The Myanmar Research Centre at the Australian National University (MRC-ANU) is hosting a conference, Myanmar Update 2019: Living with Myanmar, in Canberra on March 15 - 16.
Since the last conference in 2017, Myanmar’s restive borderlands have been the site of escalating military campaigns, driving more than 800,000 Rohingya, Kachin, Shan and Karen people to flee internally or across borders. These dynamics have complicated Myanmar’s diplomatic relations with neighbouring countries and exposed the fractures at the heart of Myanmar’s transition to partial civilian rule.
The 2019 conference seeks to explore the contradictions, ambiguities and complexities of 'Living with Myanmar'. What is it like to live with and navigate the institutions and political ideals that shape life for many people in and outside of the territory of Myanmar? How are people engaging in creative and productive ways with Myanmar’s historical, geographic and institutional complexities?
MRC-ANU invites scholars and practitioners to probe these questions, focusing on how everyday people, activists, state officials and external actors craft lives and worldviews as they live with Myanmar. Presentations tackle relevant issues for Myanmar today ranging from justice for Rohingya, insecure land tenure, reform to citizenship and many others.
Several International Development Research Centre (IDRC) grantees who work in Myanmar will be participating, as well as Global Affairs Canada. Ambassador of Canada to Myanmar H.E. Karen MacArthur will open the sessions on Political Update, which will be provided by University of Toronto.
The MRC-ANU acknowledges sponsorship by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
MRC-ANU is also planning to have a Myanmar edition of the conference later in the year in Yangon to allow more participation of Myanmar researchers.
A one-day workshop preceding the conference will be held on Thursday, 14 March 2019. The workshop is for Early Career Researchers and Higher Degree by Research students researching in Myanmar. The sessions will address questions of data generation, publishing, scholarly activism and policy engagement on intense topics in tense times.
Find out more about the conference and workshop at the conference link below.
For further information regarding IDRC at the conference please, contact:
Edgard Rodriguez
Myanmar Initiative Lead
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
[email protected]
