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A New Age for a New Burma: Decolonial Discourse and National Aspirations in post-WWII Burma

Lipiäinen, Samuel LU (2024) HISS33 20241
History
Abstract
Swedish Title: En Ny Era för Ett Nytt Burma: Avkoloniseringens Diskurs och Nationens Strävan i Burma efter Andra Världskriget
This study explores the nature of the nationalist discourse in Burma (Myanmar) in the short period of time following World War II but preceding Burma’s declaration of independence on the 4th of January, 1948. Burma, then a British colony in Southeast Asia, had been promised self-governance and potentially full independence in the aftermath of the war, which led to a period of intense political deliberations and public discussions about what shape this “New Burma” would take. The aspirations of the Burmese people and their political leaders were expressed in various sources utilised for this study, including the... (More)
Swedish Title: En Ny Era för Ett Nytt Burma: Avkoloniseringens Diskurs och Nationens Strävan i Burma efter Andra Världskriget
This study explores the nature of the nationalist discourse in Burma (Myanmar) in the short period of time following World War II but preceding Burma’s declaration of independence on the 4th of January, 1948. Burma, then a British colony in Southeast Asia, had been promised self-governance and potentially full independence in the aftermath of the war, which led to a period of intense political deliberations and public discussions about what shape this “New Burma” would take. The aspirations of the Burmese people and their political leaders were expressed in various sources utilised for this study, including the newspaper the Burmese Review, as well as in public speeches and declarations by Aung San, de-facto leader of the independence movement, and his political party the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL) collected in Josef Silverstein’s The Political Legacy of Aung San (1990).
The study focuses on interpreting how these sources depict a “transition narrative” between colonial rule and independence, a term derived from the work of Subaltern Studies’ scholar Dipesh Chakrabarty, which seeks to define how a decolonising nation viewed itself, its past, and how it aspired to transform itself through gaining independence, either by emulating the European nations which had ruled it or by rejecting anything associated with European culture and forms of governance. This research has been carried out utilising postcolonial theories laid out by Dipesh Chakrabarty (2002) and in The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin. 2002), as well as studies of nationalism by Benedict Anderson (2006) and methods of media research written by Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini (2004). The results of this study show continuity with previous historical research carried out into this crucial period of Burmese history, namely that decolonisation at this time in Southeast Asia was influenced by European thought and aspired to create states which emulated western notions of secularism and decentralised federalism, but it also shows a break with previous research, emphasising the sources’ lack of references to key decolonial themes such as women’s rights and lack of hostility towards what is perceived to be backwards elements of a nation’s past, which modernisation is often framed in opposition to. This indicates that the Burmese transition narrative defies the usual forms of categorisation and characterisation often given to decolonial struggles in Southeast Asia. (Less)
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author
Lipiäinen, Samuel LU
supervisor
organization
course
HISS33 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Burma, Myanmar, Aung San, AFPFL, the Burmese Review, Transition Narrative, Media Systems, Postcolonialism, Decolonisation, Decoloniality, Nationalism, National Discourse
language
English
id
9173929
date added to LUP
2024-09-10 08:57:41
date last changed
2024-09-10 08:57:41
@misc{9173929,
  abstract     = {{Swedish Title: En Ny Era för Ett Nytt Burma: Avkoloniseringens Diskurs och Nationens Strävan i Burma efter Andra Världskriget
This study explores the nature of the nationalist discourse in Burma (Myanmar) in the short period of time following World War II but preceding Burma’s declaration of independence on the 4th of January, 1948. Burma, then a British colony in Southeast Asia, had been promised self-governance and potentially full independence in the aftermath of the war, which led to a period of intense political deliberations and public discussions about what shape this “New Burma” would take. The aspirations of the Burmese people and their political leaders were expressed in various sources utilised for this study, including the newspaper the Burmese Review, as well as in public speeches and declarations by Aung San, de-facto leader of the independence movement, and his political party the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (AFPFL) collected in Josef Silverstein’s The Political Legacy of Aung San (1990).
The study focuses on interpreting how these sources depict a “transition narrative” between colonial rule and independence, a term derived from the work of Subaltern Studies’ scholar Dipesh Chakrabarty, which seeks to define how a decolonising nation viewed itself, its past, and how it aspired to transform itself through gaining independence, either by emulating the European nations which had ruled it or by rejecting anything associated with European culture and forms of governance. This research has been carried out utilising postcolonial theories laid out by Dipesh Chakrabarty (2002) and in The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures (Ashcroft, Griffiths, Tiffin. 2002), as well as studies of nationalism by Benedict Anderson (2006) and methods of media research written by Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini (2004). The results of this study show continuity with previous historical research carried out into this crucial period of Burmese history, namely that decolonisation at this time in Southeast Asia was influenced by European thought and aspired to create states which emulated western notions of secularism and decentralised federalism, but it also shows a break with previous research, emphasising the sources’ lack of references to key decolonial themes such as women’s rights and lack of hostility towards what is perceived to be backwards elements of a nation’s past, which modernisation is often framed in opposition to. This indicates that the Burmese transition narrative defies the usual forms of categorisation and characterisation often given to decolonial struggles in Southeast Asia.}},
  author       = {{Lipiäinen, Samuel}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{A New Age for a New Burma: Decolonial Discourse and National Aspirations in post-WWII Burma}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}