Notes on/from the field
Burma/Myanmar
When Scottish journalist James George Scott published "The Burman: His Life and Notions" (1882) under the nom de plume Shway Yoe, very few believed that it was not written by a Burman or by someone from Burma. Scott's representation of the Burma he witnessed, in spite of certain limitations characteristic of colonial writings, was considerably accurate for a text produced in a period of high imperialism.
In that sense Shway Yoe continue to inspire storytellers with interest in the complex yet wonderful country that is now called Myanmar.
"Anyone who's ever set foot in Burma never really returns," an old Portuguese traveller I met in 2018 in the streets of Yangon told me.
While this might sound like a statement from a colonial traveler looking for the "picturesque" or exotic orient, this is something I sincerely believe in. At least this has been true for me. In the past five years, I have travelled to Burma six times and lived there for more than a year on and off. That includes ten months that I lived with Theravāda Buddhist monks learning Pali, the cosmopolitan language of Theravāda Buddhism.
In Burma, I am known by the name လင်းမြတ်ကျော် and I have been working on my Burmese--well, since forever!
And naturally my academic interest lies in Burma, Burmese nat cosmology, Theravāda Buddhism, Burmese Christianity, and everyday life in Burma. But nothing beats my love for ထန်းရည်, ငါးပိ and လက်ဖက်သုပ်, and the mesmerizing evenings of the wonder that is Bagan.
While I have read, mused over, and lived in Burma for a long time, I have written only a few journalistic pieces from there. My reporting from Burma has appeared in LGBTQ Nation, The NewsLens International, and The Diplomat.
In 2023, I have published a peer-reviewed journal article that looked at the intricacies of Brahmanical and Buddhist kingships of Ahom and Konbaung kingdoms in the two erstwhile neighbouring polities of Assam and Burma, respectively, through a comparative examination of two nineteenth century texts of political advice. The article titled How to (un)make a chakravarti king: Kingship in U Hpo Hlaing's 'Rajadhammasangaha' and Bagis Sarma's 'Nitilatankur' appeared in the journal The World of the Orient and can be accessed here as a PDF.
A continuation of the study has resulted in another article on the use of Brahmanical ritual technologies in the nineteenth century Konbaung court. The article is currently under peer review.
Other ongoing works related to Burma include a reported feature looking at the intersections of Burmese nat cosmology and environmental preservation; a memoir of living more than a year in army-ruled Myanmar post 2021 coup; and a rather ambitious project that entails translating a Burmese poetic chronicle depicting the Konbaung invasion of Assam in early nineteenth century.
Further, I have been quoted in the following news items that helped fact-check disinformation linking recent developments in Myanmar to ethnic clashes in Manipur, India:
Video of drones dropping bombs in Myanmar falsely linked to Manipur clashes for Logically Facts
Videos showing rebel outfits in Myanmar falsely linked to Manipur violence for Logically Facts
Assam/Northeast India
This is where I come from, call home, and most of my reports are based on. Some of my recent works from the region that I adore:
Embracing Death as Community Care for YES! Magazine
Preserving Abodes of Tibetan Buddhist Deities for Earth Island Journal
How the Loss of a Natural Dye-Producing Plant Initiated the Idea of a Village Sanctuary for Mongabay-India
Timor-Leste/East Timor
I spent a couple of weeks in 2017 in the backwaters of Timor-Leste looking at how local communities were instrumentalizing cosmological beliefs and customary laws towards environmental stewardship especially in the management of marine fisheries.
My reporting from Timor-Leste appeared in Mongabay, The Diplomat and The NewsLens International.
This piece from Timor-Leste is close to my heart as I could describe, like an old-school anthropologist of sorts, a ritual from a coastal village:
Timor-Leste: With Sacrifice and Ceremony, Tribe Sets Eco Rules