Burma studies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Burma Studies is a grouping used in research universities around the world as a way of bringing together specialists from different disciplines such as history, cultural anthropology, archeology, religious studies, art history, political science, and musicology, who are doing research in these areas focused on the geographical area of what is today the country of Myanmar or Burma, often using the Burmese language, or a language of one of its ethnic groups such as the Shan, Mon, Karen, Chin, or Kachin.
The Journal of the Burma Research Society (JBRS) was the first academic journal devoted to Burma Studies. This journal started early in the twentieth century about the same time as The Journal of the Siam Society and was published in Burma but is no longer published today. The Myanmar Historical Commission which was established in 1955 regularly publishes a journal and holds conferences in Myanmar
Currently, outside of Burma there are two academic journals specialising in Burma Studies research articles, the Journal of Burma Studies and the SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research.
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London was the first institution of higher education outside of Burma to have many faculty specialising in Burma Studies. Specialists in the Burmese language and literature included the scholars Hla Pe, John Okell, Anna Allot and in the history of Burma the historian D.G.E. Hall. H.L. Shorto specialised in Mon language and literature. The late historian of Burma U Than Tun received his doctorate in history at SOAS. Many current specialists in Burma and its languages and ethnic groups received their doctorates at SOAS such as the historians Victor B. Lieberman and the Mon linguist Christian Bauer.
The Center for Burma Studies at Northern Illinois University is the national center for Burma studies in the United States. There is also a lot of activity in Burma studies at the University of Michigan, the University of Hawaii, the National University of Singapore, and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Despite the name of the country officially having been changed to "Myanmar", most universities still refer to this academic focus as "Burma studies" reflecting the contested status of the name "Myanmar" outside of the country.
