Burma or Myanmar: What’s in a name?
Living within one hour’s walk from the Thai border, my students (Karenni refugees from Burma) refer to their homeland simply as “inside.” The word conjures images of a mysterious location, […]
Living within one hour’s walk from the Thai border, my students (Karenni refugees from Burma) refer to their homeland simply as “inside.” The word conjures images of a mysterious location, […]
Celebrating Karenni National Day inside Thai refugee camps, 2007 Q: How do we demonstrate national pride? With patriotic anthems and firework displays; with rowdy crowds and waving flags; with reverent […]
Thang’s Dilemana: a Karenni refugee in Thailand tells his story. Q: Why do we leave home? Because office cubicles cause claustrophobia; because life is too short to stand still; because […]
Burma is a Jackson Pollack painting of peoples and languages. The country has over 135 distinct and recognized ethnic groups, divided into eight over-arching “ethnic states”. These states have made […]
Some 900 years ago, King Suryavarman II created the Khmer empire’s largest stone tribute to the Hindu religion – modern Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. His predecessors promptly converted to Buddhism and […]
Most meals taken in a Karenni-Burmese household center around the soup bowl. Usually a boiling broth with an assortment of vegetables – including the stem, leaf and vine – this […]
In Southeast Asia, the daily market is like a garage sale + grocery store + auction house on too many cups of coffee. From unusual meat items to untasted fruits, […]