Academic Anthropology in Myanmar. Education and Potential

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Pedagogy - Theory of Science, Anthropology, grade: 3.0, Roehampton University London, language: English, abstract: This paper is an ethnography about how anthropology is taught as a major in universities in my home country, Myanmar. The aims of this ethnography is to explore the teaching methods, how it is different from my experience in University of Roehampton, why it is very underestimated by majority of people in the country and the potential of the subject. Initially, I come up with a hypothesis of possible variations in teaching methods, student ambition, case studies and potential career options as a UK student and compare my results to what I initially thought of.

Myanmar is a developing country of Southeast Asia with many historical turning points which makes the country's unique cultural melting pot. The country goes from monarchy to English colonization to being occupied by fascist Japanese and again taken over by English government during the second world war. After gaining independence in 4 January 1948, it was led by a socialist government with a military general and a president at its duel leaders. In 1962, the military launched a coup de tat and took over the country, putting the country under it's oppressive rule until 2011. These conditions greatly effects people's social lives and prevents a stable education system since the education of a country reflects the ideals of the government. With the ever-changing political power, each one influencing the students to a degree, the people of Myanmar lack a clear path to their goals. By conducting interviews with the teachers, students and faculty members of a university in Yangon, a former capital, I plan to find out why anthropology major is very rarely taken, discouraged by parents and looked down as a subject with no career option. My ultimate goal would be to unravel the questions of negativity and resurrect the dying subject.