where the women can no longer hold their heads up and must spend the rest of their lives lying down or finding some alternate neck brace.  As you might imagine, adultery and divorce rates are low.

Padaung woman driving a car!

 In the last couple decades, many Padaung have left Burma while it was under oppressive military rule and fled across the border to Thailand, where many women have become a tourist attraction.  Some visitors come to marvel at the women's elegance, while others find the practice to be an abomination and do not support tour operators that visit Padaung villages, likening them to "human zoos."  I went to Thailand last year and didn't make it up to the area where the Padaung refugees are, and now I'm not quite sure how I feel about visiting them. I think the practice is both beautiful and horribly sexist, but I think that by boycotting the villages it takes away their main source of income...however it also encourages the practice to continue. Tricky tricky. What's worse is that the refugees have been offered resettlement land in New Zealand and Finland, but the Thai government won't issue them visas because they bring in tourist dollars. Awful!!! I tried to find a non-profit/charity that benefitted these women, providing education or support for not putting their daughters in the same position, but I couldn't find anything:( It would be great if there was a way for them to sell more of their traditional crafts or textiles instead to make money instead of having to suffer physical deformity to bring tourists in. Sad.

Web restrictions lifted - Burmese gain access to BBC and YouTube:)

I try to keep up on the news for the countries I am checking out for my blog, and I was happy to read that some website restrictions in Burma have just been lifted! This is a step by the repressive government to show that they are attempting to lift some restrictions and improve international perception of Burma and boost internal morale. 

BBC, Reuters,  Radio Free Asia, and YouTube are some of the websites that have been blocked since a time of protests in 2007.  The lifting of the censorship coincides with a recent visit from a U.S. envoy as well as the United Nation's "International Day of Democracy" which celebrated Nobel Laureate and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who said she believes "changes are on the horizon."  

Aung San Suu Kyi

Although the lifting of web censorship is a positive step, TV broadcasts still remain tightly controlled by the government and foreign journalists are mostly barred from reporting in the country. 

Myanmar or Burma???

Inspired by the Seinfeld clip in my last post, I will now tackle the Myanmar/Burma name debate, so I can move forth this month using the correct name (unlike in January when I erroneously called the Democratic Republic of the Congo simply the Congo for weeks).

Map of Burma

Officially, the name of the country is Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw,  which is translated by the US government as the "Union of Myanmar."   Part of the confusion around the name of the country stems from the usage of both terms by the Burman people. "Myanmar" is the term usually used in forma settings and in written sources.  When speaking, the term "Burma" is most commonly used. 

Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw in Burmese.....
I don't think I could learn this language if I spent the rest of my life working on it!

In 1989, a ruling military junta changed the name of Burma to Myanmar, also changing the city Rangoon to Yangon.  The United Nations and some countries, such as France and Japan, recognize the new name, while the United States and the UK still use the name Burma.  Due to the familiarity of the older names, many news outlets still use "Burma" and "Rangoon."

In a statement, the British Foreign Office commented "Burma's democracy movement prefers the form 'Burma' because they do not accept the legitimacy of the unelected military regime to change the official name of the country." Sometimes the usage of the name Myanmar by individuals or organizations is taken as relative acceptance of the military regime.   Although there are calls for democracy in Burma, some thing the name will continue to be Myanmar even if the military junta is ousted and democratic control comes into power.  A linguist at the University of Western England, Richard Coates, feels that the adoption of the name Myanmar is an attempt to break from colonial past - from 1824-1948 the country was under British control.

Soooooooooooo, what am I going to call it.......well, although I think Myanmar is a funny name to say, I think I'm going to stick with Burma.  I made this decision not particularly based on political reasons (although I will spend some time in an upcoming post learning more about the political situation in the Union of Myanmar), but more because in my blog I celebrate the culture of different regions, and "Burma" seems to reflect the culture of the Burmese people better and is a less formal, more colloquial term, which is closer to the spirit of this blog!

Leaving India and moving on to Burma....or is it Myanmar????

Well, my two months in India has come to an end.  I slacked off a bit in the last two months and wrote about half as many posts as usual, which is why I stayed in India double time. I hope to be back on target  in September!!!

It was fun learning more about India. I certainly spent a lot of time learning about food. I probably cooked Indian food six or seven times and visited a few Indian grocery stores. I looooooove Indian food, and Indian leftovers are even better with age:) I was blown away by not only how many spices I used in the food, but by the quantity of those spices...tablespoons sometimes!!!!  I will definitely keep cooking Indian food and thanks to sweet Manjula for all the great recipes!

I listened to some Indian music off and on during the month - mostly off "The Darjeeling Limited" soundtrack, which first introduced me to my favorite Indian soundtrack duo - Shankar Jaikishan. If you haven't seen it yet, check out my post with a clip from one of their movies that features a song of theirs and some groovy underwater scenes.

I started reading a couple books by Indian authors and I'm sad to say I have as of yet not finished either, but I will!  I'm reading "A River Sutra" by Gita Mehta, which is the story of a retired Indian bureaucrat  who  retires along the banks of a holy river and encounters varied passersby who tell him the stories of their lives. I also am reading "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy, which tells the story of two fraternal twins growing up in Southern India in the late 60s and shifts to them being reunited in the 1990s. The book touches on the impact of communism and the caste system, weaving these themes through the stories of the well crafted characters that enter into the twins lives.

Altogether, I enjoyed my time exploring India in the last two months, and especially eating a ridiculous amount of Indian food.

For my next month, I'm not traveling to far afield from India. Due to my monthly blog dinners, cousin has requested Myanmar as my next country - no good Burmese restaurants here in San Diego, so it's time to take our love of Burmese food into our own hands!!!

I've gotta be honest - the first time I can remember hearing about the country of Myanmar was because of the show Seinfeld! Here's a clip to refresh your memories.....



Hahaha! Man, I love Peterman. But, why the name switch?????   To find out, check back in with my blog in a few days - my first post will look at the name change and a bit of the history of the region.