A panel discussion with Thet Su Htwe (physician and activist), Kyaw Thein (civil engineer and activist), Thamora Fishel (associate director, Cornell SEAP), Rhoda Linton (international feminist activist), and PhD students from Cornell University.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is one of Asia’s most diverse nations with over 100 different languages spoken and a huge range of cross-cutting ethnic and religious identities and communities. During the colonial period, the linked domains of religion and education were catalysts for the independence movement. Since independence (at the end of World War II), education has been used as a tool for building national unity, but it has also served as a flashpoint for the many groups seeking autonomy and self-determination. The education system also powerfully reflects wider discourses and practices of national inclusion and exclusion. This panel will discuss the religious and colonial foundations of the education system in Myanmar and share how race, gender, and religion shape pedagogy and students’ experiences of learning in contemporary Myanmar.
Sponsored by the Cornell University Southeast Asia Program, with partial funding from a Title VI NRC grant from the US Department of Education, and Honors Program at Buffalo State.
