RCSD : The Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development

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

ICBMS4
2024-08-02 08:30 - 2024-08-04 17:00 | 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.’

Public Lecture: Acoustic Ecology
2024-07-31 13:30 - 16:00 | 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.

Building a Human Border: The Thai Border Patrol Police Project in the Post-Cold War Era
2024-07-24 14:00 - 16:00 | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
All are invited to a public lecture “Building a Human Border: The Thai Border Patrol Police Project in the Post-Cold War Era” on Wed 24 July from 2-4 pm at the Subaltern room, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.
Dr. Sinae Hyun is a research professor at the Institute for East Asian Studies at Sogang University, South Korea, specializing in the Cold War, nationalism, and Southeast Asian studies. Her doctoral research surveyed the history of the Thai Border Patrol Police and showed how the Thai ruling elite used American cold war policies for their cause. Her book based on the research entitled “Indigenizing the Cold War: The Border Patrol Police and Nation-Building in Thailand” was published by the University of Hawaii Press in April 2023. She is currently researching the histories of American Protestant missionaries in Southeast Asia and their dealings with overlapping empires of Britain, China, and “others.”

Mekong River changes during the dry season: from Chiang Rai to Northeastern Cambodia
2024-07-08 13:30 - 15:00 | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD invites all to join a graduate seminar: “Mekong River changes during the dry season, from Chiang Rai to Northeastern Cambodia” with Ian Baird, Professor, Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, presenting his preliminary research findings. Join us from 1:30 to 3 pm on Monday, 8 July 2024 at the Subaltern room, RCSD, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.

Myanmar Interactive Dialogue #7: Enhancing Protection for Myanmar Communities in Thailand: Understanding the Thai Context
2024-06-21 15:00 - 16:30 | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Myanmar Interactive Dialogues: Dialogue # 7: Enhancing Protection for Myanmar Communities in Thailand: Understanding the Thai Context
The Myanmar Interactive Dialogue (MID) sessions, initiated by the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), aim to create a platform for academics, students, research fellows, and practitioners to engage in open dialogue about Myanmar’s political trends and issues.
This upcoming 7th MID will focus on understanding the Thai context to enhance protection for Myanmar communities in Thailand. Two distinguished Thai speakers will provide an overview and detailed perspectives on Thailand’s political, social, and economic dynamics, followed by insights from two prominent Myanmar speakers. This dialogue seeks to foster a deeper understanding of current contexts and share innovative solutions and lessons learned for enhancing protection.
The session will include opening remarks, panel discussions from both Thai and Myanmar perspectives, and an interactive dialogue among participants. The event targets academics, researchers, students, and practitioners interested in Southeast Asian studies, aiming to provide actionable insights and foster resilience across diverse Myanmar communities in Thailand.
You are cordially invited to this seventh interactive dialogue.
Note: It will be an onsite event.

Roundtable Book Discussion: "Outsourcing the Polity: Non-state Welfare, Inequality and Resistance in Myanmar"
2024-05-16 13:30 - 15:30 | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Please join RCSD for a roundtable discussion on resilience and resistance in Myanmar: ‘Outsourcing the Polity: Non-State Welfare, Inequality and Resistance in Myanmar’ on Thursday, 16 May in the Sub-Altern Room starting at 1:30 pm.

Please register for the event via this online form.

‘Outsourcing the Polity‘ (Cornell, 2023) offers a new account of social outsourcing and non-state social provisioning in post-independence Myanmar. Grounded in extensive research during Myanmar’s decade of partial civilian rule (2011–2021), the book examines how ideals and practices of non-state welfare – charity, philanthropy and social provisioning beyond the state – can both sustain democratic resistance and entrench inequality over time.

In this roundtable Gerard McCarthy and RCSD Fellows & CMU friends will explore the book in light of the extraordinary resilience of Myanmar’s revolutionary movement since the 2021 military coup. In particular the panel will consider how legacies of autocratic market reform and austerity have shaped the material and ideological basis of the ongoing struggle against dictatorship in Myanmar.

Exhibition: Thread Under Threat
2024-03-08 16:00 - 2024-03-27 17:00 | Baan Tuek Art Center, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Following the first display in Bangkok titled “Thread Under Threat: Myanmar Women Out of the 3-Year Coup Shadow,” the exhibition in Chiang Mai will be held under the name “Thread Under Threat: Invincible Myanmar Women Who Dare!” from 8 to 27 March 2024 at the Baan Tuek Art Center. The exhibition is organized by the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Thanakha International Gender Tekkatho and SEA Junction.
Well-known Myanmar artist Chuu Wai’s solo exhibition is born out of solidarity with the opposition movement in Myanmar that has been fighting for democracy since the coup d’état led by General Min Aung Hlaing on 1 February 2021. It resonates with the resilience of the people of Myanmar, especially the women among them. For three years now, Myanmar people have been demanding the restoration of democracy and the rule of law and the release of the imprisoned leaders and all other political in spite of the military’s use of lethal force. As of February 2024, 4,572 people are confirmed killed by the junta and a total of 26,171 people have been arrested, with 20,166 currently detained including more than 5,000 women. The number of displaced people in the country and across borders is over 2 million and growing. Amidst the failure of the international community to pay attention and take action, people are not giving up, continuing their support for the opposition National Unity Government (NUG) in exile and counting on their steadfast opposition and the armed resistance by the People Defence Force and the Ethnic Armies gaining ground to eventually win the revolution.
The exhibition displays the powerful portrayal of women figures in Chuu Wai’s paintings celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March. The paintings with mixed material shine a spotlight on the strength, resilience, and indomitable spirit of women who have stood against the oppressive forces of both patriarchal and authoritarian values. These figures become symbols of defiance, challenging preconceptions and inspiring a movement towards a more just and democratic society.
More generally, the artworks radiate the resilient spirit and unique culture of Myanmar as a resource to draw upon in the current context. Utilizing handwoven fabric, vintage photos, and newspaper clippings, the exhibition celebrates the country’s uniqueness while also unveiling and challenging the complex tapestry meticulously woven by those in power through education, religion, and traditional normative systems directed at perpetuating an authoritarian and patriarchal system, which people are set to change.

Broken Dreams screening & "From Across the River" exhibition launch
2024-03-01 16:30 - 20:30 | Dhani Bhaholyodin Conference Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200
This Friday, 1 March at 430 pm all are invited to a screening of Broken Dreams with director’s talk, along with a violin performance from Joy House and the launch of the “From Across the River” exhibition. The screening and exhibition will be held at the Dhani Phaholyothin conference room, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University with the support of Asia Justice and Rights.
Broken Dreams is a feature-length omnibus film made up of 9 short films that portray the impact of the 2021 military coup in Myanmar. The film covers a wide range of experiences, from the loss of loved ones to the suppression of freedom of expression. Each story is told from a unique perspective, and together they provide a powerful and moving portrait of the ongoing crisis in Myanmar. The film is a follow-up to the critically acclaimed Myanmar Diaries, which won several awards at international film festivals. Broken Dreams builds on the success of its predecessor, offering a more in-depth look at the human cost of the coup. The film is also notable for the fact that most of the filmmakers, actors, and crew are in exile to avoid junta’s persecution for their participation in Myanmar’s Spring Revolution.
“From Across the River” is an exhibition showcasing the journey of artist trainers and their students who fled to Mae Sot after the Myanmar military coup. Through paintings, drawings, and hand-sewn banners, it portrays the impact of the conflict on civilians, depicting air strikes, political prisoners, and displaced persons. The art reflects both the suffering and resilience of Myanmar people in their uprising against military rule. Joy House in Mae Sot offers free Art and Wellness classes, bridging communities through teaching and showcasing artwork, music, and dance to raise awareness of the crisis. Supported by the Foundation for Education and Development, Joy House stands as a beacon of healing and resilience amidst adversity.

Panel Discussion "Draft Order: Political Effects & Implications"
2024-02-28 13:00 - 15:00 | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
All are invited to a public discussion on Wednesday, 28 February for a panel discussion starting 1 pm on the political effect and implications of the new Myanmar military draft decree. Join Aung Zaw from The Irrawaddy, Dr. Sirada Khemanitthathai from the Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, and Dr. Surachanee Sriyai, visiting fellow at the ISEAS Yusof-Ishak Institute for a talk and sharing session at the Subaltern Meeting room of RCSD, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.

Exhibition: "This is how we feel" Journey towards accountability
2024-02-16 09:00 - 2024-02-26 17:00 | Chiang Mai University Food Center, Chiang Mai University Food Center, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Come see the Journey towards accountability: “This is how we feel” exhibition on display from 16-26 February 2024 at the CMU Food Center, Chiang Mai
Art for change: Explore powerful artworks expressing the collective desire for accountability and human rights in Myanmar. Hear the voices of regions like Kachin, Karen, and Rakhine, affected by decades of conflict.
Imagine the future: How would a just and accountable Myanmar look? See how artists envision truth, justice, and healing. This exhibition challenges us to think critically and act for a better future.
Together we rise: Learn more about the human rights organizations making a difference: AAPP, AJAR, Doh Hlay, LinQ Foundation, and RCSD.

Withstanding Adversity: Finding Hope in Every Heartbeat for Myanmar's Inclusive Future
2024-02-02 16:30 - 20:00 | Dhani Bhaholyodin Conference Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200
1 February 2024 marks the three-year anniversary of the unjust seizure of power by the Myanmar military junta. Asia Justice and Rights in collaboration with RCSD will host a special ceremony on 2 February to shine a light on the resilience and courageous struggle of the Burmese people throughout the three-year coup d’état.
The ceremony will be held at the Dhani Bhaholyodin Conference Room, Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University, will feature an art performance by Burmese students, the launch of the TJ Case Study Reference Book, a valuable resource documenting human rights violations, and inspiring comic books published by AJAR, and the premiere of short films exploring themes of resistance and hope.
Attendees can engage in social networking sessions over light refreshments, fostering mutual encouragement and solidarity with the Burmese people. Join us on this Friday evening at Chiang Mai University to be a part of commemorating the perseverance of the Burmese people in the face of adversity and to show your support for their ongoing fight for freedom and justice!

Book Talk: "A Revolutionary Mother" Visualizing Gender and Revolution
2023-12-19 13:00 - 15:00 | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Visualizing Gender and Revolution – Arts-Based Methods for Research on War and Revolutions
Since the 2021 military coup, Myanmar’s countryside has been rife with violence and off-limits to researchers. Drawing on a participatory research project that employs feminist visual methods to understand gendered experiences of war in revolutionary landscapes, this short talk will present a graphic novel and journal article that offer complementary accounts of violence and resistance in Myanmar’s countryside. This “Land, Labor, Love, and Revolution” project suggests that using art in research can help with research on war and violence in several ways: it is a form of knowledge that goes beyond language to give insights into people’s emotions and feelings; it disrupts dominant (academic) text-based modes of thinking, doing and presenting research; it takes grounded, everyday, subjective experiences as the starting point for analysis. Art-based methods are accessible to non-academic audiences, and has the potential to reach more people. In this talk, Project leaders Jenny Hedstrom and Hilary Faxon, researcher Zin Mar Phyo and illustrator tamyumkung will reflect on why they chose to work with arts-based methods; how they approached the process; and the challenges that they have faced

Myanmar Human Rights Festival
2023-12-02 14:00 - 2023-12-03 21:30 | Chiang Mai University Art Center, 239 Nimmanahaeminda Road, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
คลิกสำหรับภาษาไทย
In the spirit of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and #16Days of Activism, Asia Justice and Rights will hold the Myanmar Human Rights Festival, an event dedicated to fostering understanding, dialogue, and advocacy for human rights within #Myanmar and beyond.
From 2-30 December 2023 at the Chiang Mai University Art Center we will leverage the power of arts and films to raise awareness about pressing human rights issues of today. This event is open to the public. There will be a series of film screenings, art exhibitions, panel discussions, and interactive art installations. Food and beverages will be available for all participants. Join us in contributing to the movement for positive change in Myanmar. Save the dates and be a part of this experience!
View the full schedule of events and films for 2-3 December here: myanmar human rights film festival dec 2023
The art exhibition will be on display at the Art Center from 2 – 30 December.
ภาษาไทย
ในวันที่ 2-30 ธันวาคม 2566 ณ ศูนย์ศิลปะมหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ จะมีการจัดงานเทศกาลสิทธิมนุษยชนเมียนมาร์ ซึ่งเป็นงานที่มุ่งเน้นการสร้างความเข้าใจ การสนทนา และการสนับสนุนสิทธิมนุษยชนในเมียนมาร์ และที่อื่น ๆ รวมถึงระลึกถึงความรุนแรงต่อผู้หญิงในระดับนานาชาติ #16Days of Activism
นอกจากนี้เรายังจะใช้ศิลปะและภาพยนตร์เพื่อเสริมสร้างความตระหนักเกี่ยวกับประเด็นสิทธิมนุษยชนที่คุ้มครองตอนนี้ งานนี้เปิดให้ทุกคนมีโอกาสเข้าร่วม จะมีการฉายภาพยนตร์ นิทรรศการศิลปะ เวทีสนทนา พร้อมทั้งมีอาหารและเครื่องดื่มให้บริการสำหรับผู้เข้าร่วมทุกคน เข้าร่วมในการสนับสนุนการเคลื่อนไหวเพื่อการเปลี่ยนแปลงที่ดีในเมียนมาร์
ดูตารางกิจกรรมและภาพยนตร์ทั้งหมดสำหรับวันที่ 2-3 ธันวาคมที่นี่: กำหนดการณ์ AJAR Film fes
นิทรรศการศิลปะจะถูกแสดงที่ศูนย์ศิลปะตั้งแต่วันที่ 2 – 30 ธันวาคม

The Social Life of Teak: book launch, exhibition, and workshop
2023-11-22 17:30 - 20:30 | École française d’Extrême-Orient, 131 Charoen Prathet Road, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50100, Thailand
RCSD invites the public to join the launch of the book “The Social Life of Teak,” authored by Tim Webster & Virginia Henderson at the EFEO Chiang Mai on Wednesday, 22 November starting at 5:30 pm. Also on Thursday, 23 November starting at 1:30 pm (the next day) all are invited to join us for a half-day workshop and roundtable discussion with the book authors, historians, academics and researchers for a fuller look at the political, economic, cultural and social context surrounding teak.
In their book, Tim and Virginia have traced human interactions with the world’s most famous tropical timber species and have mapped worlds revolving around teak forests, trees and wood. In this illustrated anthology of oral histories, people connected personally or professionally to teak speak of survival, change and learning, creativity and destruction, growth and demise. Woven together, these experiences bring to light the ways that teak has been sought, crafted, cultivated, traded and valued over time. Exploring teak’s significance highlights processes of consumption and commodification, inviting questions about our relationships with nature and the politics of value. Charting the domestication of wilderness and exposing the era of extinction of a feted natural resource, this book seeks to stimulate conversations about our role as nature’s most troublesome offspring.
The book launch at EFEO will feature short a video presentation and small exhibition from Inson Wongsam, a Thai national artist renowned for his work using teak, as well as a collection of Tim Webster’s images from the book. Beverages and refreshments will be served; please register online here for either or both events on the 22nd or 23rd!

Infrastructure and Circulations in Southeast Asia (and Beyond)
2023-10-24 16:00 - 17:30 | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Please join us in person or online for presentations and discussion on an ongoing research project:
Infrastructure and Circulations in Southeast Asia (and Beyond)
24 October 2023, 4:00pm – 5:30pm
Subaltern Room, RCSD, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University
Participants can join online via this Zoom link:
This collective presentation aims to share and discuss some of the ongoing research carried out as part of the project “Environing Infrastructure: Communities, Ecologies, and China’s “Green” Development in Contemporary Southeast Asia”, based at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (Munich, Germany). The four members of the project will each introduce their work, and open up a few questions for broader conversation. The goal is to stimulate discussion and exchange, spur connections and possible collaborations. Alessandro will start off with a brief description of the overall aims of the Environing Infrastructure project (for more info, see www.environing.asia), and how it shifted from an initial focus on infrastructure to one centred on heterogeneous connections.
Alessandro will then introduce his current project on amber, with a particular focus on the China – Myanmar borderlands. Huiying will share her doctoral research on agroecology in Thailand, addressing the material and social infrastructures that have enabled a range of practices, including community – based organic agriculture, highland coffee agroforestry, and governmental research and extension work on soil improvement, and how these local and internal dynamics interact with interests within the Mekong – Lancang countries, and global commercialisation of forests and soil. Roger will follow with a general framing overview of his ongoing project on the experiences of privilege and precarity among highly skilled Global South – South migrants. He will then focus on one of the core case studies of the project: Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Jessica’s talk, based on her ongoing work in Flores, Indonesia, will discuss what has been happening to rural families and young people amidst Indonesia’s widespread development growth and COVID’s more recent economic downturn. Her research asks what are the consequences of being contemporarily remote from household and individual perspectives?
Presenters
Alessandro Rippa
Alessandro is Associate Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo; and Project Director at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU Munic h. He is the author of “Borderland Infrastructures: Trade, Development and Control in Western China” (Amsterdam University Press, 2020).
Huiying Ng
Huiying’s doctoral research project at the Rachel Carson Center focuses on agroecological futures in Thaila
nd and the learning assemblages that form to support them, with a long-term view towards supporting the growth of regional food systems through participatory action research.
Roger Norum
Roger is a researcher at the Rachel Carson Center and the University of Oulu (Finland). His research concerns connections between mobility, media and the environment, particularly among transient communities in South and Southeast Asia, and the Arctic.
Jessica Clendenning
Jessica is a research fellow at the Rachel Carson Center, LMU Munich. Her research interests include agrarian change and young people, social reproduction and (non)migration, and aspirations and the future, in Indonesia and wider Asia

Book Launch & Discussion: Rights Refused with Elliott Prasse-Freeman
2023-09-15 10:30 - 12:30 | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Please join us for a book launch and discussion with the author of “Rights Refused: Grassroots activism and state violence in Myanmar,” Elliott Prasse-Freeman on Friday, 15 September from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm at the 4F meeting room, operations building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University
“For decades, the outside world mostly knew Myanmar as the site of a valiant human rights struggle against an oppressive military regime, predominantly through the figure of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. And yet, a closer look at Burmese grassroots sentiments reveals a significant schism between elite human rights cosmopolitans and subaltern Burmese subjects maneuvering under brutal and negligent governance. While elites have endorsed human rights logics, subalterns are ambivalent, often going so far as to refuse rights themselves, seeing in them no more than empty promises. Such alternative perspectives became apparent during Burma’s much-lauded decade-long “transition” from military rule that began in 2011, a period of massive change that saw an explosion of political and social activism.”
Rights Refused is released by Stanford University Press

Thesis Proposal Examination: Multidimensional community-level impacts of development projects - the case of cement production in Mon State, Myanmar
2023-09-08 16:00 - 18:30 | RCSD Classroom 02-001, 2nd floor, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
“Multidimensional community-level impacts of development projects: the case of cement production in Mon State, Myanmar”
Event: Friday, 08 September 2023, 16:10 P.M.
Presenter
Mr. Myint Than (Master of Arts in Social Science, Specialization in Development Studies)
Examining Committee
Asst. Prof. Dr. Marco Haenssgen: Chair
Asst. Prof. Dr. Ta-Wei Chu: Committee
Lect. Dr. Maya Kóvakaya: Committee
Venue
Onsite: RCSD Classroom 02-001, 2nd floor, operational building, Faculty of Social Sciences.
Online: Zoom: https://cmu-th.zoom.us/j/98718241911
Meeting ID: 98718241911

Thesis Proposal Examination: Ecological Eating - Paths to Degrowth in Industrial Animal Agriculture
2023-08-30 14:00 - 17:00 | RCSD Classroom 02-001, 2nd floor, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Regional Center for Social Sciences and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University is pleased to invite you to participate in a thesis proposal examination:
“Ecological Eating: Paths to Degrowth in Industrial Animal Agriculture”
Event: Wednesday, 30 August 2023, 2:00 P.M.
Presenter: Mr. Blake Palmer, (Master of Arts in Social Science, Specialization in Development Studies)
Examining Committee
Lect. Dr. Maya Kóvakaya: Chair
Lect. Dr. Chaya Vaddhanaphuti: Committee
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kengkij Kitirianglarp: Committee
Venue
Onsite: RCSD Classroom 02-001, 2nd floor, operational building, Faculty of Social Sciences.
Online: Zoom: https://cmu-th.zoom.us/j/92913128397
Meeting ID: 929 1312 8397

Press Conference & Film Screening: "Social Impact of the Coup in the Innlay Region"
2023-07-26 09:00 - 12:00 | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Wednesday 26 July from 9 am – noon you are invited to join a press conference and film screening from Justice Movement For Community -Innlay for a short documentary film screening and press conference on the situation on the ground today in Myanmar’s Innlay region. The event will be held in the 4th floor meeting room of the Operations Building, Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University.
Following the Myanmar military coup of 1 February 2021, democracy and human rights conditions have deteriorated in various regions throughout the country, including the Innlay region in southern Shan State. There has been a notable lack of documentation on the deteriorating human rights situation there, and the voice of Inlay’s local communities has been largely unheard by the international community. The Justice Movement For Community -Innlay (JMC-Innlay) team has surveyed various social impacts since the coup on the Inlay community, has documented victims’ voices, and gathered data on human rights violations.
You are cordially invited to this event share the stories of the Innlay people and information on the situation in the Innlay area.
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့တွင် စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းပိုက်ပြီးနောက် ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအခြေအနေများသည် ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်တောင်ပိုင်းရှိ အင်လေးဒေသအပါအဝင် ဒေသအသီးသီးတွင် ယိုယွင်းပျက်စီးခဲ့သည်။ ယင်းသို့လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအခြေအနေ ဆုတ်ယုတ်လာခြင်းနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ အထူးသဖြင့် ဒေသခံအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းများ၏အသံကို မြှင့်တင်ရန် သုတေသန နှင့် အထောက်အထားမှတ်တမ်းများ မရှိပါ။ ဤအခြေအနေများကို အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ အဖွဲ့အစည်းများက သိရှိနားလည်ရန်လိုအပ်ပါသည်။ သို့ဖြစ်ပါ၍ JMC-Inlay အဖွဲ့သည် အင်လေးအသိုင်းအဝိုင်း၏ လူမှုရေးအကျိုးသက်ရောက်မှုများကို စစ်တမ်းကောက်ယူခဲ့ပြီး လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများ နှင့် ဒေသခံများ၏ အသံများကို သုတေသနစာတမ်းနှင့် ဗီဒီယိုမှတ်တမ်းတင်ခဲ့သည်။
ဤ အခမ်းအနားတွင် ၎င်းမှတ်တမ်းနှင့် တွေ့ ရှိချက်များကို ဖြန့်ဝေမည်ဖြစ်ပါ၍ တက်ရောက်ပေးကြပါရန် လေးစားစွာဖိတ်ကြားအပ်ပါသည်။

Infrastructure aid and the making of “real” countries: Upland geopolitics in Laos’s land and energy sectors
2023-07-24 09:00 - 11:00 | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD welcomes all to attend a public lecture & book talk, “Infrastructure aid and the making of ‘real’ countries: Upland geopolitics in Laos’s land and energy sectors,” with Dr. Michael B. Dwyer, Department of Geography, Indiana University, Bloomington. The talk will be held Monday, July 24 at the Subaltern Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.

Moderator: Dr. Chusak Wittayapak, Department of Social Science and Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University

About the talk:
This talk will introduce two related but distinct research projects on agrarian change in upland Laos. In the first part, Dr. Dwyer will present his new book, “Upland Geopolitics: Postwar Laos and the Global Land Rush (U. Washington Press, 2022), which examines the way that legacies of cold war conflict, together with newly built road infrastructure and the uneven geography of land titling have created an uneven geography of land grabbing in Laos’s northwestern uplands.

The second part of the talk will pivot to presenting Dr. Dwyer’s new and current research on rural electrification in upland Laos, examining electrification’s impacts on forest change (via agrarian livelihoods) using, in part, a historical comparison with Thailand. Together, the two parts of the talk bridge a shared history of international collaboration, as well as related questions of social, environmental and economic justice as they manifest at moments of grave political and environmental uncertainty.

Thesis Examination: Impact of COVID-19 and Myanmar’s Political Crisis on Internally Displaced Migrants in Kachin - China Borderlands
2023-06-08 13:30 - 16:30 | Meeting room, Department of Social Science and Development, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD is pleased to invite you to participate in a thesis examination, “The Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic and Myanmar’s Political Crisis on the Lives and Livelihood of Internally Displaced Migrants in Kachin- China Borderlands” presented by Labang Roi San, M.A in Social Science, specializing in Development Studies, on Thursday, 8 June 2023 at the Department of Social Science and Development meeting room, 1st floor, starting 1:30 pm, or join online via zoom here
Examining Committee
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Naruemon Thabchumpon (Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University)
Lect. Dr. Shirley Worland (Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Chusak Wittayapak (Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University)
Abstract
The migratory and livelihood practices of Myanmar’s Kachin Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have changed significantly since the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 and the subsequent February 2021 military coup d’état in Myanmar. Notably, since the civil war resumed in 2011, the Kachin displaced people have been experiencing the mental trauma of losing their possessions, livelihood uncertainty, a lack of access to healthcare and education, and a low quality of life. Firstly, the pandemic further worsened the economy, health, education, traditional, cultural practices and livelihood activities of these displaced peoples. Then the military coup in 2021 further affected their lives and livelihoods as well as their security. Thus, this research examines the challenges Kachin IDPs and displaced migrants have faced along the Kachin-China border since the pandemic and the coup. To understand this, this qualitative study refers to Henri Lefebvre’s conceptualization of perceived space, conceived space, and lived space through the Kachin displaced people’s livelihood activities, cross-border migration, kinship networks, cultural and traditional activities, and the rules and regulations of the border governors in the conflict-affected areas along the Kachin State in Myanmar and its border with China.
Fieldwork was carried out via online and with the assistance of a research assistant on site in Pa Kahtawng Displaced Persons Camp near Mai Ja Yang Township, Kachin State and online in Zhangfeng, Yunnan State, China. The findings show that the disruption of the pandemic and the political crisis have driven the displaced people to a poor quality of life, and no human security. During the pandemic, the economic situation of the displaced people in the border areas dramatically changed as they lost their jobs, and all the companies and workplaces were closed due to the COVID restrictions. Health is also the main issue during the pandemic and the coup. Not only physical health but also mental health affected the displaced people. Lack of healthcare caused illness among the elderly and children in IDP camps. The displaced migrants face insecure lives and prolonged mental depression and fatigue due to the unpredictable situation they find themselves in with no way to plan. In education, the disruption of lockdown, social distancing, and COVID-19 restrictions affected the meaningful learning and well-being of the students. The Kachin ethnic education department and teachers, and staff are under pressure to provide quality education to all students during the pandemic and the coup. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the Kachin cultural and traditional practices have also changed, and it impacted kinship networks as well.
In addition, a few displaced people who remained to find jobs on the China side also face increased exploitation, discrimination, and depression because of their illegal status and are confined to specific areas. Some displaced migrants with documents can get jobs after lockdown restrictions were lifted, but with reduced income. The displaced migrants without documents are stuck in their relatives’ houses or one particular workplace without a proper job.
Additionally, the Myanmar military coup worsened their lives in many ways, including severe inflation, increased risks of returning to their villages, and personal insecurity. During this emergency, community-based and non-government organizations provide emergency responses and possible solutions for the displaced people. However, it does not cover livelihoods for all.
The study concludes with the recommendation that local and international NGOs cooperate with responsible leaders of the community-based organizations to respond more effectively to long-term lives and livelihood security by creating livelihood opportunities, providing vocational training, and sharing common land for agriculture to secure a sustainable future.

Thesis Examination: Play the Eviction and Livelihoods of the Akuarium Neighborhood in Jakarta's Transformation
2023-05-30 08:00 - 11:00 | online, Thailand
RCSD is pleased to invite you to participate in a thesis examination, “Play the Eviction and Livelihoods of the Akuarium Neighborhood in Jakarta’s Transformation” presented by Achmad Firas Khudi, M.A in Social Science, specializing in Development Studies, on Tuesday, 30 May 2023, starting 8 am, online through the following link: https://cmu-th.zoom.us/j/99361216637 (Zoom Meeting ID: 993 6121 6637)

Examining Committee:
Prof. Dr. Ian Baird (University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S.A)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Prasit Leepreecha (Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Chusak Wittayapak (Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University)

Abstract:
In 2016, the Jakarta government evicted the urban community of Kampung Akuarium in North Jakarta for urban transformation. The urban transformation created a new urban life in Jakarta with progression but marginalized a particular Akuarium people. The current condition shows that urban transformation has simultaneously modernized the city’s spaces and the existence of people with access to wealth but neglected people experiencing poverty. In contrast, urban development has displaced the homes and spaces, the material existence, and the livelihoods of the Akuarium people. Akuarium, whose homes and lives are disrupted by development, has no choice but to navigate the new physical landscapes. The disruption of living areas and homes further responded to resistance and identity despite the material loss. Urban transformation through eviction and gentrification recreated the Akuarium people into an oppressed state and enunciated actions to defend their rights
The Jakarta urban heritage program caused the eviction of Kampung Akuarium, an urban settler moved forcibly in 2016 by mobilizing many Indonesian apparatuses. Governor of Jakarta Basuki T.P./Ahok executed heritage programs that evicted the space of Akuarium people. The meaning of kampung is associated with a living area or neighborhood in the Indonesian context. The heritage program concerns the old town of Jakarta and represents the force of urban policy in changing the urban landscape.
Given its significant role in their vicinity, the Jakarta government and the general public could not simply mention the Akuarium community as an illegal occupant. The history of the Akuarium community started in the 1970s when their elders stayed in the fish laboratory of the Indonesia Institute of Science/LIPI. Akuarium neighborhood was formerly known as the Laboratorium of National Oceanography of LIPI, where there were big aquariums for conserving and examining fish. In light of the background, the research realized how urban eviction led to precarious urban life and could enact intelligence and survival in the Akuarium people. The study examines the Akuarium community with two research objectives. First, the study examines how the Akuarium people respond to the urban transformation. Second, it aims to identify what kind of urban transformation changes the economy and identity of the community.
The research results include an analysis of the response, economy, and identity of the Akuarium people against the Jakarta urban transformation. Such results, in theory, cover an examination of livelihoods and urban play in urban transformation. There are socio-economic and immaterial difficulties arising upon eviction. Such problems appear from destroyed livelihoods. Yet, violent eviction instigated a kind of play in the community. A theory of urban play envisages how the community responds and utilizes failed development projects drawing from the practices of graffiti, car jockeys, and navigation of traffic jams. The research method includes field and internet ethnography for around one year. Field ethnography has been conducted for approximately one month and a quarter, while internet ethnography for approximately eleven months.
The research uncovers worsening precarious life, plunging the Akuarium community from poverty to severity. The severity includes massive loss of occupations, and houses, unexpected mitigation costs, the loss of markets and crowdedness for market support, and the multi-source of income as in small shops and housing rental. Their poverty informs a structural problem of low income worsened due to eviction. The eviction exacerbates the condition with the erasure of the economy, housing, and cultural life, leading to a repressed mental state among them. In identity, the struggle against eviction revived the community and a wide range of urban activists to remake the destroyed neighborhood, demanding rights in both formal and informal ways. Akuarium people also show a category of irregular workers and businesses in the urban economy of Jakarta. Most people work temporarily and have small businesses such as shops, food stalls, or street vendors to fulfill their daily needs.
The Akuarium people enact an urban play as a small tactic for survival, responding to various kinds of violence and the difficulty of eviction. The urban play includes mothers who brought appliances and mobilized small mobs. Mothers also opened their clothes with only underwear covering the breasts and sexual organs to seek the empathy of apparatuses for stopping the eviction. Akuarium people showed urban play as a claim of space without aggression and worked as a last-resort weapon to sustain community life. The play has been an archetype of resistance through spatial practice.
>>Your attendance is highly appreciated<<

แนวคิดเกษตรเชิงนิเวศและแนวทางการเกษตรที่ยั่งยืนในภาคเหนือและภาคตะวันออกเฉียงเหนือของประเทศไทย
2023-04-07 09:00 - 2023-04-09 17:00 | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
ประชุมเชิงปฏิบัติการนิเวศเชิงเกษตรของเกษตรกร: แนวคิดเกษตรเชิงนิเวศและแนวทางการเกษตรที่ยั่งยืนในภาคเหนือและภาคตะวันออกเฉียงเหนือของประเทศไทย

สรุปบทเรียนการขับเคลื่อนของภาคประชาชนด้านการจัดการที่ดินและทรัพยากรกรธรรมชาติ แนวคิดการพัฒนาที่ยั่งยืน ภายใต้หลักคิด “สิทธิชุมชน” และการสร้างมั่นคงหรืออธิปไตยทางอาหาร รวมทั้งยกระดับข้อเสนอด้านเกษตรนิเวศเพื่อขับเคลื่อนรณรงค์สาธารณะต่อไป

7-9 เมษายน 2566 ณ ห้องประชุม ชั้น 4 คณะสังคมศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ โดยจะมีการถ่ายทอดสดผ่าน Facebook Live บนเพจ RCSD ด้วย

Peasant Agroecology to Address the Multiple Crises Facing Humanity
2023-04-07 09:00 - 15:00 | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Join Peter Rosset from ECOSUR Advanced Studies Institute, Mexico for a full-day presentation on Peasant Agroecology starting at 9 am at the 4th Floor meeting room of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University as part of the 3-day workshop (held in Thai) on “Agroecology Concepts and Sustainable Practices in the Northern and Northeastern Regions of Thailand” held 7-9 April at RCSD. The entire workshop, including Peter Rosset’s presentation will also be available on a live broadcast on the RCSD Facebook page (with live Thai language interpretation)

Work in Progress: Multispecies Masterclass in Thailand
2023-04-05 09:30 - 11:00 | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
RCSD invites all to a public seminar: Work in Progress: Multispecies Masterclass in Thailand on Wednesday, 5 April 2023 from 9:30-10:45 in the Subaltern Room, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University or join through the Zoom link here
Speakers will include Alice Hughes from the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong 香港大學 and Eben Kirksey from the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford

Myanmar Women's Symposium & Summit
2023-03-08 09:00 - 16:00 | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
On International Women’s Day, Wednesday March 8, join the “Myanmar Women’s Symposium and Summit” held from 9 am to 4 pm at the 4th floor meeting room of the Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University. Organized by the Thanaka Gender Tekkatho, this symposium will bring together a wide variety of speakers who will discuss the challenges faced by and potentialities for women in the context of Myanmar’s current situation of political conflict and economic and social disruption.

Pushed Out: Forced Migration & Displacement from and within Myanmar
2023-02-24 14:00 - 17:00 | Subaltern Meeting Room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Join us on Friday, 24 February at 2 pm (Indochina/Western Indonesia time) for a special talk: “PUSHED OUT: Forced migration and displacement from and within Myanmar.”
This panel will discuss the situation of forced displacement of Myanmar people, both internally within the country and moving outward to Thailand, Indonesia, and India. Each speaker will help give a localized view from multiple countries along with some of the different historical, political, and social contexts of forced migration.
Speakers:
– Yuyun Wahyuringnum, Indonesia representative on the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights; Senior Advisor on ASEAN and Human Rights.
– Dr. Muhammad Riza Nurdin, affiliated researcher with ICAIOS (International Center for Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies)
– Adisorn Kerdmongkol, research officer for the Migrant Working Group
– Thiri, researcher, fixer and documentary producer from Myanmar.
– Mai Lucy Mawi, Institute of Chin Affairs
The event will be both onsite and online, with many of our speakers joining via zoom. The onsite portion will be held in the Subaltern Meeting Room, basement floor, Faculty of Social Sciences, CMU
To receive the zoom link for the event please register here
There will be Thai-English translation available on zoom ผู้ร่วมงานที่ต้องการการแปลไทย-อังกฤษสามารถฟังผ่าน zoom ได้เลยครับ
This event has been coordinated by RCSD in partnership with the support of IDRC / CRDI with the cooperation of Student Solidarity Indonesia-Myanmar (SINMAR) and Burma Concern Forum.

Book Launch: Waves of Upheaval
2023-02-15 13:00 - 15:00 | 4th floor meeting room, Operations Building, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
Wednesday, February 15, join RCSD for the launch and discussion of new book “Waves of Upheaval: Gendered Transformations and Political Transitions” from NIAS Press, edited by Jenny Hedström and Elisabeth Olivius. Both editors will be participating in person along with a panel of Myanmar discussants including Naw K’Nyaw Paw, Justine Chambers, Hsa Moo, Maggi Quadrini, and Henri Myrtinnen.

Exhibition: Never Give Up
2023-02-01 16:00 - 17:00 | Chiang Mai University Food Center, Chiang Mai University Food Center, A. Muang, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand
February 1 marks two years since the coup d’état in Myanmar which has led to over 700,000 people fleeing their homes.
But, where are they now? What are their thoughts and feelings about what’s happened in Myanmar?
If these questions interest you, we invite you to find some answers in the exhibition “Never Give Up” in which the people of Myanmar tell their own stories. Since the coup d’état in Myanmar of 2 years ago, news about the situation in Burma has been reported in Thailand and throughout the world. It has been two years of politicians opposing the coup in the capital of Yangon, urban middle class people refusing to work under the junta, or villagers on the border who fleeing into Thailand to escape aerial bombing of their homes.
Many stories that Thai people have heard are scattered narratives from an outsider’s point of view, leaving much of the story out. This exhibition is a space that allows artists from Myanmar to show their experiences and feelings having lived through the coup.
🗓️ Exhibition 1 to 21 February 2023
🛎️ Launch event February 1, 2023 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
⏰ Free admission!
📍 1st floor,Chiang Mai University Food Court
https://goo.gl/maps/deL9TNPemMmw9s2U9
