About the Authors:

Mikael Gravers is Associate Professor Emeritus in Anthropology at Aarhus University, Denmark. He has been conducting fieldwork in Thailand and Burma since 1970. He has done research among Buddhist and Christian Karen, in Buddhist monasteries, and in Hindu and Muslim communities. He is the author of Nationalism as Political Paranoia (1999) and edited Exploring Ethnic Diversity in Burma (2007). In 2014, he co-edited Burma/Myanmar – Where Now (with Flemming Ytzen). He has published on ethnicity, nationalism, Buddhism and politics, as well as on nature, culture and environmental protection. He has conducted research related to Burma in the colonial archives, in the British Library and at the Public Record Office, London. Before retirement, he was involved in organizing an international masters degree in Human Security at Aarhus University and he lectured on this subject until 2019.

Annika Pohl Harrisson has a PhD from the Department of Anthropology at Aarhus University. She has conducted ethnographic research in Thailand and Myanmar. Annika is particularly interested in the localized production of legitimacy, everyday justice provision, and state-society relations. Her doctoral research investigates how different forms of state- making in southeast Myanmar affect the way in which sociality and subjectivities are constituted in everyday life. Her publications include (with Helene Maria Kyed) ‘Ceasefire state- making and justice provision by ethnic armed groups in southeast Myanmar’ (published in Sojourn 2019) and ‘Fish caught in clear water: Encompassed state-making in southeast Myanmar’ (published in Territory, Politics, Governance 2020).

Lue Htar is currently a research manager at the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation (EMReF), an independent research organization in Myanmar. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of East Yangon but has over the past years worked within the area of qualitative anthropological research. Lue Htar has done extensive field 2 | Independent Journal of Myanmar Scholarship research across different regions of Myanmar in relation to the provision of justice, issues related to land, socio-economic issues and rural development. Since 2015, she has participated, as one of the main researchers, in the EverJust project. She has published (August 2020) ‘Why is customary law so strong? Political recognition and justice practices in the Naga Self- Administered Zone’ (NIAS Press) and ‘What Naga people should be aware about their customary practices’ (in Naga the Pang Magazine).

Helene Maria Kyed is Senior Researcher and heads the Peace and Violence research unit at the Danish Institute for International Studies. She is trained as a social anthropologist and has a PhD in International Development Studies from Roskilde University. Kyed coordinates the EverJust research project in Myanmar (2015–2021). She has done extensive research on policing, informal justice and state formation in Southern Africa and Myanmar, focusing on rural as well as urban settings. Her most recent books are Policing and the Politics of Order-Making (Routledge, 2015), Everyday Justice in Myanmar. Informal Resolutions and State Evasion in a time of contested Transition (NIAS Press, 2020).

Lwin Lwin Mon is Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Yangon. She has a PhD degree in Anthropology (2012) and MA and MRes degrees in Archeology from the University of Yangon. In 2013, she was an ALFP research fellow in Japan, and in 2015 she was a CEU research fellow in Hungary. She has been one of the main researchers in the EverJust research project. She has published research on socio-cultural and political anthropology in international academic journals and collected volumes. Her most recent publication is ‘Dispute resolution and perceptions of security among urban Karen: The role of religious and ethnic identity’ (NIAS Press).

Than Pale is Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Yangon, where she obtained her PhD degree. She | 3 has conducted ethnographic research on socio-economic aspects of different ethnic groups in Myanmar and has published in Yangon University press in 1999, 2000 and 2004. In 2017, she carried out research on the healthcare practices of the Yin Baw ethnic group in Kayah State, using a medical anthropological perspective. She is currently a researcher with the Everjust project, focusing particularly on Hlaing Htayar Township in Yangon and Hpa-An district in Karen state (2015- 2021). In addition, she is doing research on ‘Human rights for migrant Burmese fish-workers’ (2020-2021). She has published ‘Are we so different? Inter-religious collaboration in a rural Karen-Muslim village in Hpa-An township’ (NIAS Press).

Mi Thang Sorn Poine has a BA degree in Geography (2014) from Mawlamyine University. She worked for four years at the Mon Women’s Organization and has done research on perceptions of women’s participation in politics in Mon State. She was also involved as a researcher in the Salween River Basin Network on ecological and social impacts. Since 2016 she has worked at the EMReF as senior research officer and as a member of the EverJust research group. Her publications include ‘The shadow power of armed actors: Justice seeking practices in a rural Pa-O Self-Administered Zone’ (NIAS Press) and ‘Forum shopping and plural authorities in southern Mon State’ (NIAS Press).

Myat The Thitsar is the co-founder and the Strategic Advisor of the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation (EMReF), a non- profit research organization. She holds degrees from California State University and Yadanabon University, Mandalay. She is currently doing a PhD in the Global Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Myat The Thitsar started carrying out social research in 2008, when she returned to Myanmar, and she co-founded EMReF in 2011. Currently, she is leading the Parliamentary Research and Support Program (PRSP). She is involved as a lead researcher in governance, political economy analyses, customary justice and legal pluralism, and identity and conflict related studies. She is the 4 | Independent Journal of Myanmar Scholarship lead researcher and author of the Performance Analysis on State and Region Parliaments of Myanmar.