Over the Borderline
Insight Myanmar10 Juni 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.

Avsnitt(509)

Emergency Edition: Burning the Midnight Oil

Emergency Edition: Burning the Midnight Oil

Michael Haack sheds light on the intricate world of US sanctions and their impact on Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprises (MOGE) and the wider Myanmar military regime. Haack, a familiar voice on the podcas...

5 Jan 202443min

You Say You Want A Revolution

You Say You Want A Revolution

Episode #209: Susan Zaw’s father and grandfather were both military men, and she had never really been a real fan of the National League for Democracy (NLD). But on February 28, shortly after the coup...

2 Jan 20241h 14min

“Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Movement Been Ignored?” (Panel Discussion)

“Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Movement Been Ignored?” (Panel Discussion)

Episode #208: Better Burma’s third panel tackles the issue of the lack of limited international governmental and infrequent media attention on the horrific, on-going situation in Myanmar and the Burme...

26 Dec 20232h 4min

Nobuko Nakano

Nobuko Nakano

Episode #207: Seeking a way to satisfy a growing internal discontent, Nobuko Nakano turned to psychedelics and other drugs, and hard partying in her youth. It was hard for her to stop, even after taki...

19 Dec 20232h 20min

Rebels Without A Pause

Rebels Without A Pause

Episode #206: Soon after Delphine Schrank arrived in Yangon in 2008 as a Washington Post reporter to cover the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, she realized that life under the brutal military was a big p...

12 Dec 20232h 27min

Emergency Edition: Scams and Shackles

Emergency Edition: Scams and Shackles

Jason Tower, country director for the Burma program at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), exposes the dark underbelly of an operation that ensnares hundreds of thousands of people into a for...

8 Dec 20232h 2min

Uncovering Dr. Leon Wright

Uncovering Dr. Leon Wright

Episode #205: In a world where representation and diversity are more critical than ever, Aishah Shahidah Simmons unveils the little known story of Dr. Leon Wright, a remarkable African-American profes...

5 Dec 20232h 21min

Emergency Edition: The Spring Revolution Will Win

Emergency Edition: The Spring Revolution Will Win

You're listening to a Special Release episode of Insight Myanmar Podcast. In the aftermath of Operation 1027, a pivotal military action initiated by the Three Brotherhood Alliance, and further support...

2 Dec 20232h 44min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

aftonbladet-krim
p3-krim
rss-krimstad
fordomspodden
motiv
spar
rss-viva-fotboll
flashback-forever
blenda-2
aftonbladet-daily
rss-sanning-konsekvens
svenska-fall
rss-vad-fan-hande
rss-krimreportrarna
rss-frandfors-horna
olyckan-inifran
krimmagasinet
rss-flodet
svd-ledarredaktionen
dagens-eko