Abstract
Both Tibet and Burma/Myanmar have, for many years, remained closed to the scrutiny and gaze of the outside world. Connected geographically and deeply influenced by their Buddhist histories, they share many similarities, yet both are developing along vastly different trajectories. Unprecedented political and economic changes in Burma and increasing domination by Mainland China in Tibet are leading to uncertain futures, in particular, for the young. The lives of children are seldom discussed, and recent academic reflection on children and childhood in either country is extremely scarce. This Special Edition of Global Studies of Childhood begins by sharing research and conceptual papers that originate in the two locations.
The articles in this edition are both research based and being personal reflections on childhoods in Burma/Myanmar and Tibet. They consider a diverse range of topics: from the early childhood years to life in refugee camps. Authors too come from a variety of backgrounds, including academe, teaching and working for local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs). One thing they all have in common is that in some way, they have been touched by the mystique of these two lands.
This Special Edition is divided into two sections: the first on Burma/Myanmar and the second on Tibet. However, the reader is encouraged to find the links and synergies between the two parts. One recurrent theme is the importance of education. Education not only brings economic benefit to families but also acts as a fundamental force for improving the lives of people. However, education, as is shown in Zhoumaoji’s paper on the educational experiences across the generations of one family, in Tibet, can also have some profoundly unsettling effects on families, cultural traditions and values. Of more concern perhaps is the fact that education, as Myrtha Waite points out in her study in Myanmar, is beyond the reach of many marginalised groups, particularly disabled children.
A realisation of the importance of the early years has been evident in the literature for some years. In this volume, early childhood education is the focus of the papers of Lynn Ang and Lily Wong. They examine the growing trend for education in the early years in Myanmar. Ana Ancheta Arrabal discusses the issues in the context of Tibet. Both papers identify that
An inherent paradox remains in that while early childhood is increasingly recognised by governments as a ‘public good’, the early childhood sector, its governance and infrastructures face considerable challenges in a largely resource-limited environment, thus highlighting the stark disparity between aspirational policies and social reality. (Ang and Wong, this volume)
The majority of papers in the Special Edition are written about Burma/Myanmar. The name itself often causes confusion. While both have a shared etymology, one, Burma, has become associated with the pro-democracy movement and those who live outside of the country, whereas in the country now, most use ‘Myanmar’. Thus, both terms are used in these papers as some of the authors are living in Myanmar, while others are living or working on the Thai border. Two papers, those by Eva Ramírez Carpeño and Hannah Isabelle Feldman, and Jessica Ball and Sarah Moselle, focus on life for ethnic minority children in border camps. They reflect in different ways the impact on young lives of what has become known as the longest civil war in history. The former, again taking on the theme of education, this time within a refugee camp setting, and the latter, taking a wider view, identify that the conditions of liminality of children in camps ‘… may also instil unique orientations to the world as transmigrants, with skills that equip them to cope with a high degree of uncertainty and hardship and to adapt nimbly to future stresses and opportunities in a globalized world’ (Ball and Moselle, this volume). Globalisation is also a focus of Jia Yinzhong’s paper looking at the need for an English language curriculum in Tibet.
Finally, the Special Edition contains two papers written by early career researchers in Myanmar. The first, by Win Han Oo, seeks to interrogate some of the recent educational trends in the country as it opens up to the influence of the outside world, in particular, questioning the uptake of what has become known as ‘child centred approaches’ to education. The author questions this new trend, asking whether or not it will also unwittingly dismantle centuries old Myanmar traditions and customs in child raising. The second paper by Sai Nandar Tun is a study of a small group of children in Tha Ma Ta Kan Chay, who the author has been involved as a part-time informal teacher, making a personal comparison between very different types of childhood experience. Both papers raise important questions about the way in which perceptions of childhood are being effected amid Myanmar’s rapid political, economic and social changes.
Together the papers in this volume provide absorbing reading of academic and narrative writing. As in many areas of novel research, each of the papers often raises more questions than it answers. We hope that this will inspire others to further investigate the fascinating countries and childhoods that until now have largely remained hidden.