UWP Lecturers The SEATRiP Speakers Series: Burma Rocks

[John Ganim]

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>
>
>The SEATRiP Speakers Series presents
>Dr. Jane M. Ferguson
>Australia National University, Canberra
>
>Rocking in Shanland:
>Burmese Popular Music and Ethnic Insurgent Band Practice
>
>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 politicized 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.
>
>Friday, October 9, 2009 - 1:00-2:00pm - INTS 3107
>
>(following the SEATRiP Fall Welcome Reception - same location from 
>12:00-1:00pm)
>For inquiries, please contact Mariam Lam at 
><mailto:mariam.lam at ucr.edu>mariam.lam at ucr.edu or x21391.
>
>
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