How it started: Conversations on the founding of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the origins

Speaker:  Dr. Mandy Sadan (Lecturer in the History of South East Asia School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS)

Date: 01.12.09
Time: 17:00
Place: Room G52- SOAS. Details will be on the webpage of the Centre for South East Asian studies at SOAS.
Address: School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG
Tel: +44 (020) 7898 4622

This seminar will look at the origins of the armed movement in the Kachin region and how it was that the Kachin Independence Army was able to establish itself and claim legitimacy in its formative and early years. Much of this history has still to be explored, but one of the objectives of this presentation is to highlight the potential that raising these questions offers for developing more nuanced understandings of the origins of conflict, as well as reflecting on what such understandings might have to offer on contemporary discussion about ethnic relations in Burma. There are still many people who have first hand knowledge of these events, and yet rarely are questions raised about why and how individuals made choices about taking up arms. Focusing on a number of biographical interviews conducted on the Burma-China border with participants involved in the founding and early mobilization of the KIA, the presentation will also attempt to place narrative at the centre of the analysis to try to get a better understanding of how conflicts emerged out of local, societal contexts.

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