'We are Like Water in Their Hands' - experiences of imprisonment in Myanmar Gaborit, Liv 2020 Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Gaborit, L. (2020). 'We are Like Water in Their Hands' - experiences of imprisonment in Myanmar. 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LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Download date: 10. Oct. 2021 “We are Like Water in Their Hands” – experiences of imprisonment in Myanmar Liv Stoltze Gaborit Supervisor: Bjørn Thomassen (RUC) Co-supervisor: Andrew M. Jefferson (DIGNITY) ISSN no. 0909-9174 PhD Programme: International Studies Department of Social Sciences and Business Roskilde University 2020 Front page: Ponsan Tain painted by artist Htein Lin in Oh Boh Prison in 2002. © Htein Lin. In collaboration with DIGNITY – Danish Institute Against Torture Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark Note on authorship: While the front page of this dissertation only lists one name, significant contributions have been made by several people. The photos in this dissertation have been taken by U Letyar Tun, Ko Phyoe Dhana Chit Lynn Htike, U Pho Nyi Htwe and U Sai Minn Htein. Additionally, Michael Muelay has contributed to fieldwork as a research assistant. His contribution has been vital, not only with translation but also with his aid in navigating the field. While I have put together the words on these pages, the honour of this work belongs as much to them as to me. The responsibility of any mistakes on these pages fall on me solely, as they have not gotten a chance to contribute with corrections. CONTENT English Abstract ............................................................................ ii Acknowledgments ........................................................................ iv Prologue ...................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1 Introduction .................................................................................... 1 Visual Interlude I CHAPTER 2 Prison research in Myanmar ......................................................... 13 2.1 Finding the field – doing fieldwork in Myanmar ........................ 13 2.2 The prison – state of the art of critical prison studies .................. 22 2.3 Gaps in existing literature ........................................................... 28 PAPER I Royal, Colonial and Authoritarian Legacies in Myanmar Prisons of Today - An ethnographic history of punishment ...................... 31 Visual Interlude II CHAPTER 3 Reflections on methods, ethics and positionality .......................... 57 3.1 Description of data and methods ................................................. 59 3.2 Beyond the Prison Gate – doing action research ......................... 63 Visual Interlude III 3.3 Ethical reflections ....................................................................... 74 3.4 Researcher Positions ................................................................... 80 3.5 Gaining access to prison .............................................................. 90 PAPER II Looking through the Prison Gate: access in the field of ethnography .................................................................................. 93 Visual Interlude IV CHAPTER 4 Theoretical framework ................................................................. 99 4.1 Linking theories and realities through ontological perspectives and critical phenomenology ............................................................ 100 4.2 Imprisonment as liminal experience ......................................... 103 4.3 Symbolic death .......................................................................... 107 4.4 Anti-structure and communitas ................................................. 112 4.5 Applying the concept of liminality in prison research .............. 114 Visual Interlude V PAPER III Visited by Spirits – ‘betwixt and between’ in meditation and solitary confinement in Myanmar............................................... 121 PAPER IV ‘Beyond the Prison Gate’ - exploring recognition through photography with former political prisoners in Myanmar .......... 145 Visual Interlude VI CHAPTER 5 Conclusion and discussion of findings ....................................... 171 Visual Interlude VII ANNEX 1: DANISH ABSTRACT ........................................... 187 ANNEX 2: EXTRACT FROM FIELD NOTES ............................. 189 ANNEX 3: EXAMPLE OF INTERVIEW GUIDE ......................... 197 ANNEX 4: EXTRACT FROM INTERVIEW ............................... 200 ANNEX 5: MEDIA COVERAGE ............................................ 208 ANNEX 6: PUBLIC DISSEMINATION ..................................... 210 REFERENCES .................................................................... 242 English Abstract Prisons are institutions through which states exert social control and deprive citizens of rights; where entitlements of citizens are limited to the bare minimum deemed acceptable to a given state. Therefore, prisons are institutions which reveal core aspects of the relation between a state and its citizens. In authoritarian regimes, as Myanmar was in a very recent past, prisons are places in which people are subjected to extreme punishments. In the post- authoritarian state of transition Myanmar is currently in, legacies of past regimes linger and show their face in various forms. By studying experiences of imprisonment, this study approaches experiences of subjects whose lives are under an intense state control. As it explores their experiences, it takes the temperature of the transition as it explores what changes have occurred and what legacies remain from past political regimes. Until recently, Myanmar was closed off to the world while under military dictatorship. For the last decade, however, major changes have occurred and a political space has opened up in which it has become possible for researchers to do empirical research within the country and in which the first ever prison research project could be launched. This dissertation is part of the project Legacies of Detention in Myanmar, which explores how practices in Myanmar prisons today are shaped by legacies from past regimes. This dissertation focuses its attention on those who have gone through prisons as it analyses experiences of imprisonment in Myanmar. To do so, it builds on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork with former and current prisoners and an action research project conducted with four former political prisoners and photographers. The dissertation poses the research question: What experiences do prisoners in Myanmar go through and how are they affected by such experiences? This question is addressed through four publications. Paper I shows how penal practices of today are affected by legacies from the past through an ethnographic history ii of the practices concerned with fetters, convict officers, amnesties and torture. Paper II shows that access to experiences of imprisonment depend on other factors than physical access to prisons. Paper III shows that liminal experiences in prison can lead to positive development or suffering, depending on the presence or absence of guidance and communitas and on whether these experiences are forced or voluntarily. In doing so, it shows that solitary confinement represent structural violence, which can lead prisoners to become ‘unhinged’ from a sense of self and reality. Finally, Paper IV discusses the role of recognition in post-liminal re-integration of former prisoners and their opportunities to re- establish their lives after release. Through these papers and the synopsis surrounding them, the dissertation shows that prisoners go through liminal experiences which can affect them in various ways. Through theory on liminal experiences, the dissertation has identified inadequacies of prisons that make them inherently harmful institutions. Prisons represent forced liminal experiences, in some cases without the guidance of a master of ceremony and a communitas with whom to go through liminality. Furthermore, upon release, when prisoners are supposed to exit liminal experiences, the lack of proper post-liminal rituals that enable parity of participation through recognition, prevent prisoners from re-establishing their lives and becoming the law- abiding citizens prisons are supposed to mould them into. In addition, the empirical contribution on prisons in Myanmar shows that legacies from the authoritarian past are still practiced within prisons