Research Proposal: Myanmar, Ethnic Conflict,

and Global DiscourseRachel Ferrari

SISU-206-020

Research Question

“How have widespread perceptions of the ethnic violence and refugee crisis in Myanmar been influenced by news coverage, academic research, and official governmental responses to these events, and what effect has this discourse had on the status of the situation?”

Literature/Background

Key Players

● Rohingya - Persecuted Muslim minority group

● Burmans - Majority ethnic group

● Myanmar government - primarily Buddhist

○ Very repressive

○ Designated “not free” by Freedom House

● Aung San Suu Kyi - current leader of Myanmar

○ Daughter of Aung San, former leader & revolutionary

History ● 1826-28: Anglo-Burmese War

○ British colonialism → expanded trade/migration → shift in

ethnic makeup → intergroup resentment

● 1930s-40s: ethno-nationalist uprisings by ethnic Burmans

○ 1948: independence

● 1962: military coup + junta established

○ Minority discrimination

○ Civil rights rollbacks

○ Attacks on Rohingya villages

History ● 1970s: state-sponsored terror attacks on Rohingya Muslims

○ Swept 200,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh

● 1982 Citizenship Law

○ Revoked Rohingya citizenship

○ denied legitimacy, refused to recognize as ethnic group

● 1989: Burma → Myanmar

○ Burman term reflecting power hierarchy

● 1990s: another wave of attacks

○ 250,000 more Rohingya pushed out

Current Events ● Since 2015, huge increase in ethnic violence

○ Killings, rape, destruction of villages

○ Large number of IDPs + refugees fleeing to Bangladesh

○ Rakhine State isolated by government

● August-October 2017 alone:

○ 80 villages destroyed, 200 emptied

○ 538,000 refugees

● Very little media/gov/UN attention in West until recently

○ Pope Francis visit

Current Events

● In total, 1.75 million Rohingya

dispersed around the region

● 120,000 internally displaced

● Only ~600,000 Rohingya left

in Myanmar itself

Theoretical Frameworks of Ethnic Politics

1. Primordialism - ethnic divisions are inherent, fixed

2. Rational Choice Theory - rational actors chose own identity

3. Structural Analysis - impact of institutions, laws, norms

4. Social Construction - influenced by power structures

Methodology

Research Design● Interpretivist/discourse analysis

○ Dependent variable → perceptions and outcome of the crisis

○ Independent variable → written/verbal discourse

● Primary sources

○ news articles, press releases, speech transcripts, social media

interactions

○ From journalists, scholars, politicians, public figures, etc.

● Goal: analyze discussion of conflict in news, academia, and government

Discursive Debate

● What to call the situation in Myanmar?

○ Genocide: purposeful mass killing of an ethnic group by

another group

○ Ethnic cleansing: removal of one group from an area by

another group

○ “Refugee crisis”: less confrontational term

■ Doesn’t imply widespread connected efforts

● Possible analysis: proportion of usage of each term in an article

Next Steps for SISU-306

1. Expand and update literature review

2. Gather data from three groups

a. News media

b. Academia

c. Political/governmental

3. Identify patterns and compare similarities/differences

4. Reach a conclusion

Reflection - Why discourse analysis?● Pros

○ Flexible, adaptable

○ Subjective sentiments/policies → written documentation

○ Uses open sources easy to attain

○ Language skills not necessary due to translators

● Cons

○ Reliance on translators a potential challenge

○ Might be searching for info that doesn’t exist, has not been

reported on, or not translated

○ Doesn’t tell entire story -- Rohingya perspective missing (!!)

Asrar, Shakeeb. “Rohingya Crisis Explained in Maps.” Al Jazeera, September 20, 2017. Web. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/09/rohingya-crisis-explained-maps-170910140906580.html.

Crawford, Jamie. “Tillerson Says US Can’t Ignore Myanmar Humanitarian Crisis.” CNN News. 18 October 2017. Web. http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/18/politics/rex-tillerson-myanmar-rohingya/index.html.

Fredholm, Michael. Burma: Ethnicity and Insurgency. Praeger Publishers, 1993. Print.Fisher, Jonah. “UN Failures on Rohingya Revealed.” BBC News, 28 September 2017. Web.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41420973.Goldman, Russell. “Why Aung San Suu Kyi’s Nobel Peace Prize Won’t Be Revoked.” The New York Times, September 4, 2017.

Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/04/world/asia/myanmar-rohingya-suu-kyi-.html.Green, Penny, et al. “Countdown to Annihilation: Genocide in Myanmar.” International State Crime Initiative, 2015. Web.

http://statecrime.org/data/2015/10/ISCI-Rohingya-Report-PUBLISHED-VERSION.pdf. Horowitz, Jason. “Pope Defends His Myanmar Diplomacy: I Did Not Negotiate With the Truth.” The New York Times, 2 December

2017. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/02/world/asia/pope-francis-myanmar-rohingya.html.Kosem, Samak, and Amjad Saleem. “Religion, Nationalism and the Rohingya’s Search for Citizenship in Myanmar." In Muslim

Minority-State Relations: Violence, Integration and Policy, 211-223. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Web. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-137-52605-2_9.

Bibliography

Nauert, Heather. “Accountability for Human Rights Abuses in Rakhine State, Burma.” U.S. State Department, Bureau of Public Affairs. 23 October 2017. Web. https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/10/275021.htm.

Pope Francis. “Pope Francis Addresses Myanmar’s Leaders: Full Text.” Vatican Radio. 11 November 2017. Transcript. http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/11/28/myanmar_journey_pope_meets_authorities/1351622.

Rannard, Georgina. “Rohingya Crisis: What’s Behind These 1.2 Million Tweets?” BBC News, 5 September 2017. Web. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-41160953.

Roth, Kenneth (@KenRoth). “This was until recently a Rohingya Muslim village. Now it's just charred destruction. 700 buildings burned. Myanmar. [Image].” 3 September 2017. Tweet.

“Statement on Peace, Stability, and Rule of Law.” Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Press Release. http://www.president-office.gov.mm/en/?q=briefing-room/statements-and-releases/2017/09/07/id-7662.

Sun, Yun. “Why the World Can’t Afford to Ignore to Ignore the Rohingya Refugee Crisis.” The National Interest, 13 September 2017. Web. http://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-the-world-cant-afford-ignore-the-rohingya-crisis-22287.

Thawnghmung, Ardeth Maung. The “Other” Karen in Myanmar: Ethnic Minorities and the Struggle Without Arms. Lexington Books, 2012. Print.

Bibliography