Date and Time: 4:30p.m. Wednesday July 8th, 2020
Venue: Inamori 3F Large Meeting Room

*Note: For Jane Ferguson’s seminar, we will also set up a zoom
site for the seminar. Please contact me if you would like to hear the
talk online.

**Note: In order to accommodate many participants in all human presence, we chose to hold the seminar in the large meeting room. Please remember to keep distance. We will prepare an antiseptic spray at the entrance too.

Title:
From Burma With Love: Socialist Realism Chic in the1960s Burmese Cinema

Abstract:
At the time of General Ne Win’s 1962 military coup, Burmese cinema production was at its apex. Despite the nationalisation of cinema halls and stepped up censor board with its “Burmese Way to Socialism” ideology, local motion picture companies continued to distribute their products throughout the country. In popular and even scholarly representations, Burmese society during these military years is often typecast as isolated, frozen in time, even a “hermit state.” Using Burmese popular culture, specifically international styles, film remakes, and popular music, this presentation will consider how the Burmese culture industries selectively engaged cosmopolitan styles with cultural authenticity in crafting a Burmese cinematic language.

Speaker:
Jane Ferguson is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology and Southeast Asian History at The Australian National University. Her research afflictions include ethnic conflict, unpopular culture and passenger aviation.
(please take a look at the flyer prepared by the speaker)

Contact:
Yoko Hayami