Publication Date
2020
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
First Advisor
Jacobsen, Trude
Degree Name
Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)
Legacy Department
Department of History
Abstract
This dissertation documents cultural processes of decolonization and nation-building in the mid-twentieth century between 1950 and 1970 between Southeast Asia and the West, specifically between Burma, Malaya, Thailand, and Great Britain and the United States, as they occurred through transnational connections, migrations, spaces, and exchanges. This study proposes transnational factors were critical in such cultural processes, and proves this point through the examination of three case studies.
The first focuses on Malayan students in Great Britain in the early 1950s and how a group of them expressed anti-colonial ideas and desires for their own independent nation in a student journal, Suara Merdeka (“The Voice of Freedom”). Their status as transnational, temporary migrants and students, as well as their education, both provided them with the means to develop nascent nation-building ideas and protect them from punitive action by the British authorities. The second case study examines Thai students in the United States who became Thai language instructors for the Peace Corps. This chapter shows how these Thais used their transnational experiences and circular migration between Thailand and the United States to participate in Thai nation-making agendas. The last case study focuses on Burma, its national athletes, the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games and other modern competitive sports events. The Burmese state used transnational sports and its athletes to reframe global notions of modernity as Burmese. Sports and athletes were refracted through an indigenous Buddhist lens to make modernity Burmese. These three case studies show how significant transnational mechanisms were in processes of decolonization and nation-building agendas, on both individual and state levels.
Recommended Citation
Losavio, Joann, "Modern Mandala: A Transnational History of Southeast asians from Burma, Malaya, and Thailand, 1950-1970." (2020). Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations. 7375.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-thesesdissertations/7375
Extent
300 pages
Language
eng
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.
Media Type
Text
