Myanmar

Doctoral Researcher
Julie Marie Hansen

Research Professor
Åshild Kolås

Senior Researcher
Marte Nilsen

Doctoral Researcher
Trude Stapnes

Research Professor
Stein Tønnesson

10/02/2022
New Book Chapter: “We Are Alive, but Have No Life”: Rohingya Refugees, Deprived of the Prospects for a Future

The new book chapter "We Are Alive, but Have No Life": Rohingya Refugees, Deprived of the Prospects for a Future written by Senior Researcher Marte Nilsen, explores some of the everyday strategies of survival that stateless, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh make use of to navigate under the precarious conditions of being denied rights and recognition.

25/06/2021
Klo Kwe Moo Kham Successfully Defends Master's Thesis

Klo Kwe Moo Kham has successfully defended his thesis "The Quest for Peace in Kawthoolei: The Strategies, Outcomes, and Sustainability of Peacebuilding in Southeast Myanmar, 2012-2020".

Congratulations Klo!

25/06/2021
New Online Exhibition from the TRANSFORM Project

In societies at war or facing severe repression, what motivates individuals to take action for social justice when doing so involves great risk and uncertainty? How do such small but often heroic everyday acts of common people inspire larger transformations? And what is the impact of storytelling about everyday acts that challenge inequalities and injustices in places like Myanmar, Somaliland and Syria?

The TRANSFORM research team has grappled with these questions for four years, and you will find some answers in this online exhibition.

14/06/2021
Artistic Encounters in War and Violent Conflict: New Platform for the INSPIRE Project Launched

On June 3rd 2021, the INSPIRE research platform was launched with a live performance by Faytinga and a presentation of artwork by Diala Brisly. The research platform can be explored at inspire.gallery

13/01/2021
POPAGANDA – Funding in Place for Project

How do political opposition groups in Myanmar and Thailand use popular culture and art to generate legitimacy for their political causes and propagate their messages?

17/12/2020
Stateless in the Bengali borderlands — Funding in Place for New Project

The project will investigate the current crisis of statelessness affecting millions of people in the Bengali borderlands, including the Rohingya population of Myanmar and Bengali Muslims in the Northeast Indian state of Assam.

26/10/2020
Myanmar Land Rights Activism in New Animation from PRIO

What drives the small but often heroic everyday acts of people in their attempts to challenge dehumanization and abuse in violent conflict? PRIO is proud to share the first of a series of three animations and comics from Myanmar, Syria and Somaliland, made for the TRANSFORM project in collaboration with PositiveNegatives.

08/07/2020
Trude Stapnes Hired as a Doctoral Researcher on the INSPIRE Project

18/12/2019
Funding Secured for Project on Artists in Times of War

PRIO's Centre on Culture and Conflict has received funding from the FRIPRO programme of the Research Council of Norway for the 4-year project Inspirational Creative Practice: the Work of Artists in Times of War (INSPIRE). Congratulations to project leaders Katarzyna Grabska and Cindy Horst, as well as Marte Nilsen and Covadonga Morales Bertrand, who will also take part in the project. There will also be a PhD position.

INSPIRE studies the role of artists and creative practice in and after violent conflict, exploring both what inspires and motivates those engaged in creative practice as well as how artistic expressions inspire and move others into action for social justice.

05/08/2019
PRIO Researcher Gives Talk on Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict

On 2 August, Julie Marie Hansen gave a talk about sexual violence in armed conflict at KSAS, Humanity Institute in Myitkyina, Myanmar. Hansen introduced current theories on the causes and consequences of conflict-related sexual violence, and an overview of efforts to prevent and mitigate the impact of this type of violence.

31/07/2019
PRIO Researchers Contribute to New Book on Women, Peace and Security in Myanmar: Between Feminism and Ethnopolitics

The book describes women’s efforts as agents for change in Myanmar and examines the potential of the peace process as an opportunity for women’s empowerment.

10/07/2019
New Report on Community-Led Education in Rohingya Refugee Camps

Since the August 2017 crisis forced them to flee their native Myanmar, Rohingya refugees have attempted to rebuild a semblance of normalcy in the squalid camps of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

The Government of Bangladesh restricts formal schooling for refugee children and youth. International and national NGOs provide some nonformal education in the camps, but the general lack of education has become a major source of concern and despair for refugees.

In response, numerous refugee-led networks of community teachers have been formed trying to fill the gap in formal education.

To learn more about these efforts and how these networks could be engaged by humanitarian agencies working to improve the education situation for refugees in the camps, read this new report commissioned for PRIO’s EducAid project.

07/02/2019
New GPS Policy Brief on Women in the Myanmar Peace Process

This new GPS Policy Brief on women’s participation in the Myanmar peace process asks:

How well are women represented in the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) involved in the peace process?
What kind of work do the women do?
Do the women participate in decision-making as members of the EAOs’ central executive committees?

Read the policy brief in full here.

12/11/2018
New Blog on Women's Use of Facebook in Myanmar

With so much attention on the destructive role of Facebook in Myanmar, Doctoral Researcher Julie M. Hansen points out the constructive side of Facebook by bringing in examples of how women in Myanmar use of the social media platform. She writes:

"The spread of hate speech and misinformation online that incites real-life violence are serious issues that deserve the media attention they have received, and the tech community must prioritise finding a solution. Yet, for a fuller understanding of the role of Facebook – which has become such a dominant tool in Myanmar for information and communication that is almost synonymous with the internet – we should also recognise the platform’s constructive side. And this becomes apparent when we look at how the social media platform is used by women."

Read the blog post in full here.

18/07/2018
Glemte konflikter: PRIO Podcast i sommer

I juni ble årets konfliktdata fra Uppsala universitet lansert i Journal of Peace Research. På basis av dette, ble flere PRIO-forskere intervjuet i en ukelang serie på NRK P2s Studio 2.

For tredje år på rad går antall drepte i konflikter i verden ned. Men de fleste konflikter i verden hører vi sjelden noe om.

Bli litt klokere i sommer: Lytt til podcaster om de mindre kjente konfliktene i verden i dag.

Tusen takk til NRK for tillatelse til å gjengi lydfilene.

08/03/2018
Conference on 'Women, Peace and Security in Myanmar' held in Bangkok on 5 March

The conference was organised by the PRIO project on 'Gender Equality, Peace and Security in Nepal and Myanmar' (WOMENsPEACE). The papers presented at the conference described the diverse roles of women in the ongoing Myanmar peace process, insisting on the vital importance of a gender perspective in the study of conflict, security and peace.

20/12/2017
New Issue of PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Update Out Now

The December 2017 issue of the PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Update is now out.

Read the PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Update – December 2017 issue here.

The PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Update (GPS Update) is an electronic newsletter launched by the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security in response to growing interest among the public for information about gender, peace and security issues.

For any queries regarding the GPS Update, contact Julie Marie Hansen (julhan@prio.org).

19/12/2017
New Project to Study Social Media, Armed Conflict and Gender in Myanmar

From early 2018, Julie Marie Hansen will start a three-year doctoral research project studying the gendered impacts of social media on armed conflict and peacebuilding in Myanmar.

24/11/2017
Call for papers: Women, peace and security in Myanmar

Funded by the Research Council of Norway (NORGLOBAL), the PRIO project Gender Equality, Peace and Security in Nepal and Myanmar (WOMENsPEACE) studies the gender dimension of the peace processes in Nepal and Myanmar. As a part of the WOMENsPEACE project, we plan to publish an edited volume on Women, Peace and Security in Myanmar. Please get in touch with ashild@prio.org if you are doing research in this field and would like to contribute.

The planned book aims to describe the important but highly diverse roles of women in the Ethnic Armed Organizations of Myanmar, presenting perspectives on the agency of women in times of war as well as negotiations for peace. Engaging critically with the women, peace and security literature, the volume will question the potential of peace processes to become a window of opportunity for women's empowerment, while insisting on the vital importance of a gender perspective in the study of conflict, security and peace.

30/06/2017
New issue of the PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Update

The second issue in 2017 the PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Update is now out.

The lead story in this issue includes an interview with researchers Christine Amisi (ICART) and Gudrun Østby (PRIO) about their research on support programmes for survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tamar Groves & Trude Stapnes (2023)
Prefiguring a democratic state: student activism and the National Education Law in Myanmar

Journal Article in Compare: a Journal of Comparative and International Education

Amara Thiha & Marte Nilsen (2023)
Monks and Militias in Myanmar