Patrick McCormick

As my first introduction to the Mon culture, this was hard going, as it is a collection of academic papers presented at a conference on the topic (the first such conference ever held.) I think if I had read the 8th paper first (Ethnic Identity and Political Autonomy of the Mon, by Pon Nya Mon) I'd have been a little less lost, at first, as its first few pages give a succinct history of the Mon people, but it could also be that I had just gleaned enough information, by the 8th paper, to make the reading easier. Nevertheless, though I had no base in the subject at all (though a minor in Archaeology), the first few papers address what the authors believe to be erroneous, yet largely accepted anthropological/archaeological theories about the early Mon, and appealed to my mischievous fascination with squabbling academics enough to get me through the first few papers, and learn along the way.
I'd recommend it to a very niche group of academic history oriented readers, though the final paper: Mon Nationalism since 1948: Insurgency, Ceasefires, and Political Struggle, by Ashley South, I would recommend to anyone with an interest in the political situation in Birma - Aung San Suu Kyi's group is not the only group that has been oppressed, she is very much a majority leader, many minorities have no such representative.… (mais)