Karaoke Fascism: Burma and the Politics of Fear

[Monique Skidmore] did difficult fieldwork in Burma during 1996, a period of increasing turmoil as students and others openly demonstrated against the current regime. Her research was, ostensibly, to "understand the idioms of emotional and psychological distress used by various Burmese communit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anthropologica (Ottawa) 2006, Vol.48 (2), p.288-289
Main Author: Tannenbaum, Nicola
Format: Review
Language:English
Subjects:
Asian history
Book Reviews / Comptes rendus
Burmese
Emotions
Fascism
Fear & phobias
Fieldwork
Idioms
Medicine
Nonfiction
Political dissent
Politics
Psychological distress
Religion
Respondents
Skidmore, Monique
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Summary:[Monique Skidmore] did difficult fieldwork in Burma during 1996, a period of increasing turmoil as students and others openly demonstrated against the current regime. Her research was, ostensibly, to "understand the idioms of emotional and psychological distress used by various Burmese communities, and to explore the role of religion and medicine in conceptualizing and mediating such distress and as pathways for action" (p. 8). Rather than focussing directly on these topics, Skidmore directs our attention to the all encompassing fear that Burmese have to deal with on a day to day basis and the consequences this has for individual Burmese as well as for Burmese society. Researching fear is not easy, as Skidmore asks, "How does one research fear when doing so produces the very emotion in question, both in the research and the informants?" (p. x), something she explores most completely in her third chapter.
ISSN:0003-5459
2292-3586
DOI:10.2307/25605321