Bulletin of the Burma Studies Group
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Spring / Fall 2014-15 Bulletin of the Burma Studies Group Southeast Asian Council Association for Asian Studies CONTENTS Introduction Patrick McCormick .......................................... 2 Burma: Rivers of Flavor cookbook review Rosalie Metro ...................................................... 3 International Conference and Workshop on New Approaches to Myanmar History Chie Ikeya ............................................................. 4 An Inside View of the Approaches to Myanmar History Conference Tharaphi Than ................................................... 5 Translation Project The JasonKalyāṇī A. CarbineInscriptions: ................................................. New Text and 6 A Two-Week Fieldtrip with My Students Tom Patton .......................................................... 8 Ward Keeler ......................................................10 The Traffic in Hierarchy A Research Update FieldworkCharlotte at the Galloway Sri Ksetra ........................................ Museum: 12 and religious practices in Burma and Thai- “Pilgrims, healers, and wizards: Buddhism Alexandra Green ..............................................15 land”: An exhibition at the British Museum A Modest Critique BurmaGwen Studies Robinson Conference................................................. 2014: 18 Number 93 & 94 Introduction By Patrick McCormick I am pleased that we have such a variety depending on the topic—often largely non-Burmese who were speaking. Burma scholars telling us about their At the same time, 2014 also individualof pieces for projects this issue: and we research, hear from while saw a number of conferences and 12th International others tell about their colloborative workshops inside Burma itself. The Southeast Asian Linguistics Society Burma Studies Conference review that the Bulletin has seen in a (SEALS) had their annual meeting at TRADitiONS while,projects. a review We also of have a cookbook. a the first book Yangon University in May, and in July, AND Two thousand fourteen proved to Rutgers held a joint workshop with the CHALLENGES be an eventful year for Burma studies. History Department, as Chie Ikeya and Perhaps most importantly was the Tharaphi Than tell us about. Burma Studies Conference in Singapore Celebrating the 30th in August. For those of us who have issue, I would like repeat that I always Anniversary of the Center for been going to the conference regularly welcome Looking submissions, forward to especially our next from Burma Studies at NIU over the past years, the change to such inside Burma. If you or someone you an upscale venue was unprecedented know is doing something that the rest Oct 6th-9th – gone was indifferent canteen food, of us should know about, please write Northern Illinois University replaced by all manner of fried and us. Our style is meant to be informal – DeKalb, Illinois steamed Chinese snacks. Attendance think less “works cited” and footnotes was good, despite the costs. The and more how you would talk to your organizers of the conference this year friends and colleagues about what For details please visit: www. made special efforts to bring in a you’ve been up to. burmaconference2016.com number of prominent representatives from the Burmese government, civil society, and literary world, who spoke at both the opening and closing sessions. These voices from the inside helped bring a kind of balance to the actual sessions, where it was— Patrick McCormick Researcher and Representative (EFEO, “French School of the Far East”) InstitutÉcole Française Française d’Extrême-Orient en Birmanie (former Alliance Française) 340 Pyay Road, Sanchaung Township, Yangon [email protected] 2 Bulletin of the Burma Studies Group in recipes such as “Panir in Tomato Burma: Rivers of Flavor Sauce.” Duguid also includes recipes Duguid, Naomi (2012), New York: Artisan for móunhìngà from Rangoon and the western Delta, and notes the criticisms By Rosalie Metro people from each region have about Until recently, Burmese cuisine has been Rangoon mohinga is “thin and watery,” largely inaccessible to outsiders. While what Duguid calls “Succulent Grape- the others: Tavoyans complain that Thai restaurants abound worldwide, fruitflour (orcomes Pomelo) in handy Salad.” when It is preparing a classic While she doesn’t include a recipe from Burmese restaurants are rare. Few eachwhile of Rakhaings the eight mainsay it ethnic lacks flavor. groups, people have had a chance to taste the - she does seem to have made an effort - miliarexample ingredient of what makes is transformed Burmese from to be comprehensive. For instance, mi Duguid’s Burma: Rivers of Flavor may acuisine boring so breakfast exciting tofood outsiders: into a savory a fa although she couldn’t travel to Chin changemixture that of flavors by bringing of Burmese Burmese food. cook Nao- treat. The pumpkin curry and grilled State, she gives a general description ing to an English-speaking audience. This eggplant salad recipe also stands out. of the Chin food she had in neighboring artfully produced cookbook provides a One challenges of making Burmese Rakhaing State. Apparently, Chin food detailed, culturally-informed guide to - is fried in goat butter instead of oil, and preparing dishes from many regions. dients. Duguid provides many solutions features millet instead of rice. It is no surprise that Naomi Duguid -food for instance,outside of she Burma includes is finding instruc ingre- Duguid presents a great deal of has been able to create such a valu- tions on how to make ngapi, fermented material to complement the recipes. able book. She has been travelling shrimp paste, and Shan tofu, which The glossary includes papayas and hog the world and studying food culture plums, with entries relevant to culture, for twenty years, and has been the recipes, however, remain a tease. I calls again for chickpea flour. Some enjoyed using several of them, includ- havesuch asnothing a brief to explanation do with food, of Buddhism.as in ingco-author Mangoes of six& Curry previous Leaves: books. Culinary I’ve Columbia,crave banana Missouri. flower salad, but I haven’t herInterspersed account of we a dhamma find descriptions by Thidagu that Travels through the Great Subcontinent, succeededReaders in familiar finding bananawith Burma flowers in Sayadaw she attended by Thidagu, or Seductions of Rice, and Hot Sour Salty thanaka patterns Sweet, a well-informed Southeast Asian recipes, such as her idiosyncratically illustrated with photos. These features cookbook which won the James Beard namedmay have “Punchy-Crunchy small quibbles: Gingera handful Salad,” of makein her Duguid’sexplanation cookbook of read like a Foundation’s Cookbook of the Year are subtitled with romanizations (gy- travel journal, and give a window into award in 2001. Burma: Rivers of Flavor inthout), but it’s not clear why the rest how Duguid researches food “as an are not. For this recipe, she advises us- aspect of culture,” as she puts it, with an for unpretentious home cooking, her ing pickled ginger—the pink stuff you ethnographic bent. Both the bibliogra- willingnessis Duguid’s first to engage solo effort. with ordinaryHer search get with sushi—which is decidedly not phy and the historical overview reveal people, and her curiosity about the cul- what they use in Burma. She includes a Duguid’s social and political perspective. tures from which food emerges make recipe for “pickling” ginger, but in the I am an avid cook, and over the her cookbooks interesting to read, past I’ve just soaked slivered ginger years Burmese friends have shown me beautiful to look at, and easy to use. in lime juice for an hour, and I thought how to make staples such as móun- The recipes in this book are di- the taste was more like what I’ve been hìngà and òunnó hkauk hswè, but when vided into categories such as salads, served in Burma. I prepared Burmese dishes at home, soups, condiments, meats, and vegeta- - bles. “Burma Basics” includes instruc- pared to what Duguid has achieved. tions on how to prepare staples to use Impressively, These deficiencies she has gathered are small recipes com they often lacked the right mixture of in the recipes, such as “Shallot Oil,” her from many regions of the country. andflavors. leave The out recipes key ingredients Burmese friendsthey version of hsigyet usually made with There are several Shan recipes such as tookprovide for tendgranted to lack that exact I would quantities add on garlic or onions. Several entries in this laap pla (a Thai, not Shan name) “Her- my own. Cooking techniques proved pehmóun) this new cookbook, which, based on issection the secret were ingredient a revelation: that it turnsgives out Poundedbed Catfish Beef Laap,” with perhaps Herbs” soundsreflecting thedifficult dozen to recipes describe. I’ve I’m tried, happy produces to have that roasted chickpea flour ( her expertise in Thai cooking. “Kachin reliably tasty results. Burmese salads their nutty flavor. This tempting, and Indian influence shows Spring / Fall 2014-15 3 International Conference and Workshop on New Approaches to Myanmar History Chie Ikeya, Rutgers University The international conference on “New reer faculty at various universities in the history of arts and architecture, Approaches to Myanmar History” was Myanmar, which Rutgers University, transnational histories, and women’s held on July 24, 2014 at the University Northern Illinois University, and the and gender history. In the afternoon, of Yangon in Yangon and was jointly University of Yangon jointly organized.