Busy Dr. Jane Ferguson discusses Burmese film and Shan viewers
by Naw Liang (London, United Kingdom)

Mai soong kha!
I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season, wherever you are and whatever you might have done. For unforeseen reasons (what other kind are there?), I was unable to make my trek to Burma/Myanmar and the Shan State to continue my research: government workers and offices, like everyone else I am sure, grind to a halt over the holdiays, even in the UK. Oh well, there is always the spring...

For now, please enjoy this short post - with audio podcast too boot! - on eternally-active Dr. Ferguson and her latest lecture on Burmese cinema and Shan viewers.

The Burmese Film Industry and Shan Spectatorship
In March of last year (was it that long ago already?!), Ferguson gave an informative, insightful and interactive discussion entitled "The Burmese Film Industry and Shan Spectatorship", which was based on research from her PhD thesis (Cornell, 2008) "Rocking in Shanland: Histories and Popular Culture Jams at the Thai-Burma Border". Held at something called the Brown Bag series for the Center of Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Forever energetic, Ferguson's lecture was more open, engaging discussion than traditional seminar, with the UH students and staff actively questioned and discussing Ferguson's intriguing theories on and groundbreaking findings about Burma's long and vibrant history of indigenous film production. While she spent some time discussing ethnic and insurgency issues within Burma/Myanmar, including the decades-long insurgency, she chose to turn her attention to the consumption of popular culture. Ferguson highlighted a 'gap in research' as scholars and others prefer to focus on the overwhelming, in-your-face social and political problems within the country, unknowingly foresaking critical analysis and investigation of the daily lives of ethnic insurgents and their affiliates in the process. Drawing on her extensive ethnographic fieldwork (conducted within one Shan community), she revealed that Burmese culture, interestingly, remains symbolically relevant and richly meaningful for Shan despite the ongoing conflict; this may even be true amongst the most ardent Shan separatists. Very interesting research indeed.

Focusing her discussion of the Shan consumption of Burmese pop culture on some popular genres of the Burmese motion picture industry, Ferguson discussed issues of viewership (she uses 'spectatorship') of such films in a village of Shan insurgents along the Thai-Burma border. The rest of her discussion (and the resulting and animated discussion) can be heard here (http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/7210). Enjoy.

While they have yet to be published, interested parties should keep an eye open for two upcoming publications from Dr. Ferguson, including:
Rock Your Religion: Shan Merit-making, Ritual and Stage-show Revelry at the Thai- Burma Border in Asian Legacies and Inscriptions of the State (her PhD these in book form); and
Revolutionary Scripts: Shan Insurgent Media Practice at the Thai-Burma Border in Political Regimes and the Media in Asia: Continuities, Contradictions and Change.

Jom lii kha,

Naw Liang

Funky lectures: 'Rocking in Shanland' by Dr. Jane M. Ferguson
By Naw Liang

Mai soong kha!
I appear to be on a roll these days, apparently rejuvenated as the end of the year nears. Let's hope it continues into 2010 longer than most New Year's resolutions.

Although a short one today, it is no less important. The following posting promotes one of the world's up-and-coming Shan academics - Dr. Jane Martin Ferguson - who is currently 'rocking it large' in the Faculty of Asian Studies at The Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. Let's hope the groovy tone she has set spreads to bigger audiences.

Rocking in Shanland: Burmese Popular Music and Ethnic Insurgent Band Practice
The multi-lingual ANU anthropologist and academic presented a snapshot of her thought-provoking 2008 Cornell doctoral thesis at the University of California Riverside's Southeast Asia: Text, Ritual and Performance (SEATRiP) Speakers Series on 9 October 2009 to what was, I can only imagine, a packed house (see the flyer here). It is hoped, especially by this avid Shan watcher and reader, that the entire thesis will be available for publication soon. For now, though, we can direct our gaze to a summary of the lecture in Ferguson's own words:

"Although Burma has the dubious distinction of possessing some of the longest running internal conflicts in modern history, one often overlooked aspect is the role of popular culture and its consumption within these struggles. Although it might seem to be an anomaly, even the most adamant of ethnic Shan separatists can, and often do, have great affinity for Burmese popular music. Based on over two years' ethnographic fieldwork amongst a community of Shan insurgents and their affiliates, this paper will examine the ways in which a key genre of Burmese popular music, copy thachin is interpreted, played, and ultimately re-signified by politicised Shan amateur musicians in a rock band at the Thai-Burma border. Limited fieldwork carried out in Yangon amongst Burmese songwriters will flesh out the history and structure of the Burmese popular music industry. Finally, I will demonstrate that borderland zones constitute important generative spaces for certain kinds of popular culture practice, especially when these practices can, and often do, produce contentious political consequences."

The only thing I wonder about is how many encores she was called back for.

Jom lii kha,

Naw Liang