Over the Borderline
Insight Myanmar10 Kesä 2025

Over the Borderline

Episode #353: Professor Lahra Smith, a political science professor specializing in East Africa at Georgetown University, argues that Myanmar’s current struggles must be seen within a global framework of colonial legacies, using Sudan as a comparative case. While acknowledging contextual differences, Smith shows how both countries were shaped by British colonial rule that hardened ethnic divisions, created infrastructure disparities, and entrenched political inequalities.

Sudan lies within Africa’s so-called "coup belt," illustrating a broader dissatisfaction with post-colonial governance and foreign interference. Like Myanmar, Sudan has suffered from military coups that initially promised reform but quickly descended into new forms of repression. Smith discusses how colonial policies divided Sudanese society along racial and religious lines, just as British colonialism in Myanmar entrenched ethnic and religious hierarchies that still drive conflict today.

Colonialism’s infrastructural and missionary legacies further marginalized Sudan’s peripheries, fostering grievances that exploded into civil wars and the eventual, troubled independence of South Sudan. Similarly, Myanmar’s marginalized ethnic regions remain flashpoints for conflict. Smith stresses the need to move beyond thinking in terms of static land borders and recognize the deeper regional and cultural continuities that colonial boundaries disrupted.

Ultimately, Smith emphasizes that identities and nations are constantly evolving, and that just drawing new lines on maps to replace the old, artificial, colonial ones will not solve the problems caused by the colonial experience. She stresses that genuine understanding requires recognizing this fluidity.

Jaksot(509)

Revolutionary Poetry

Revolutionary Poetry

Episode #197: Meet Sai, a poet whose words echo the raw emotions and evolving landscape of Myanmar. Known by his Instagram handle, In the Land of Grief and Gold, his verses offer first-hand insight in...

27 Loka 202353min

The Brutal Incompetence of a Floundering Regime

The Brutal Incompetence of a Floundering Regime

Episode #196: “You have these new battlefields that the military seems unprepared for and certainly doesn't have the manpower or resources. And yet they're fighting! They've chosen to fight in these p...

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Dancing in Duality

Dancing in Duality

Episode #195: “I just always felt most comfortable in retreat settings, and in monastic settings to some degree… and in strip clubs.” This is Natalie Claire’s story, and though she no longer is employ...

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Presumed Guilty

Presumed Guilty

Episode #194: In the midst of Myanmar's turbulent times, Manny Maung, a dedicated advocate from Human Rights Watch, sheds light on a dire situation. Behind closed doors, a shadowy military court syste...

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Narcos: Myanmar

Narcos: Myanmar

Episode #193: In Myanmar's tumultuous landscape, Patrick Winn urges us to see the drug trade not as a moral dilemma but as a potent force shaping the nation's destiny. This trade is a means to amass p...

10 Loka 20231h 55min

No Country for Democracy

No Country for Democracy

Episode #192: “Where are the fighters of Europe who came out against fascist Hitler, or communist Stalin? All disappeared?” This is one of many blunt questions posed by Kasit Piromya, a distinguished ...

3 Loka 20231h 41min

Bonus Content: Insight Myanmar Podcast featured on "Rocklaz Radio with Tanmay Shah"

Bonus Content: Insight Myanmar Podcast featured on "Rocklaz Radio with Tanmay Shah"

The host and founder of Insight Myanmar was interviewed by the podcast, "Rocklaz Radio with Tanmay Shah." Trish, the founder of Bamama Cooks, joins the conversation as well.

29 Syys 20232h 40min

Resisting Until Victory

Resisting Until Victory

Episode #191: Myra Dahgaypaw was born in a camp for internally displaced persons in Karen State. Yet there was no safety there. From infancy, she had to flee with her family to escape violence, facing...

26 Syys 20231h 11min

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