Introduction

Summary

Under the British colonial regime, and during the 1950s, there was a small but vibrant community of scholars in Myanmar, notably those associated with the Burma Research Society, which was founded in 1910. A number of major works were published by local figures, some in English or by foreign publishing houses. Also, the Journal of the Burma Research Society (JBRS), which began publication in 1911, was the outlet for over 1,300 peer-reviewed articles and commentaries, in both English and (mainly after Myanmar regained its independence from the British in 1948) the Burmese language.In 1960, when the society celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, the society published two volumes of articles and papers read at a celebratory conference.After the 1962 coup, the journal was permitted to continue publication but was closely monitored by the government. Both the Burma Research Society and the JBRS were closed down by General Ne Win in 1980. The baton was picked up to a certain extent by the officially sponsored Burma (later Myanmar) Historical Commission, which was created in 1955. However, until the advent of a more tolerant quasi-civilian government in 2011, academic research inside the country was still crippled by the lack of access to sources and other restrictions.

Under Ne Win, Myanmar scholars were limited not only in what they could study but also in what they could write, and how they could publish their findings. For example, as David Steinberg has noted in the foreword to this book, all academic research results (even in science and medicine) were considered classified until they had been cleared for public release by the government.Publications were carefully vetted for political correctness. One result of this demand for intellectual orthodoxy was a split between national and international research traditions. There was an effective division of Myanmar studies into what Hans-Bernd Zollner has described as “research from within” and “research from without”.“Research from within” tended to focus on Myanmar as a national entity (and then only within permitted bounds). Research conducted outside the country did not face such constraints, but was obliged by a lack of access to focus on aspects of Myanmar that could be examined relatively easily or, being deemed “safe” by the authorities, could gain a measure of official sponsorship. Such subjects included archeological discoveries, aspects of ancient civilizations, the traditional cultures of certain ethnic groups and Myanmar’s Buddhist traditions.