Ethnicity, Culture and Religion: Centralisation, Burmanisation and Social Transformation

Abstract

Tensions between the rights of ethnic and religious minorities and the state's often violent vision of belonging have been a defining feature of contemporary Myanmar, continuing under the National League for Democracy (NLD). The political and economic transition has involved reforms that have opened up ethnic and cultural space in some areas, although serious repression continues and has even been expanded in other places. This chapter will explore cleavages related to religious, ethnic and cultural practice in Myanmar, including in relation to broadcast and digital media, education and religious space. It will also look at how minority communities engage with rapidly changing social conditions.