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(507)

Keeping the Burmese Language Alive

Keeping the Burmese Language Alive

Episode #125: Given the deteriorating and destabilizing situation in Myanmar, one might assume that experts in the fields of Burma Studies, along with Burmese language teachers, would be more importan...

30 Sep 20221h 43min

Power to the People

Power to the People

Episode #124: Today’s guest, Guillaume de Langre, worked for several years in Naypyidaw as an adviser to the Myanmar Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE), and explains the history of electrificat...

23 Sep 20221h 24min

A Failure of Diplomacy

A Failure of Diplomacy

Episode #123: Lucine has been the liaison officer between France and Myanmar for decades. With this rich experience, she offers an insightful perspective on the workings and machinations of the hidden...

16 Sep 20221h 53min

A Conversation with Gil Fronsdal

A Conversation with Gil Fronsdal

Episode #122: Gil Fronsdal’s single visit to Myanmar came over three decades ago, but the impact of the trip on his spiritual life stays with him still.Initially practicing Zen, he went to Japan to de...

10 Sep 20221h 20min

A Vipassanā Journey

A Vipassanā Journey

Episode #121: While perhaps a strange choice for some, Steve Jarand and Kati Schweitzer elected to spend part of their honeymoon meditating in Myanmar. Both being practitioners in the vipassana tradit...

7 Sep 202252min

Htein Lin: Pursuing Art and Liberation

Htein Lin: Pursuing Art and Liberation

Episode #120: On Thursday, August 25th, 2022, the accomplished artist and longtime activist, Htein Lin, was arrested along with his wife, Vicki Bowman. We had only just recently interviewed him, so he...

31 Aug 20222h 7min

Wading Through a Burmese Haze

Wading Through a Burmese Haze

Episode #119: Erin Murphy has been involved in Asia issues since 2001, and Myanmar, in particular, since 2008. She relates all this in her recently released book, Burmese Haze. She contrasts the somew...

26 Aug 20222h 17min

Progressing Towards Victory

Progressing Towards Victory

Episode #118: Kyar Phyu returns to the Insight Myanmar Podcast to update listeners on how eventful the past number of months have been, in particular regarding her association with the CDM.Her activit...

19 Aug 20221h 41min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

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