Borderlands of Burma
Mae Sot, Thailand, 2010

Although confronted with a lack of civil rights on both sides of the border, ethnically diverse communities from eastern Myanmar attempt to carve out a tenuous cross-border home for themselves in neighboring Thailand. In exile, they hope to gain a greater, if marginal, degree of personal autonomy and freedoms they would not be allowed to exercise in Myanmar, and shelter from decades of persistant armed conflict. One sees frequent reminders of the region's struggle to break free of the multi-generational and widespread consequences of colonialism, ethnic violence, totalitarianism, and civil war.

Suggested reading:

The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century by Thant Myint-U, W. W. Norton & Company, 2019.  Bookshop

Nowhere to Be Home: Narratives From Survivors of Burma's Military Regime compiled and edited by Maggie Lemere and Zöe West, McSweeney's, 2011.  Bookshop

From the Land of the Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey by Pascal Khoo Thwe, Harper Perennial, 2003.  Bookshop

For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question: A Story from Burma's Never-Ending War by Mac McClelland, Soft Skull Press, 2010.  HPB

Finding George Orwell in Burma by Emma Larkin, Penguin Press, 2005.  Bookshop

Everything is Broken by Emma Larkin, Penguin Press, 2010.  HPB