This thesis concerns the cultural construction and mechanics of violence, domination, and survival under a Southeast Asian totalitarian regime. It entails an examination of the modern character of violence and domination in Myanmar (Burma) through the inscription of State power upon the bodies of Burmans and via the ramifications of the regime's alliance with the drug lords upon the urban struggle for survival. At times of extreme domination, fear, and degradation, very little space exists for psychological and physical resistance. Burmans seek escape from this situation by withdrawing into domains characterized by denial, numbness, and temporary madness. My concern is with the lived experience of totalitarianism, the way that individuals respond differently according to a prior series of lived experiences, and the particular idioms drawn upon to construct survival strategies. / An important culturally constructed strategy of survival in Myanmar entails the detaching of agency from the body while the mind "flies" to freedom. This strategy has a long history not only in Burmese, but also in other Southeast Asian histories, myths, and legends. Just as Burmese wizards fly to a mythical landscape in the foothills of the Himalayas when released from their physical bodies, so too do heroin addicts, prostitutes, psychiatric patients, and the urban poor flee to Burmese fantasylands to escape the domination of the military regime. This strategy, one of many adopted by urban residents, denies the State the final prize it so desperately craves: the willing participation of Burmans in a military society, the complete internalization of totalitarian ideology such that no other ideologies can exist and no space is left for their creation and negotiation. In the conclusion I argue that the regime is aware that it has faded in this task. / I also examine the possibility that the existence of multiple Burmese worlds or realities, in conjunction with a strong belief in the miraculous may offer new ground for research into the trauma of survivors of violence and terror. The construction of madness, death, and reanimation in Burmese culture, grounds particular survival strategies in logical, hopeful, and perhaps curative, rationalities.

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This research focuses on women's leadership roles for sustainable development in crisis conditions with particular attention to the foundations of the leadership roles of women based in spirituality and religion. The research question for this study ask: How do religious and spiritual traditions contribute to the leadership roles of women that can be effective in building sustainable development in crisis conditions? The study uses a content analysis of a key body of women's writings from Burma. The findings from the data explain some of the ways in which spirituality and religion have played significant roles in promoting the leadership of women at the community level for sustainable development under crisis conditions. The study contributes to theory development by generating a set of propositions on the leadership roles of women drawing from religious and spiritual traditions that can be tested in other regions and countries. The study also offers a set of lessons for sustainable development practice.

An estimated twelve million people worldwide are stateless, or living without the legal bond of citizenship or nationality with any state, and consequently face barriers to employment, property ownership, education, health care, customary legal rights, and national and international protection. More than one-quarter of the world's stateless people live in Thailand. This feminist ethnography explores the impact of statelessness on the everyday lives of Burmese women political exiles living in Thailand through the paradigm of human security and its six indicators: food, economic, personal, political, health, and community security. The research reveals that exclusion from national and international legal protections creates pervasive and profound political and personal insecurity due to violence and harassment from state and non-state actors. Strong networks, however, between exiled activists and their organizations provide community security, through which stateless women may access various levels of food, economic, and health security. Using the human security paradigm as a metric, this research identifies acute barriers to Burmese stateless women exiles' experiences and expectations of well-being, therefore illustrating the potential of human security as a measurement by which conflict resolution scholars and practitioners may describe and evaluate their work in the context of positive peace.

The research project evolved from my concerns and those of parents and teachers about students’ inability to regulate their smartphone use in schools. A preliminary review of literature revealed growing concerns worldwide about adolescent smartphone dependence which was affecting students’ academic and social development, amongst many others. It also revealed the area of adolescents’ smartphone dependence to be scantly researched especially in developing countries. Hence, this study. The purpose of the study was to explore levels of smartphone dependence in adolescents at a private school in Myanmar. The study was set in a social constructivist framework and the methodology was qualitative in nature, incorporating a literature review. Participants were purposively selected. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, focus group discussions and questionnaires. The study found that the level of smartphone use at the school was a cause of concern for the stakeholders; adolescents at the target school could be considered dependent on their smartphones. Recommendations to reduce the adolescents’ total screen time were made. Further studies into the management of children’s smartphone use were recommended. / Educational Foundations / M. Ed. (Comparative Education)