Public Lecture: Acoustic Ecology
2024-07-31 13:30 - 16:00 (Asia/Krasnoyarsk) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
A talk with Csaba Hajnóczy, Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest. He will introduce “acoustic ecology,” a concept born about half a century ago, but the observation of sonic phenomena in the context of human and non-human environments is much older. As a multidisciplinary territory it is strongly related to acoustic communication, psychoacoustics, bioacoustics, sound art and other fields.
Csaba Hajnóczy will give an introduction, presenting the foundations and history (R. Murray Schafer), the characteristics of the soundscape (Steven Feld), the basics of acoustic communication (Barry Truax), a relating Hungarian project (“Szigetköz” region), and indigenous practices of ecological listening.
This event is free and open to all, with a follow up hands-on workshop in August on acoustic ecological practice to be announced soon.

ICBMS4
2024-08-02 08:30 - 2024-08-04 17:00 (Asia/Krasnoyarsk) | Uniserv, 239 Nimmanahaeminda Road, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
The International Conference on Burma /Myanmar Studies (ICBMS) committee would like to invite submissions for ICBMS4, which will be hosted at Chiang Mai University on the 2nd – 4th August 2024, titled: ‘Assemblages of the Future: Rethinking Communities after the State’.
Three years after the coup and amid desperate circumstances, the people of Myanmar have responded with renewed thought and action to reimagine the present and future for themselves and their communities. As it has become clear that many traditional forms of authority have had their power eroded – notably the inability of the Myanmar “state” to carry out basic functions – such emergent realities present both opportunities and challenges.
The “assemblages” of the future refers to new “entangled ways of life,” what Anna Tsing calls the “mosaic of temporal rhythms and spatial arcs” as taking place in Myanmar of 2024. This framing asks scholars to situate their work within this contested reality, and ask critical questions about the emergent future. In particular, this refers to the complex rhythms of Myanmar’s social reality, where many aspects of culture, power and life have been transformed after the coup, yet others remain stubbornly intact – for better or worse. In simple terms, in this state of flux, how do we understand how the people of Myanmar are acting in the present to (re)assemble their future commons in its various forms?
ICBM4 in Chiang Mai therefore seeks to foster academic debate and facilitate dialogue to progress the scholarly understanding of what is happening in Myanmar. We would like to invite individual abstracts as well as panel proposals, roundtable proposals from interested academics, researchers, graduate students, and professionals, as well as practitioners engaged in the field of Burma/Myanmar studies. While we welcome submissions on any aspect relating to the study of Burma/Myanmar, we particularly encourage scholars to consider how their work speaks to this contested present and future, as highlighted through these suggested themes:
Conference Themes
Negotiating New Realities: Power, Practice, and Praxis

Emergent Governance and Civilian Protection
Multipolarity in a Contested Region
Resilience and Localisation in Service Provision: Education, Healthcare, and Religion
Energy, Infrastructure and Sustainable Development

Identity, Territory, and Belonging amidst Conflict and Climate Change

Ethnicity and Territoriality
Border Politics & Transnationalism
Migration, Forced Displacement and Refugees
Livelihoods, Agriculture and Food Systems

Uncovering Lived Experiences and Marginalised Narratives

Nascent, Marginal and Informal Economies
Inequality and Empowerment
Gender, Sexuality and Power
Civil Disobedience, Social Movements and Everyday Life

Remaking Knowledge and Finding Truth in Revolution

Discourses of Peace, Conflict, and Justice
Propaganda, Media and Information Landscapes
Arts, Literature and Popular Culture
Research Ethics, Decolonization and Methodological Challenges

For further information, please contact the ICBMS IV Secretariat at icbms.cmu@gmail.com
Important Dates:
Deadline of Abstract & Panel proposal submission: 30 April 2024
Announcement of accepted abstract and proposal: 31 May 2024
Early bird registration: 1 June 2024
Deadline for full-paper submission: 30 June 2024
Registration of Participants (Audience): TBA
Conference Dates: 2 – 4 August 2024
About ICBMS
In July 2015, Chiang Mai University hosted the first International Conference on Burma / Myanmar Studies (ICBMS) entitled ‘Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges.’ The second edition of ICBMS was held at Mandalay University, co-hosted with Chiang Mai University in 2018, bringing together 543 participants from 29 countries, with 48 sessions of paper presentation and 7 roundtables. The third and largest ICBMS (to date) was delayed, finally being held as a hybrid event in March 2021. Over 1000 participants joined from across the globe under the title of ‘Myanmar / Burma in the Changing South East Asia Context.’

Listening Session: Acoustic Ecology
2024-08-13 14:00 - 16:00 (Asia/Krasnoyarsk) | Dhani Bhaholyodin Conference Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200
All are invited to join a public listening session of the results of the Acoustic Ecology sound workshop (currently under way), documenting audioscapes and the sound environment in and around Chiang Mai with Dr. Csaba Hajnoczy from Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest Hungary. Please join us from 2-5 pm on Tuesday, 13 August in the Dhani Bhaholyodin Conference Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University

Federalism and Decentralization in Myanmar: A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective
2024-11-06 13:30 - 15:30 (Asia/Krasnoyarsk) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
The Coup by the Myanmar military in February 2021 has resulted in renewed calls for a fundamental reform of the political system, which includes the abolition of special privileges for the Tatmadaw, a focus on democratic governance principles and the introduction of a federal union of equals. This presentation will look at the situation in Myanmar before the military coup and assess to what extent, a) Myanmar was a decentralised / federal state under the 2008 Constitution; b) how discussions in the Union Peace Conference dealt with the issue of federalism and c) How developments have sped up since the military coup, and how new visions on federalism are evolving amongst the different stakeholders. By doing so, the presentation will focus on the current situation, and the diverse perceptions of federalism amongst a variety of groups. Finding compromise and agreement will be challenging – and the presentation will highlight how the situation might get worse, before it can get better and a new constitutional framework can be agreed upon.

Speaker Bio
Dr Sören Keil is a Senior Teaching and Research Fellow at the Chair for International Politics of the University of Passau in Germany. Before that, until September 2024 he was the Academic Head of the International Research and Consulting Centre at the Institute of Federalism of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He previously worked at Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK. His research focuses on institutional design in post-conflict societies, federalism and decentralisation, as well as conflict resolution and power-sharing. He has published widely on comparative federalism and power-sharing, with his latest book titled “Power-sharing in the Global South – Patterns, Practices and Potential” (Palgrave, with Allison McCulloch and Eduardo Aboultaif).

Falling in love with artificial companions
2024-12-06 10:00 - 12:00 (Asia/Krasnoyarsk) | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Join us on Friday, 6 December 2024 from 10:00 – 12:00 at the 4th Floor Meeting Room, Operations Building of the Faculty of Social Sciences for “Falling in love with artificial companions: with Professor of Philosophy Tõnu Viik, Rector of Tallinn University, Estonia.
Abstract:
Is it possible for human beings to establish romantic relationships with robots? What kind of otherness, or alterity, will be construed in the process of falling in love with a robot? Can a robotic companion mean more than being a tool for house-work, a caretaker, an aid of self-gratification, or a sex-doll? Phenomenological analysis of love experience suggests that romantic feelings necessarily include experiencing the alterity of the partner as an affective
subjectivity that freely, willingly, and passionately commits to its partner. The romantic commitment is expected to stem from the sentient inner selves of the lovers, which is one of the features that robots are lacking. Thus the artificial alterity might disengage our romantic aspirations, and, as argued by many, will make them morally inferior to intraspecies love affairs. The current analysis will restrain from ethical considerations, however, and will focus on whether robots can in principle elicit human feelings of love.

Rare Earth Mining in Mai Ja Yang, Myanmar: Public Seminar
2025-01-31 14:30 - 16:30 (Asia/Krasnoyarsk) | Room 3201, Department of Social Science and Development, Room 3201, Department of Social Science and Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Academic researchers, media outlets, and international non-governmental organizations have investigated the issue of rare earth mining in Myanmar’s Kachin State, which borders China’s Yunnan Province. According to their findings, rare earth mining has caused irreversible environmental and social impacts. These investigations have also examined the role of the New Democratic Army–Kachin (NDA-K) in rare earth mining activities in the Pangwa area of Chipwi Township. o expand on the knowledge of rare earth mining in Myanmar, we explore how the Kachin Independence Organization/Army (KIO/A) has governed rare earth mining in Mai Ja Yang, the second-largest town in KIO-controlled territory. We argue that the KIO/A has integrated rare earth mining governance into its broader narrative and efforts of nation-building. This governance has yielded mixed results. Economically, some villages have supported mining activities, while others have rejected them due to concerns about environmental impacts. Neither stance, however, has prioritized the aspirations of Kachin nation-building. Against this backdrop, we suggest that the KIO’s governance of rare earth mining should be transparent and inclusive of the diverse needs of local stakeholders. Additionally, international organizations should acknowledge and support the KIO’s role in governing natural resources responsibly.
Speakers
Seng Li (Shanan Foundation)
Ta-Wei Chu (Department of Social Science and Development, Chiang Mai University)

One Northern Thai Village in Chiang Mai: Public Lecture
2025-02-20 13:00 - 15:00 (Asia/Krasnoyarsk) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD invites all to join a public lecture “One Northern Thai Village in Chiang Mai: a 40-year Rural Transition and Responses of Rural People to Opportunities” by Tetsuro Fujikura, Ph.D., Visiting Associate Professor of Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University on Thursday, 20 February 2025 at the Subaltern meeting room, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.
The village surveyed, Muang Kham, Pong Yeang, Mae Rim in Chiang Mai, is a quintessential northern Thai village. The life history of rural households, reconfigured in a case study, indicates that improved market accessibility has benefitted rural people. Paved roads improved accessibility for the first generation in their 50s. As laterite roads were replaced by paved roads, electricity, motorization, and a great wave of commercialization came. Moreover, information technology also provides accessibility for the second generation, the family’s primary income earners. The author discusses how households there have accumulated capital and deployed investment throughout their life history. The study describes villagers’ active response to opportunities.

Book Talk: A Sense of Place and Belonging - the Chiang Tung Borderland of Northern Southeast Asia
2025-04-30 10:00 - 12:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Join us on Wednesday, April 30 as Klemens Karlsson of Uppsala University and affiliated researcher at RCSD presents his book “A Sense of Place and Belonging – The Chiang Tung Borderland of Northern Southeast Asia,” published by Northern Illinois University/Cornell University Press.
This book is an interdisciplinary study of Chiang Tung (Keng Tung), a marginalized borderland between the dominant cultures of the Burmese, the Chinese, and the Siamese/Thai, and how people identify themselves as belonging to that specific place, a sense of place and belonging.
It presents the dramatic history of Chiang Tung and the Tai Khuen people in Myanmar’s Eastern Shan State, with wars and forced resettlements, but it also presents the glorious Buddhist culture of Chiang Tung with roots in Lan Na Tai and Sinhalese traditions, but with its own individuality and distinctiveness. It discusses the Buddhist tradition in a historic geopolitical context, as well as with its affinity with the cult of territorial spirits.
The book ties together myths and memories told by local people and written in local chronicles, with the unique performance of the Songkran festival which dramatizes a symbolic agreement between the Tai Khuen people and the indigenous Tai Loi (Lua/Lawa) people about the ownership of land.

Be an Entrepreneur or Stay a Farmer? The Anxiety of Specialty Coffee Value Chain Upgrading for Indigenous Smallholders in Northern Thailand
2025-07-07 13:30 - 15:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Public lecture (and coffee tasting) with Po-Tao Chang, Phd student in the Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This presentation is designed for people who are interested in topics related to sustainable agriculture, indigenous peoples, coffee commodity chains, and industry in Thailand. Po-Tao Chang will present his latest research findings about the transformation of highland Arabica coffee production with (mostly) Akha people, and the revolution of the Thai (specialty) coffee industry. Briefly speaking, the Akha people have played a crucial role in expanding and upgrading both the quantity and quality of Arabica coffee production over the past two decades. There has been a dramatic number of Akha coffee producers elevating the quality and value of their coffee parchments and green beans. While some of them are becoming entrepreneurs, the uneven development of coffee production is also happening among different ethnic groups and villages. In addition, the anxiety of massive investment and the uncertainty of market transformation have also been emerging challenges for indigenous coffee smallholders in northern Thailand.

Public Seminar: "Ek Khaale" Once Upon a Time - The Rohingya, a Visual Restoration; Memory, Identity and Shared Histories
2025-07-14 10:00 - 12:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
For people in Myanmar (Burma), the Rohingya community’s history has been, at best, questioned, and at worst —and in reality—rejected outright. Much of the Rohingya’s visual history has been lost, confiscated or destroyed during waves of violence, forced displacement and genocide over the past 60 years. This destruction continues today. This has severely undermined ways in which the Rohingya preserve and share their collective memory, identity and history with others.

Ek Khaale is the Rohingya expression for ‘Once Upon A Time’. The project Ek Khaale was launched by award winning documentary photojournalist Greg Constantine. It is a collaborative storytelling and visual restoration project with Rohingya all over the world.

This project brings together rare and never before seen old photographs, family collections, documents, letters, illustrations and other historical materials from the past and activates them in the present. By exposing this unseen past, this project aims to share a visual portrait of the Rohingya most people have never seen before. It also challenges historical narratives and reconstructs what Burmese regimes and other communities have spent decades trying to destroy.

In this special lecture, Greg will talk about the history of this groundbreaking project, the use of research-based archival work, and the significance of the project for the Rohingya community and other communities from Burma. He will share several of the most important discoveries over the past four years as well as the stories behind them.

View the Ek Khaale project online here.

Ek Khaale will also be on exhibit at the Chiang Mai Alliance Francaise Gallery from July 9-19th.

Greg Constantine is an award winning documentary photojournalist and author. He has dedicated his career to long-term, independent projects that explore the intersection of human rights, inequality, injustice, citizenship, identity, belonging and the power of the state. His long term projects include: Nowhere People, Exiled To Nowhere and Seven Doors. He is the author of three award winning photography books and his work has been exhibited in over 40 cities around the world. Constantine has been documenting the persecution of the Rohingya community for the past 19 years. In 2020, he began working with Rohingya on the project Ek Khaale. In early 2017, he received his PhD from Middlesex University in the UK and has since received Independent Scholar as well as Early Career Fellowships from the Independent Social Research Foundation and Queen Mary University in London. Most recently, he was a Hearst Visiting Fellow at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication.

Decolonizing SEA Studies Conference
2025-07-17 - 2025-07-19 | Uniserv, 239 Nimmanahaeminda Road, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Supported by the Luce Foundation, Chiang Mai University Faculty of Social Science, and the University of Wisconsin – Madison Center for Southeast Asian Studies, the Decolonizing Southeast Asia Studies Conference will be held 17-19 July at Chiang Mai University’s Uniserv. Organized by RCSD, over 200 presenters and observers from throughout the region will come together for a diverse range of panels, roundtables, and keynote presentations. They will examining the challenges of decolonization from different vantage points: from within Southeast Asian nation states, from the viewpoint of Western academia with its baggage of direct colonization, and the position of indigenous peoples living under the shadow of both of these contexts.
For full description of the conference themes and goals please visit the Decolonizing SEA Studies website, and for observers who have not yet registered to participate, please register here.

Seminar: Rethinking Ethnic Studies in SEA
2025-07-20 08:00 - 2025-07-22 17:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | First Floor Meeting Room (4107), Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD invites all to attend a public seminar: Rethinking Ethnic Studies in Southeast Asia, from July 20-22, 2025 at the Faculty of Social Sciences First Floor Meeting Room (4107), Chiang Mai University,
This seminar is jointly organized by the School of Ethnology and Sociology, Yunnan University (YNU), and the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), with the participation of the Center for Ethnic Studies and Development, Chiang Mai University and hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.
Key participants include Wasan Panyagaew, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at CMU; He Ming, Dean of the School of Ethnology and Sociology at YNU; and Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, Director of RCSD. Other participants include Gam A. Shimray from the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Suchart Setthamalinee from the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC), and Catherine Baron from Toulouse University, France. Several scholars from Yunnan University, Chiang Mai University (including its Center for Ethnic Studies and Development – CESD, and Department of Sociology and Anthropology), Minzu University of China, Thammasat University, Dali University, Xiamen University, and Sorbonne Paris 1 University will also present.
The seminar will explore a range of topics within ethnic studies in Southeast Asia. Discussions will cover the Culture and Memory of Ethnic Lue in Thailand and Vietnam, the dynamics of Chinese Communities outside China focusing on Yunnan Studies in Thailand and Sino-Thai family businesses in Northern Thailand, and the Study of Lahu in both Thailand and China with case studies in Chiang Mai. Further sessions will delve into State and Ethnicity, examining historical exclusion of minorities in Cambodia and Thai state policies toward highlanders. The relationship between Ethnicity and Coffee in Doi Chang, Thailand will be explored, including comparative studies with Qingkou Village in China and the concept of “Ethnic Coffee Capitalism.” The seminar will also address Ethnicity and Society in Myanmar, touching upon anthropological research on rural society, the formation of plural societies in Colonial Burma, and the role of ethnic civil society. Finally, Cultural Sharing will be examined through a case study of Malaysia, focusing on heritage politics and the construction of shared cultural identity.

"Thabyay" Film Screening & Panel Discussion: Future Election in Myanmar
2025-10-07 17:00 - 20:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Dhani Bhaholyodin Conference Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200
The Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, invites students, scholars, civil society, media, and the public to a special screening of the documentary “Thabyay: Creative Resistance in Myanmar,” followed by a panel discussion on the future of elections in Myanmar.
This event is hosted by RCSD and supported by partners in the Myanmar studies and human rights community. The program aims to foster informed, respectful dialogue on democracy, human rights, and creative forms of civic resistance.
About the film
Thabyay (approx. 60 min) follows artists, writers, and community organizers who harness creativity—music, poetry, visual arts, and communication—as tools of resistance and public memory amidst conflict. The film offers a human-centered lens on ethical choices, fear, courage, and the struggle for a freer future.
Program schedule
5:00 pm Registration
5:30 pm Welcome remarks — Ajarn Chayan Vaddhanaphuti
5:40 pm Brief introduction to the film
5:45 pm Film screening (60 min)
6:45 pm Panel discussion “Future Election in Myanmar” (30 min) + Q&A (15 min)
7:30 pm Closing remarks
7:45 pm Tea & samosa (networking)
Venue: Dhani Bholyodhin Conference Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.

Report Launch: Mental health, gender, and conflict in Myanmar’s Chin State
2025-11-14 15:00 - 17:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Organized by: TheHILLS Myanmar (THM) & Chin State Academic Research Network (CSARN), with support from Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO)
Friday, 14 November 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 PM
Subaltern Room, Chiang Mai University
This report launch event presents the first study to examine how conflict, gender, and cultural expectations intersect to shape mental health in Myanmar’s Chin State. Conducted during an active civil war through trauma-informed and participatory methods, the research draws on focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and body-mapping exercises across four townships. The findings reveal widespread distress, gendered silences, and faith-based understandings of suffering that both sustain and constrain healing. They also show how women, LGBTQIA+ people, displaced families, and persons with disabilities experience layered forms of exclusion amid political violence and poverty. The Chin State Academic Research Network (CSARN), an initiative of TheHILLS Myanmar, embodies a model of community-rooted research built on trust, local languages, and mentorship. Working through embedded local-global networks and partnerships, CSARN connects emerging Chin researchers with experienced mentors and institutions, acting as an interdisciplinary platform that supports and connects researchers engaged in the region, and promotes the exchange of high-quality, context-relevant knowledge. This study offers not only an urgent call for localized mental health interventions, but also a reflection on what it means to build knowledge, solidarity, and care from within conflict-affected communities.
Speakers
1. THM CSARN Senior Adviser – Sena Galazzi
2. Dr. Lian Report co-author, formerly Technical Consultant, TheHILLS Myanmar
3. Lily Report co-author, formerly Technical Consultant, TheHILLS Myanmar
4. Thawn N. Lian, Executive Director, TheHILLS Myanmar
5. Dr. Sang, MHPSS Specialist, Chin Human Rights Organisation
6. Dr. Matthew Yoxall, Board of Directors, TheHILLS Myanmar
7. Dr. Mary, Research Manager, TheHILLS Myanmar

Stitches of Strength: A Quilt Exhibition
2025-12-11 09:00 - 2025-12-19 17:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Chiang Mai
The Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), in partnership with Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR), presents an exhibition that brings forward narratives of resilience, memory, and hope articulated by Rohingya women. Through visual and material expressions, the exhibition seeks to illuminate lived experiences of displacement and survival, while encouraging visitors to critically reflect on the social boundaries that shape perceptions of “self” and “other.”
The exhibition will take place from 11 to 19 December 2025 at the Entrance Hall of Chiang Mai University Library. Guided tours will be conducted in English, Thai, and Burmese on the following dates:

11 December 2025 at 13:30
17 December 2025 at 13:30

Light refreshments will be provided.
The event is open to the public

Online Seminar: Researching Forced Displacement Issues In Southeast Asia
2025-12-15 10:00 - 12:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | online, Thailand
Researching Forced Displacement Issues in Southeast Asia
December 15, 2025, 10 AM – 12 PM (Thailand Time)
Register online here
This seminar series explores displacement issues in Southeast Asia, investigating various forms of displacement, enhancing understanding of the legal frameworks that govern displacement, and examining community responses to displacement. This seminar series is hosted by the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), under the Research Chair on Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia program.
Speakers:
10:00-10:15 Welcoming remarks from Dr. Sirada Khemanitthathai
Research Chair on Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia; Lecturer, Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University
10:15-12:00 Panel on ‘Researching Forced Displacement Issues in Southeast Asia’

“The Permanent in the Temporary: Reflecting on the Pedagogy of the Displaced in the Context of Marawi, Lanao del Sur, Philippines” with Kristine Mari T. Miranda
Researcher-Writer (Initiatives for International Dialogue); Research, Documentation, and Learning Consultant (Humanity & Inclusion Philippines)
“Out-of-Camp Refugees in Southeast Asia: History, Legal Frameworks, and the Case of Tonlé Sap” with Nguyen Dang Dao
National University of Singapore]
“Between Protection and Security: The Securitization of Refugees in Malaysia” with Afifi Nordin
School of Business and Social Sciences, Albukhary International University, Alor Setar, Malaysia
“Paradox of Sesan 2 Dam: Analyzing Its Impact on Indigenous Communities’ Future Resources in Cambodia” with Chea Sameng
University of Delhi in India

Moderated by Dr. Andrew Wai Phyo Kyaw
Research Associate, Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia, the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University

Book Launch and Panel Discussion: Reproducing Revolution with Jenny Hedström
2025-12-16 10:00 - 12:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Please join us at the 4th floor meeting room of the Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University on 16 Dec from 10 am to noon for the book launch with author Jenny Hedstrom and a Kachin panel discussion.
In Reproducing Revolution, Jenny Hedström explores the Kachin revolution in Myanmar from the perspective of female soldiers, female activists, and women displaced by the violence in northern Myanmar. Hedström argues that the household is an inherently gendered, militarized, and political space that impacts, and is in turn impacted by, the external conflict with which it coexists. In this context, women’s everyday labor—the gendered work of childcare, farming, fighting, and forging connections both across households and between the household and the army and the nation—is key to revolutionary survival. Hedström calls this labor militarized social reproduction, and in Reproducing Revolution she demonstrates that such labor is critical to the military effort, and that warfare itself is shaped through everyday domestic action.
We ask that interested participants please register online here so we can ensure we have enough space for the event

Book Launch: "Worldly Engagements" with Roger Casas
2025-12-23 10:00 - 12:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD is pleased to host a public book launch and author’s talk for Roger Casas’ new book, “Worldly Engagements: Buddhist Monasticism and Masculinity among the Tai Lue of
Southwest China” on Tuesday, 23 December from 10 am to noon at the Subaltern Meeting Room.
The Tai Lue of Sipsong Panna, located in China’s southern Yunnan province, is the largest community of Theravada Buddhists in a country where the Mahayana tradition is dominant. In recent decades, and in light of ever-increasing global connectivity and visibility online, the public participation of Tai Lue novices and monks in practices such as eating in the afternoon, drinking alcohol, having girlfriends, and competing in sports—all considered unfitting, even unacceptable, behavior for Buddhist monastics in China and Southeast Asia—has been evidenced as proof of the backwardness of this minority religious community.
Worldly Engagements places such alleged misconduct at the center of its enquiry to demonstrate that, far from characterizing a corrupt form of practice, it represents an essential part of the monasticism traditionally prevalent in the region, an all-encompassing and amphibious technology of self-mastery inextricably embedded in the mundane and the non-religious—that is, a vernacular discipline concerned mainly with making boys into men. It is a rich portrayal of the temple experience as a site for Lue youths to negotiate demands from families, religious superiors, and peers, as well as navigate the challenges presented by national models of masculinity and the powerful influence of Thai Buddhism.
Roger Casas has lived and conducted research among the Tai Lue in Sipsong Panna since 2004. He has held researcher and lecturer posts in academic institutions in Austria, China, Thailand, and Japan.

Seminar: Fishing for Knowledges: Karen Riverine Livelihoods in Northern Thailand
2026-02-02 14:00 - 15:30 (Asia/Bangkok) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD invites all to join a public seminar, “Fishing for Knowledges: Insights for Environmental Governance from Karen Communities’ Riverine Livelihoods in Northern Thailand” presented by Peter Duker, Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Guelph, Canada on Monday, 2 February from 2 to 3:30 pm at the Subaltern Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.
The uplands of Northern Thailand have long been the subject of environmental governance conflicts. Competing discourses of upland communities, including the Karen, tend to focus on agricultural and forest-based livelihoods, often with attention to the impacts on water that in turn effect communities further along the watershed. And yet, why has there been comparatively so little attention on how communities like the Karen manage the rivers that run through their communities? And rivers are not simply channels for water—why is there also comparatively so little attention on the aquatic life that call these rivers home? Addressing this gap, doctoral researcher Peter Duker will present preliminary findings after more than a year of studying riverine practices and knowledges with four Karen communities across Northern Thailand. He will demonstrate the role of these practices and knowledges for community wellbeing and how they enable engagement with traditional knowledges that are otherwise diminishing. He will then discuss how these insights help inform an environmental governance that is more open to multiple ways of being and knowing and subsequently better positioned to lead to improved social and environmental outcomes.

Seminar: Climate Change and Conflict in Myanmar
2026-02-12 15:30 - 18:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
How do violent conflict and climate change shape each other on the ground? This seminar presents new research on the politics and lived experiences of climate change in Myanmar’s post-coup rupture. It offers rare insights into how conflict-affected communities experience and interpret extreme weather and environmental disruption. The seminar also explores how climate and environmental issues are deeply entangled in struggles over power, territory, and legitimacy, involving the military, resistance movements, and civil society activists. The seminar is part of the MyCClimate project and draws on contributions to a new special issue of the Independent Journal of Burmese Scholarship.

Book Launch and Discussion: Tai Magic with Susan Conway
2026-02-13 13:30 - 15:30 (Asia/Bangkok) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD invites all to join author Susan Conway on Friday, 13 February from 1:30 to 3:30 pm in the Subaltern Meeting Room at RCSD, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University for the launch of the newly revised edition of her book, Tai Magic. This is a superbly illustrated book that introduces manuscripts, textiles and talismans associated with the supernatural. Within the context of Tai cosmology and numerology, Theravada Buddhism and spirit religion, the book examines how good and bad spirits are represented in figurative illustrations and how mystical diagrams and spells are formulated to bring good luck and protection or cause bad luck. Extensive field work studies over a period of four years were conducted in the Shan States and in northern Thailand. Using her field notes and photographs Susan Conway provides a colourful picture of the people who create magic and explains how mystical remedies are prescribed and the rituals involved. The author includes comparative material from museum collections in the USA, UK and Thailand.
About the Author
Susan Conway is an author specializing in the arts and culture of Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand, and Burma (Myanmar). Susan studied fine art as an undergraduate, and her Ph.D. was a study of the history and culture of Lanna (northern Thailand). More recently, she became fascinated with healing practices and the magico-religious power of chants, spells, and rituals. She is an artist whose work is based on Thailand’s landscapes and murals paintings.

Online Seminar: Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia
2026-02-23 10:30 - 12:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Chiang Mai
This seminar series explores displacement issues in Southeast Asia, investigating various forms of displacement, enhancing understanding of the legal frameworks that govern displacement, and examining community responses to displacement. This seminar series is hosted by the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), under the Research Chair on Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia program.
Register online here
Seminar speakers and agenda:
10:30-10:45
Welcome Remark: Dr. Sirada Khemanitthathai
Research Chair on Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia; Lecturer, Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University
10:45-12:00
Panel on ‘Researching Forced Displacement Issues in Southeast Asia’
Yee Mon Oo Kyaw, Chiang Mai University
Title: Leaving to Resist: How Myanmar’s Students Reclaimed Agency Through Displacement
Syifa Salsabila Nasution, Asian Institute of Technology
Title: The ‘New Bali’ Disputing: The Politics of Displacement, Resistance, and Intersectional Inequality in Mandalika’s, Lombok Tourism Infrastructure
Andi Subhan Husain, Chulalongkorn University
Title: A Multidimensional Approach to Refugee Protection in Indonesia: Integrating Siyar, Humanitarian Ethics, and Policy Innovation
Moderated by Dr. Andrew Wai Phyo Kyaw, Research Associate, Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia, the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University

Book Launch and Discussion: Young Tigers - Chao Tzang Yawnghwe and the Shan Rebellion in Myanmar
2026-02-24 13:30 - 15:30 (Asia/Bangkok) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD invites all to join a book launch of “Young Tigers: Chao Tzang Yawnghwe and the Shan Rebellion in Myanmar,” along with discussion with author Bertil Lintner, on 24 February from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at the Subaltern meeting room, RCSD, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.
Young Tigers traces Myanmar’s turbulent post-independence history through the life of Chao Tzang Yawnghwe, son of the country’s first president and last Saohpa of Yawnghwe. Born into aristocratic privilege, he was thrust into political upheaval after the 1962 military coup, which led to his father’s disappearance and his brother’s death. Forced into exile and armed struggle, he joined the Shan resistance, navigating the complex world of ethnic insurgency, shifting alliances, and the political economy of the opium trade.
Drawing on extensive research, the book examines the collapse of the federal promise envisioned in the 1947 Panglong Agreement, the consolidation of military rule, and the enduring struggles of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities. At its core, it presents a contest between authoritarian centralism and the vision of a genuinely federal political order.
The book is written by Bertil Lintner and Hseng Noung Lintner. Bertil is a veteran journalist and the author of twenty books on Asian politics and history, including several published by Silkworm Books. His notable works include Outrage: Burma’s Struggle for Democracy; Burma in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency Since 1948, Bloodbrothers: Crime, Business and Politics in Asia, Great Leader, Dear Leader: Demystifying North Korea Under the Kim Clan, Merchants of Madness: The Methamphetamine Explosion in the Golden Triangle, Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s Struggle for Democracy, and The Wa of Myanmar and China’s Quest for Global Dominance. He resides in Chiang Mai, Thailand. For more information about his work, please visit his website.

Special Lecture: Gender, Education and Conflict - Rethinking Connections
2026-03-24 10:00 - 12:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD invites all to join a special lecture “Gender, Education and Conflict – Rethinking Connections” with Liz Maber on Tuesday, 24 March 2026 from 10 am to noon at the Subaltern Meeting Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.
Attention to gender and education in times of conflict has often focused on girls’ vulnerabilities to violence in accessing schooling. Access to school and increased risks of violence are significant concerns that deserve attention, however alone they cannot account for the gendered nature of educational experiences in times of conflict. In this talk Dr Liz Maber will rethink these connections, drawing on her work over the last 15 years in Myanmar and Bangladesh, to examine the varied and multi-directional ways in which gender intersects with education and conflict. Exploring the education work that happens beyond the state in times of crisis, through community groups and social movements, offers an entry point for reassessing priorities in learning and fundamental questions of who education is intended to serve and for what purpose.
Dr Liz Maber is Associate Professor in Sociology of Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, where her work focuses on gender and education in conflict and displacement, resistance to authoritarianism and militarization, and social transformation.

Book Talk: Socializing Land - Plantations, Disposession, and Resistance in Laos
2026-04-09 13:00 - 15:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD invites all to attend a book talk on Thursday, 9 April from 1-3 pm
at the Subaltern Room, RCSD, Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University.
In “Socializing Land: Plantations, Dispossession, and Resistance in Laos,” author Miles Kenney-Lazar provides a sophisticated ethnographic critique of the global land rush, focusing on the proliferation of Chinese and Vietnamese pulpwood and rubber plantations in southern Laos. Moving beyond a view of land as a mere commodity or “thing,” Kenney-Lazar argues that land is fundamentally a set of social relationships. By examining the experiences of the ethnic minority Brou people in Savannakhet, the book reveals how the coercive expropriation of territory by state-investor partnerships is met with persistent friction and contestation.
The author highlights the contradictory role of the Lao state, which simultaneously pursues investment-driven growth while pledging to protect limited peasant land rights. Crucially, the research demonstrates that despite the disastrous effects of dispossession, these struggles can ironically strengthen peasant social ties to the land through organized resistance, perhaps ultimately limiting attempts at alienation.
This upcoming talk offers a deeper look and chance to engage with the author on the political relationships between government officials, plantation managers, and village authorities that shape the contemporary agrarian landscape in Southeast Asia. All interested students, faculty, and members of the public are welcome to attend.

Photo: Nicholas Bosoni www.nicholasbosoni.com

Public Seminar: Development, Ethnic Conflict and Migration in Indonesia
2026-04-28 15:00 - 17:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | First Floor Meeting Room (4107), Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD invites all to join a public seminar, “Development, Ethnic Conflict and Migration,” under the Researching Forced Displacement Issues in Southeast Asia series of seminars and research. This seminar series is hosted by the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), under the Research Chair on Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia program. Join us in person on April 28, 2026, 15:00-17:00 (Thailand Time) at the 4107 first floor meeting room of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, or register with us here to receive a link to join online.
This seminar series explores displacement issues in Southeast Asia, investigating various forms of displacement, enhancing understanding of the legal frameworks that govern displacement, and examining community responses to displacement.
Agenda
15:00 – 15:30 Welcome Remarks
Dr. Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, Director of the Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University
Dr. Sirada Khemanitthathai, Research Chair on Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia;
Lecturer, Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University
15:30 – 16:15 Development, Ethnic Conflict, and Migration in Indonesia
Dr. Riwanto Tirtosudarmo
The presentation on “Development, Ethnic Conflict, and Migration in Indonesia” draws from extensive research on transmigration and political demography to demonstrate how state led development has reshaped Indonesia’s ethnic landscape and created new areas of conflict. It begins with a historical overview of transmigration and other internal migration policies, illustrating how efforts to reduce population density in Java and foster national unity have also led to local grievances over land, resources, and political representation in peripheral regions such as Kalimantan, Maluku, and Papua. Building on empirical case studies, the talk then explores how demographic shifts and perceived economic inequalities contribute to communal violence and displacement, highlighting how responses to migrants are influenced by center–region power imbalances and ethno-religious narratives. In its final reflections, the talk encourages critical examination of current trends in migration, urbanization, and decentralization, suggesting that more just and sustainable development in Indonesia depends on understanding migration as a political process and rethinking nation-building beyond security- and assimilationist paradigms.
16:15 – 16:30 Reflections and Discussions
Discussant: Dr. Naruemon Thabchumpon
16:30 – 17:00 Q&A Session
Moderated by Dr. Sirada Khemanitthathai

World Refugee Day 2026 Seminar
2026-06-19 13:00 - 16:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
World Refugee Day 2026 Seminar
Changing Global Order, Aid Retrenchment, and Refugee Protection: Reframing the Right to Work for Myanmar Refugees in Thailand
13:00–16:00, 19 June 2026
Venue: 4F Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai (or register to join online)
Register to participate here.
Hosted by the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, in collaboration with the Center on Gender and Forced Displacement, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and made possible with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC/CDRI) of Canada.
World Refugee Day 2026 provides an important opportunity to examine how changing global political and economic conditions are reshaping refugee protection. As humanitarian funding declines and international support becomes increasingly uncertain, responsibility for refugee protection is being transferred more heavily to host countries, while refugees themselves are often expected to achieve self-reliance under challenging and precarious conditions. These developments raise important questions about responsibility-sharing, refugee rights, and the future of protection in the Global South.
This seminar brings together academics, practitioners, policymakers, and civil society actors to discuss the implications of aid retrenchment, changing protection regimes, and regional political uncertainty for refugee-hosting countries and displaced populations. Focusing on the case of Myanmar refugees in Thailand, the seminar uses the right to work as an entry point for broader discussions on refugee protection, self-reliance, encampment, and regional approaches to displacement in Southeast Asia.
The right to work occupies a central place in refugee protection. Beyond its status as a legal entitlement under international refugee law, access to decent and secure employment is closely linked to income security, dignity, psychosocial well-being, and reduced dependence on humanitarian assistance. At the same time, access to work is shaped not only by legal frameworks but also by political, economic, and administrative factors operating at both national and local levels.
These issues are particularly relevant in Thailand, where refugee governance has long been characterized by legal ambiguity, camp-based containment policies, and differentiated treatment of refugees and migrant workers from Myanmar. Experiences from other refugee-hosting contexts also demonstrate that formal access to employment does not necessarily translate into meaningful livelihood opportunities. Refugees may remain confined to informal, insecure, or highly restricted forms of work, especially where regulations are unstable, employment sectors are limited, or broader protection concerns remain unresolved.
Against this backdrop, the seminar asks not only whether work opportunities can be expanded for Myanmar refugees in Thailand, but also under what legal, political, and ethical conditions employment can contribute to meaningful protection and long-term well-being.
The discussion will be guided by three key questions:
* How is global aid retrenchment transforming protection responsibilities in refugee-hosting states?
* How can the right to work be understood as both a protection issue and a political-economic question?
* What are the implications for Myanmar refugees in Thailand at a time of protracted displacement, constrained labor market opportunities, and uncertain policy futures?
By bringing together diverse perspectives, the seminar aims to foster a grounded and critical dialogue that is academically rigorous, policy-relevant, and responsive to the lived realities of displacement. It seeks to contribute to wider discussions on dignity, autonomy, state interests, and regional responsibility-sharing in an era of profound change for refugee protection.
Participants will include Dr. Sirada Khemanitthathai, Research Chair on Forced Displacement in Southeast Asia and Lecturer, Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University; Dr. Paula Banerjee, IDRC Chair on Gender and Forced Displacement and Director of the Center on Gender and Forced Displacement, Faculty of Public Policy, Asian Institute of Technology; Mr. Zcongklod Khawjang, Operation Centre for Displaced Persons (OCDP), Ministry of Interior; Ms. Sumbul Rizvi, Advisor on Forced Displacement, Protection, & Solutions; and Dr. Hayso Thako, Karen Refugee Committee (KRC)

ICBMS5
2026-08-14 08:00 - 2026-08-16 17:00 (Asia/Bangkok) | Chiang Mai
The Committee of the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies is pleased to announce that ICBMS 5 will be held at Chiang Mai University from 14 to 16 August 2026.
Myanmar stands at a critical juncture. The country faces protracted political stalemate, armed conflict, economic decline, and humanitarian crisis. Yet amid fragmentation and violence, communities continue to build alternative futures. Local organizations, resistance groups, and civil society actors across the country are creating new forms of governance, social movements, and civic practice that challenge dominant narratives of nation-building. At the same time, Myanmar’s trajectory is shaped by shifting geopolitical forces across Asia and beyond, as regional and global powers influence its political economy, resource frontiers, and conflict landscape.
ICBMS 5 seeks to foster scholarship and dialogue that advances understanding of these dynamics. The conference will create space for examining how political imagination emerges and takes hold, how solidarity forms across ethnic, social, and cultural divisions, and how diverse communities articulate shared, common aspirations while maintaining their distinct voices. We welcome work that engages with both the constraints of the present moment and the possibilities that continue to emerge from below.
We invite scholars, researchers, activists, and practitioners working on Myanmar-related issues to join us in Chiang Mai. Guidelines for the submission of abstracts, panel proposals, and roundtable proposals will be announced in the coming days.
Conference Themes:
Geopolitics and Transnational Investment
Visions of Social Revolution
Electoral Politics and Political Consequences
Human Rights, Justice, and Equity
Health and Humanitarian Politics
Refugees, Migration, Labour, and Forced Displacement
Environmental Justice: Transboundary Pollution and Climate Change
Agrarian Transition and Food Sovereignty
Illicit Economies and the Scam Industry
Gender, Class, and Intersectionality
Arts, Media, and Popular Culture
Social Reproduction and Care
Education and Social Change
Knowledge Production in Burma/Myanmar Studies
Further updates and key dates will be announced soon!
