Conflict, Violence and Development Seminar Series
The Bio-politics of Ethno-nationalism: Drugs, Vigilantes and Communal Conflict in Myanmar
Myanmar's protracted ethnic conflict is commonly understood as the contestation between an ethnocratic state and ethnic minorities. This misses the worrying trend that is the mounting communal violence between and within ethnic minority communities. Based on long-term field research in Kachin State, this seminar uses the case of a Kachin vigilante militia to explore this kaleidoscope of fragmented ethnic conflict.