‘External’ Aspects of Self-Determination Movements in Burma

Abstract

Based on secondary resources and long term anthropological field research, this paper explores some of the ‘external’ factors involved in the pro-democracy and ethnic struggles for self- determination currently being experienced in Burma. The analysis draws in cultural, economic and political aspects to demonstrate that a number of macro- and micro-level external or external- origin influences are at play, at a number of different ‘inside’, ‘outside’ and marginal sites. The paper argues in particular that ‘cultural’ factors such as computer-mediated communication and contacts with outsiders when living in exile, serve as means by which real, virtual and imaginary connections are drawn between these different sites and the actors who inhabit them.