#burmese history

[247reader]

Day 8: Shin Sawbu!

Shin Sawbu was given the name Viharadevi, “Queen of the Monastary,” by her father, King Rahazadarit of Hanthawaddy Pegu, a kingdom in what is now Myanmar/Burma. It would prove an apt name. She was married to a royal cousin, with whom she had three children, but was widowed by twenty-five. After her father’s death, her brothers battled each other for the throne, one inviting the king of neighboring Ava to intervene. As part of the eventual peace settlement, Shin Sawbu was given to said king in marriage and forced to leave her children behind in Pegu. She was soon widowed again, and now trapped in a foreign kingdom. With the help of two sympathetic monks, she eventually mounted an escape, returning home in 1429.

By the 1450s, the royal house of Hanthawaddy was nearly extinct. Shin Sawbu’s son had briefly succeeded to the throne before being murdered by a cousin, who in turn had nearly all his surviving male relatives killed before being murdered himself. Shin Sawbu, last of the royal line, ascended to the throne of a kingdom in crisis.

She met that crisis boldly and well, ruling for seven years and becoming known as Binnya Thau, the “Old Queen.” For all that, however, a crown had never been her objective in life. In 1460, she declared one of the monks who had helped her escape Ava as her heir, marrying him to her younger daughter, and retreated to a quiet life of Buddhist devotion in Dagon. The sacred Shwedagon pagoda, which Shin Sawbu enlarged and beautified, still stands today.

[chrysocomae]

Descendants of the Prince now give tours of the former palace in Hsipaw. This article offers potential demises for the Prince Sao Kya Seng (also spelled Hseng):

It is not known what actually happened to the prince, although Ne Win and his top officers must have been well aware of his fate. One theory was that Sao Kya Hseng died during interrogation, while another said that he was killed trying to escape—army officers were given ��shoot to kill” orders at the time.

The last theory was that he was caught alive and when young officers asked a superior what to do, they were simply ordered to execute him. Those involved then cowardly remained silent after they realized the magnitude of what had taken place.

[not-your-asian-fantasy]

@Ake_thweep What the “hair” !!

Fashion can sometimes be quite a handful things to manage. Look at this hairdo. During 1930s, Burmese ladies had adopted the hairdo that features an oversized cylindrical bun. It sat upright on the crown of the head. You can see that the width of the bun is almost the same size as the width of a person’s face !

And here is the trick. Although Burmese people typically leave their hair to grow long, the amount of hair is never enough to sculp up this bun at this size. So, the solution was a hair piece ! The bun that sat gloriously in their heads was entirely a separate hair piece. The wearer’s real hair would be clumped up into a smaller bun before pinning on this hairpiece, leaving the end of their real hair as traces hanging on the side. The hair bun with hanging traces were fashionable among single ladies while for married ones would not have.

The fashion of gigantic hair bun like this remained popular throughout 1930s till WWII before superseded by other styles.

[shafran-saffron]

People's Defense Forces fighters singing while firing upon military junta positions in myanmar

The song they're singing is "အရေးကြီးပြီ(it's important)", a song popular in the wider Burmese pro-democracy movement that dates back to ABSDF(all burma students democratic front) armed group from the 1980s.

It was also used as a campaign song by the National League for Democracy, a party that won the 2020 election before being ousted by a military coup in 2021, which started the current civil war, with the People's Defense Forces forming to oust the military and restore civilian rule.

Here's the full song with English translation:

[exploring-the-past]

Burmese women, one smoking a cigar

Digital ID: (b&w film copy neg.) cph 3a20769 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a20769

Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-19526 (b&w film copy neg.)

Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

[mibeau]

[Book Review] Rohingya of The Arakan: Conflict, Crisis and Solutions.

🧮 Score: 4.7/5.0 . Bismillahirahmaniraheem.

-- “The Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim community living in Arakan with a long history and glorious past. They have had connections to the high cultures of Bengal, Persia and Arabia. For centuries Arakan prospered in international trade, brought to its people new ideas and learning, flourishing civilization with the most cosmopolitan court in Modern Burmese history. History testifies that the heyday of Arakan began with the development of Muslim civilization. Due to the Burmese military government’s policies of exclusion, de-muslimization, persecution and extermination against Muslims, today Arakan is one of the poorest regions in Burma and its Rohingya population has often been called the most persecuted minority in the world.” --

■ I admire the author’s love for his people, his heritage and his motherland, The Arakan State of Burma. I salute his determination and fighting spirit to stand up for the identity and rights of his people, the Rohingya. I am compelled to share his background. Brother Nurul Islam is a prominent Rohingyan Activist and Human Rights lawyer. He obtained a B.A. (Law) and LL. B Degrees from Rangoon(Yangon) Arts and Science University back in 1972 and 1973 respectively. He continued to equip himself by completing a course on “Human Rights and Diplomacy Training Program” at the Faculty of Law, the University of New South Wales, Australia, in 1988. In 2007, he was accredited with Master of Laws(Human Rights) with Distinction in 2007 from the University of East London. He has been active in the “activist movements” since young. It all started when he served as the President of the Rangoon University Rohingya Students Association back in the day. The Rohingyans are often mistreated whenever they seek asylums to escape the government-endorsed “ethnic cleansing” in their Motherland. With his status and education, Nurul Islam can easily choose to flee the country and turn his back on the people. Yet, he uses his advantages and tries his level best to fight for the Rohingyans and spread awareness of this ongoing injustice and oppression to the world. Allahumma Barik!

The author was one of the founding members and the president of the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation(ARNO), which emerged in 1989 out of the merger of all then-existing Rohingya Organisations. As a member of ARNO, he fights for the Rohingyans to be recognised and given the same treatment as the other ethnic groups in Burma. Allowing the Rohingyans to return back to Arakan. To nurture back the unity and good relationship with the Buddhist Rakhines of the Arakan.

■ In my opinion, Nurul Islam is one talented author. He arranged and curated the content with the storyteller’s style of narrative, yet still academia. I learnt so many new words and terminologies. He is a thorough researcher and avid supporter of the prosecuted people. He really knows what he wrote. No parts of the book were ever just fillers. A beautiful balance of history book and “research journal”. Despite being factual and statistical, everything was filled with emotion, it can be empathising and heart-wrenching at times.

■ It was very pleasing that after the overview introduction of the whole arguments that we are going to read in this book, he started the chapters with a genuine presentation of his beloved Arakan land herself. Her mesmerising landscape, her soothing climates and her “kekayaan hasil bumi” , subhanallah! Then only the author introduces the people and cultural influences that were formed throughout the centuries, which brought us to today’s conflicts and politics.

■ The propaganda that the Burmese Buddhists Nationalists amplified to justify their heinous acts is that The Rohingya are illegal immigrants/settlers from Bangladesh.

The Arakan chronicles can be traced back to the year 2666 B.C. And its people since the establishment of many kingdoms and civilisations(From Hindu to Buddha then Islamic) from the year 100 A.D. onwards. Muslim settlements along parts of Arakan coastlines can be traced back as early as the 8th century, and the "adoption” of the Rohingya name was consolidated by the 17th century. There is evidence that the Rohingyas(Muslims) and Rakhines(Buddhists) co-existed there. They are the ethnic groups of Burma. However, their existence was not recognised, and their leaders were not even invited during the Panglong Conference. The current Burmese regime denies their heritage.

■ The Buddhist-Muslim Problems truly started in Burma from the era of the British Colonial period onwards. There were violent anti-Indian (including anti-Muslim) riots in 1930-31 and again in 1938 in which several hundreds of Indians and Muslims were killed. Muslim properties: shops, houses and mosques were looted, destroyed and burned.

Reading through the British and Japanese eras in this book reminds me of our Malaysian very own history. The tactics and treatments are very similar! Like the “Divide and Rules” concept, used to tame and manipulate the locals. Also, to instigate “nationalism”, the slogan introduced is similar: “Burma for Burmese Only Campaign”. Ours was “Tanah Melayu untuk Orang Melayu”. British Administration’s and their promises. From what I read, originally, generally, the Rohingyas were well-educated and lived in the high society, and they have mixed blood in their ancestry in addition to their Indian-like appearances. Maybe, that is why the locals envied them and discriminated against them extremely?

■ Topics that really caught my attention: 1. Panglong Conference and Rohingyas. 2. The nu-Attlee Agreement 3. Incompatible Actions with The Teachings of Lord Buddha. 4. Chapter 10: Analysis of the human rights situation of Rohingyas. 5. Chapter 11, Ethnic Conflict in Arakan. 6. The Case of Ma Thida Htwej 7. Killing of Muslim Preachers in Taunggup.

■ Apart from very few spelling errors and a lack of significant perspectives from the Buddhists on why they hate the Muslims so much, other than the slanders and rumours, this book is a well-documented overview of the issue. I hope, more authors will be inspired to write such a book to create awareness in the world society, inshaAllah.

For the rights of our brothers and sisters in Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and many more. Hasbinallah wa ni’mal wakeel.

--- ● Get the book from @dakwaislamicbks here

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[allherfaeriesmeetinjuly]

obsessed with russian “doomed” music and german expressionism art rn

[felinefractious]

Do you consider brachycephalism in cats as serious as in dogs? I'm in veterinary medicine but I don't encounter many brachy kitties and would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Brachycephaly is a problem.

Schlueter et al (2009) categorized brachycephalic head shapes into four categories randing from mild to severe.

Moderate brachycephaly is where we begin to really see problems and profound or severe brachycephalic cats are going to have a real issue.

The British Shorthair (left) is a breed where mild brachycephaly is part of the standard compared to an Exotic Shorthair (right) where profound - severe brachycephaly is desireable.

On the left with have a British Shorthair, in the center an Exotic Shorthair and on the right a Persian.

One of the problems we see with brachycephalic breeds is stenotic nares, which are narrow nostrils. You can’t even make out the nares on the Persian shown above and, as one may expect, this affects how much air they move through them.

We can see similar obstructive effects in cats with nasopharyngeal polyps, masses or reconstruction due to scarring from chronic rhinosinusitis problems.

Due to their inability to breath normally through their nose these cats tend to be heat and exercise intolerant and can run into trouble more quickly during high stress events.

Stenotic nares can be surgically corrected but I don’t think this is as common in cats as it is in dogs, at least I haven’t encountered many cats who’ve undergone the procedure. I don’t know if it’s not as necessary, if cats don’t respond as well or if cat owners are less likely to seek treatment.

Or maybe it is as common and my lack of experience is the outlier.

Brachycephaly is also associated with malocclusion and dental disease, chronic epiphora, facial dermatitis related to the chronic tearing and ocular issues such as conreal sequestrum or entropion related to the protruding eye structure.

I know globe proptopsis is a problem in some brachycephalic dog breeds like pugs but I haven’t heard of this specifically happening in brachycephalic cat breeds.

Exotics and Persians are obviously the worst when it comes to brachycephaly in cats but the Bombay and (American) Burmese are also offenders.

There are other breeds which don’t call for a brachycephalic head shape (or even default it) or call for only a mild version but certain breeders are selecting for extreme typeing anyways because even though their cats might not win any shows they can sell them as designer variants for more.

On the left we have a Sphynx and in the right we have a Devon Rex both with an extreme head type contradictory to the breed standard.

So yes, unfortunately the brachycephalic head type is a problem in cats. Some try to argue that brachycephalic animals often live long lives which means the abnormal structure isn’t a problem… but longevity is only one measure of a breeds ethical soundness, quality of life and history are also important in my opinon.

[bookloversofbath]

Burma 1942: The Japanese Invasion: Both Sides Tell the Story of a Savage Jungle War :: Ian Lyall Grant & Kazou Tamayama

[whetstonefires]

Man sometimes I still think about Alfred's Bandit Anecdote in The Dark Knight (2008).

So, the most straightforward reading of this sequence seems to have been the one Nolan intended, because he is not actually a subtle filmmaker, and the further we got into the series the more heavily he committed to making Alfred a mouthpiece. Old man provides words of wisdom that frame the correct understanding of the situation; you can tell it's meant to be correct because subsequent Joker appearances reinforce its thesis statement.

Intended takeaway: some men (like the Joker) don't have rational motivations, they just 'want to watch the world burn,' and you have to account for that when trying to counter them. Chaos agents, basically unstoppable by reasonable means.

But the thing is. This is not a story that stands up to even mild interrogation. The number of assumptions Nolan wants us to swallow without blinking is kind of stunning.

First of all the obvious timeline questions that arise: the Anglo-Burmese Wars and periods between and leading up to them where this kind of white man's burden 'delivering jewels to local elites In The Burmese Jungle to sway them toward British interests, but getting waylaid by bandits' scenario makes any sense all, happened in the 19th century.

The Burmese resistance in the 1930s was centered on university student protests and that sort of thing; it was reasonably successful in moving Myanmar toward independence by increments, though who knows what would have happened without WWII. But it did not provide anyone with reasons to be hand-carrying huge gemstones through forests.

Even if we assume this was somehow a 20th century event, it has to have been before WWII unless we want to postulate a complete alt-history setting, and since The Dark Knight leans heavily into being a modern 21st century story with like, cell phone networking as a major plot point, this still makes Alfred old as balls. Born no later than 1920, and probably earlier.

But that's whatever; comics time. Batman Begins did some fun stuff (possibly in imitation of Batman (1980)) with making it ambiguous what decade it was supposed to be set in, though the sequels dropped that conceit. And anyway, people can be 90 years old.

So that's basically fine, although good god Wayne hire some more servants, this man should be fully retired already.

More problematic is the unfettered colonialism of it all, the confident proclamation that since this guy's motive wasn't profit, since he didn't keep the jewels, he had no motive. Because 'inconveniencing the Raj and weakening their control over the locality' isn't a Real Person Motive that a real person could have had. During or soon after failed wars to resist colonial subjugation.

Like. Come on??

The place where this story utterly shoots itself in the foot, though, is the clever bit at the end, where Bruce asks how Alfred's military unit solved the 'bandit stealing jewels he didn't even want' problem and Alfred's like: 'we burned the forest to the ground.'

Because this is so punchy! In screenwriting technical terms, it's quite well done. It's useless advice that loops the story back to its themes; obviously Batman can't burn Gotham down to get the Joker. Even in a Batman movie that doesn't like Batman very much, this is still obvious.

But at the same time this totally takes the legs out from under Alfred's words of wisdom about human nature. Because if that bandit 'wanted' to 'watch the world burn' then what his unit did wasn't so bad, right; he was basically asking for it. Burning a forest down with all the inevitable collateral damage and economic and ecological cost, all for the sake of horribly killing a group of people in the name of government revenues was totally okay guys!

It transforms the whole thing into a pretty obvious post facto rationalization of colonial violence. Which makes the Insights Into Human Nature bit real questionable!

But the movie gives absolutely no sign of having noticed this.

[chrysocomae]

Sao and Inge take the car out in Hsipaw.

[not-your-asian-fantasy]

🇲🇲 The long cheroot that she holds is a typical attribute in studio portraits of Burmese women, whose habit of smoking large cigars was noted with some astonishment by European visitors, who also commented on their relative freedom, beauty and confidence.

The girl wears a striped silk hta-mein (wrap-around skirt) and a close-fitting jacket of fine muslin or cotton known as an ein-gyi. Her hair is adorned with a floral headband and she wears necklaces and earrings.

During the Konbaung Dynasty (1752-1885), rich jewellery, fine fabrics such as silk and garments such as her jacket were reserved for court officials and their wives by sumptuary laws.

x

[sgiandubh]

Although MPCs website clear about bring a business which contributes a portion of profits post admin costs, Sam regularly in videos and in print interviews misrepresents. He's says my charity abd he says 59% of signup fee goes to charity. If there is a problem l, it's on Sam, who according to original members, basically sold MPC control, in 2017. Your statement of knowing what he's doing with his MPC, is questionable, post corporate change of MPC. It's not just his alone. MPC has sketchy history, since Alex's involvement, and the rumors, look more as truths that a good portion of the administrative costs go to Alex pre-whisky, for a working, guaranteed salary before sales came in. It also begs the question, if Sam is interested in supporting charity with a portion of income sales, why hasn't 10% of whisky sales went to charity partners? The whisky is part of the GGC, Sam and Alex's business. Why wouldn't he plug a Newman Products design? Maybe he's not as interested in charity?

Dear MPC Anon,

It has always been 50%, which is logical. 59% sounds like a demented Asian astrologist suggestion - but you might be unfamiliar with Burmese recent history, so I shall give you a pass, on that one.

Who are the 'original members' who told you MPC was sold? To whom was it sold? When did that happen? I need paperwork to support this statement: the current corporate documents still list ONE officer - pay away from your wallet to find out it's very probably SRH: I am not doing it for you.

Like it or not, Norouzi's involvement in MPC is a reality since at least its creation. You will have to prove me the 'sketchy' part with much more than a stinking grenade thrown by Anon or fandom illiterate gossip.

I will have to see contracts between MPC, AN, SH proving that pre-whisky launching costs of The Sassenach were drawn from the MPC accounts. I will also have to see bank and accounting documents proving so. According to US law, I would also have to be a Court and have enough reasons to subpoena these people and entities to show me those. Stop spreading the shite written by Pufflander once upon a time and ask Puffy, in her retreat, what the fuck did she do with the crowdfunded money for the Harassment PI Report (you know, *urv and co). Now that would be a really interesting question, right? No answer? Bad day, baby. Bad day.

Whisky sales under the umbrella of Great Glen Company LLC, a different legal entity with no charitable mission, were never designed to represent a charitable endeavor. I think you know the difference between a charity and a company, right? Suggesting he should give 10% of all his earnings to charity is akin to a church tithe. This argument is, of course, ridiculous, in the business world, unless there is an explicit and public vow to do so, with a particular company's benefits.

Newman's Own and the Newman's Own Foundation represent Paul Newman's personal commitment to give away 100% of Newman's Own LLC profits to charity: the Foundation serves to direct the funds to the projects its trustees deem the most appropriate, according to the Foundation's values.

This is a different story and I also hope you know the difference between Great Glen Company, a business who wants to remain a business and a ground-breaking CSR commitment like Paul Newman's. Great Glen Company and MPC are separate projects - AN's loud involvement in both does not help, though, especially with an uneducated bigot, such as yourself, Anon.

Assuming he must give 100% of all his profits to charity is absolutely ridiculous, Anon. Why don't you give away all the profits of your lemonade stand to charity and set a blazing, luminous example in this fandom?

Unless you quickly substantiate what you wrote in anger on your phone, with links, facts and names, I am forced to tell you to kindly, slowly, but surely...

FUCK OFF MY PAGE!

[Later edit:] Should I start a US Tax Law 101 course for you, Anon? To me, this rather crude company/charity montage sounds legit. Also, MPC is not a charity, as shown in my previous post.

[cypherdecypher]

Animal of the Day!

Burmese Peacock Softshell (Nilssonia formosa)

(Photo by Joel Sartore)

Conservation Status- Critically Endangered

Habitat- Southeastern Asia; India; Southern China

Size (Weight/Length)- 60 cm

Diet- Insects; Fish eggs; Fish; Small amphibians; Aquatic plants

Cool Facts- Not only does the Burmese peacock softshell turtle look like a wet pile of mud but its face is one for the history books. Instead of pulling its head back into its shell like other species of turtle, these softshells can retract its head into the skin rolls of its neck in a frankly terrifying display. Their long nose allows the majority of the Burmese peacock softshell to stay underwater while taking a breath with only their snoot poking out. Very little is known about these turtles due to their rarity. They are mostly threatened by overhunting for their meat and water pollution from gold mining along river banks.

Rating- 14/10 (Soft shell = speedy boy.)

[city-of-ladies]

A savvy businesswoman, Osoet Pegua (c.1615–c.1658) was connected to both the royal court of Siam (now Thailand) and the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Her business acumen helped her secure a role as an invaluable partner in the region.

Here is the link to my Ko-Fi. If you enjoy my content, your support would be much appreciated!

Early Life

Osoet was born around 1615 and was of Mon-Burmese descent, placing her at the margins of Thai society. By unknown circumstances, she ended up in the Dutch compound in Ayutthaya, then the capital of Siam and a major trading post. She lived in a world where female traders often held substantial influence and had strong networks.

Many foreign men who arrived were single and frequently took local wives or concubines. Osoet herself would be involved with three Dutchmen.

At age 16, she became the concubine of Jan van Meerwijck and later had a son with him. After his death in 1635, she sought a new relationship.

A Respected Trading Partner

Osoet’s next partner was Jeremias van Vliet, who became director of the VOC’s office in Ayutthaya. Osoet, already a skilled and well-connected businesswoman, proved invaluable to the Dutch by facilitating connections with the royal court, including the king himself. This helped advance Dutch commercial interests. She also worked with the wives of high-ranking officials, underscoring the political and commercial roles of aristocratic women.

Osoet had three daughters with van Vliet. He wanted to take custody of them and move them out of the country, but Osoet refused. The king supported her decision, a testament to her respected position. Osoet was thus able to keep her daughters.

Behind-the-Scenes Leadership

Osoet later met Jan van Muijden, who also became the VOC director. She entered into a relationship with him when she was around 31 and he was 25. Lacking experience in managing an office and barely speaking the local language, van Muijden relied heavily on Osoet. She unofficially took charge of VOC operations, using her contacts to secure trading licenses for him.

Her influence peaked between 1646 and 1650, during which the company prospered thanks to her court connections. She negotiated lucrative contracts and even gained a monopoly on supplying provisions for the Dutch establishment in Ayutthaya.

Osoet died in 1658 following a stroke that left her paralyzed and unable to speak. At the Dutch’s request, she was given a Christian burial in the Company’s graveyard, rather than being cremated

Further reading:

Delouche Gilles, Une femme d’affaires et d’influence à Ayudhya au XVIIe siècle : Dame O-Sut (? -1658)

Djik Wil O., “Sex and trade in seventeenth century Siam. Osoet Pegu and her Dutch lovers”

Smith Bonnie G., Women's History in Global Perspective volume 2

[fatehbaz]

hi! SUPER interesting excerpt on ants and empire; adding it to my reading list. have you ever read "mosquito empires," by john mcneill?

Yea, I've read it. (Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620-1914, basically about influence of environment and specifically insect-borne disease on colonial/imperial projects. Kinda brings to mind Centering Animals in Latin American History [Few and Tortorici, 2013] and the exploration of the centrality of ecology/plants to colonialism in Plants and Empire: Colonial Bioprospecting in the Atlantic World [Schiebinger, 2007].)

If you're interested: So, in the article we're discussing, Rohan Deb Roy shows how Victorian/Edwardian British scientists, naturalists, academics, administrators, etc., used language/rhetoric to reinforce colonialism while characterizing insects, especially termites in India and elsewhere in the tropics, as "Goths"; "arch scourge of humanity"; "blight of learning"; "destroying hordes"; and "the foe of civilization". [Rohan Deb Roy. “White ants, empire, and entomo-politics in South Asia.” The Historical Journal. October 2019.] He explores how academic and pop-sci literature in the US and Britain participated in racist dehumanization of non-European people by characterizing them as "uncivilized", as insects/animals. (This sort of stuff is summarized by Neel Ahuja, describing interplay of race, gender, class, imperialism, disease/health, anthropomorphism. See Ahuja's “Postcolonial Critique in a Multispecies World.”)

In a different 2018 article on "decolonizing science," Deb Roy also moves closer to the issue of mosquitoes, disease, hygiene, etc. explored in Mosquito Empires. Deb Roy writes: 'Sir Ronald Ross had just returned from an expedition to Sierra Leone. The British doctor had been leading efforts to tackle the malaria that so often killed English colonists in the country, and in December 1899 he gave a lecture to the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce [...]. [H]e argued that "in the coming century, the success of imperialism will depend largely upon success with the microscope."''

Deb Roy also writes elsewhere about "nonhuman empire" and how Empire/colonialism brutalizes, conscripts, employs, narrates other-than-human creatures. See his book Malarial Subjects: Empire, Medicine and Nonhumans in British India, 1820-1909 (published 2017).

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Like Rohan Deb Roy, Jonathan Saha is another scholar with a similar focus (relationship of other-than-human creatures with British Empire's projects in Asia). Among his articles: "Accumulations and Cascades: Burmese Elephants and the Ecological Impact of British Imperialism." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 2022. /// “Colonizing elephants: animal agency, undead capital and imperial science in British Burma.” BJHS Themes. British Society for the History of Science. 2017. /// "Among the Beasts of Burma: Animals and the Politics of Colonial Sensibilities, c. 1840-1940." Journal of Social History. 2015. /// And his book Colonizing Animals: Interspecies Empire in Myanmar (published 2021).

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Related spirit/focus. If you liked the termite/India excerpt, you might enjoy checking out this similar exploration of political/imperial imagery of bugs a bit later in the twentieth century: Fahim Amir. “Cloudy Swords” e-flux Journal Issue #115. February 2021.

Amir explores not only insect imagery, specifically caricatures of termites in discourse about civilization (like the Deb Roy article about termites in India), but Amir also explores the mosquito/disease aspect invoked by your message (Mosquito Empires) by discussing racially segregated city planning and anti-mosquito architecture in British West Africa and Belgian Congo, as well as anti-mosquito campaigns of fascist Italy and the ascendant US empire. German cities began experiencing a non-native termite infestation problem shortly after German forces participated in violent suppression of resistance in colonial Africa. Meanwhile, during anti-mosquito campaigns in the Panama Canal zone, US authorities imposed forced medical testing of women suspected of carrying disease. Article features interesting statements like: 'The history of the struggle against the [...] mosquito reads like the history of capitalism in the twentieth century: after imperial, colonial, and nationalistic periods of combatting mosquitoes, we are now in the NGO phase, characterized by shrinking [...] health care budgets, privatization [...].' I've shared/posted excerpts before, which I introduce with my added summary of some of the insect-related imagery: “Thousands of tiny Bakunins”. Insects "colonize the colonizers". The German Empire fights bugs. Fascist ants, communist termites, and the “collectivism of shit-eating”. Insects speak, scream, and “go on rampage”.

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In that Deb Roy article, there is a section where we see that some Victorian writers pontificated on how "ants have colonies and they're quite hard workers, just like us!" or "bugs have their own imperium/domain, like us!" So that bugs can be both reviled and also admired. On a similar note, in the popular imagination, about anthropomorphism of Victorian bugs, and the "celebrated" "industriousness" and "cleverness" of spiders, there is: Claire Charlotte McKechnie. “Spiders, Horror, and Animal Others in Late Victorian Empire Fiction.” Journal of Victorian Culture. December 2012. She also addresses how Victorian literature uses natural science and science fiction to process anxiety about imperialism. This British/Victorian excitement at encountering "exotic" creatures of Empire, and popular discourse which engaged in anthropormorphism, is explored by Eileen Crist's Images of Animals: Anthropomorphism and Animal Mind and O'Connor's The Earth on Show: Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802-1856.

Related anthologies include a look at other-than-humans in literature and popular discourse: Gothic Animals: Uncanny Otherness and the Animal With-Out (Heholt and Edmunson, 2020). There are a few studies/scholars which look specifically at "monstrous plants" in the Victorian imagination. Anxiety about gender and imperialism produced caricatures of woman as exotic anthropomorphic plants, as in: “Murderous plants: Victorian Gothic, Darwin and modern insights into vegetable carnivory" (Chase et al., Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009). Special mention for the work of Anna Boswell, which explores the British anxiety about imperialism reflected in their relationships with and perceptions of "strange" creatures and "alien" ecosystems, especially in Aotearoa. (Check out her “Anamorphic Ecology, or the Return of the Possum.” Transformations. 2018.)

And then bridging the Victorian anthropomorphism of bugs with twentieth-century hygiene campaigns, exploring "domestic sanitation" there is: David Hollingshead. “Women, insects, modernity: American domestic ecologies in the late nineteenth century.” Feminist Modernist Studies. August 2020. (About the cultural/social pressure to protect "the home" from bugs, disease, and "invasion".)

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In fields like geography, history of science, etc., much has been said/written about how botany was the key imperial science/field, and there is the classic quintessential tale of the British pursuit of cinchona from Latin America, to treat mosquito-borne disease among its colonial administrators in Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. In other words: Colonialism, insects, plants in the West Indies shaped and influenced Empire and ecosystems in the East Indies, and vice versa. One overview of this issue from Early Modern era through the Edwardian era, focused on Britain and cinchona: Zaheer Baber. "The Plants of Empire: Botanic Gardens, Colonial Power and Botanical Knowledge." May 2016. Elizabeth DeLoughrey and other scholars of the Caribbean, "the postcolonial," revolutionary Black Atlantic, etc. have written about how plantation slavery in the Caribbean provided a sort of bounded laboratory space. (See Britt Rusert's "Plantation Ecologies: The Experiential Plantation [...].") The argument is that plantations were already of course a sort of botanical laboratory for naturalizing and cultivating valuable commodity plants, but they were also laboratories to observe disease spread and to practice containment/surveillance of slaves and laborers. See also Chakrabarti's Bacteriology in British India: laboratory medicine and the tropics (2012). Sharae Deckard looks at natural history in imperial/colonial imagination and discourse (especially involving the Caribbean, plantations, the sea, and the tropics) looking at "the ecogothic/eco-Gothic", Edenic "nature", monstrous creatures, exoticism, etc. Kinda like Grove's discussion of "tropical Edens" in the colonial imagination of Green Imperialism.

Dante Furioso's article "Sanitary Imperialism" (from e-flux's Sick Architecture series) provides a summary of US entomology and anti-mosquito campaigns in the Caribbean, and how "US imperial concepts about the tropics" and racist pathologization helped influence anti-mosquito campaigns that imposed racial segregation in the midst of hard labor, gendered violence, and surveillance in the Panama Canal zone. A similar look at manipulation of mosquito-borne disease in building empire: Gregg Mitman. “Forgotten Paths of Empire: Ecology, Disease, and Commerce in the Making of Liberia’s Plantation Economy.” Environmental History. 2017. (Basically, some prominent medical schools/departments evolved directly out of US military occupation and industrial plantations of fruit/rubber/sugar corporations; faculty were employed sometimes simultaneously by fruit companies, the military, and academic institutions.) This issue is also addressed by Pratik Chakrabarti in Medicine and Empire, 1600-1960 (2014).

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Meanwhile, there are some other studies that use non-human creatures (like a mosquito) to frame imperialism. Some other stuff that comes to mind about multispecies relationships to empire:

Lawrence H. Kessler. “Entomology and Empire: Settler Colonial Science and the Campaign for Hawaiian Annexation.” Arcadia (Spring 2017)

No Wood, No Kingdom: Political Ecology in the English Atlantic (Keith Pluymers)

Archie Davies. "The racial division of nature: Making land in Recife". Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers Volume 46, Issue 2, pp. 270-283. November 2020.

Yellow Fever, Race, and Ecology in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans (Urmi Engineer Willoughby, 2017)

Pasteur’s Empire: Bacteriology and Politics in France, Its Colonies, and the World (Aro Velmet, 2022)

Tom Brooking and Eric Pawson. “Silences of Grass: Retrieving the Role of Pasture Plants in the Development of New Zealand and the British Empire.” The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. August 2007.

Under Osman's Tree: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and Environmental History (Alan Mikhail)

The Herds Shot Round the World: Native Breeds and the British Empire, 1800-1900 (Rebecca J.H. Woods, 2017)

Imperial Bodies in London: Empire, Mobility, and the Making of British Medicine, 1880-1914 (Kristen Hussey, 2021)

Red Coats and Wild Birds: How Military Ornithologists and Migrant Birds Shaped Empire (Kirsten Greer, 2020)

Animality and Colonial Subjecthood in Africa: The Human and Nonhuman Creatures of Nigeria (Saheed Aderinto, 2022)

Imperial Creatures: Humans and Other Animals in Colonial Singapore, 1819-1942 (Timothy P. Barnard, 2019)

Biotic Borders: Transpacific Plant and Insect Migration and the Rise of Anti-Asian Racism in America, 1890-1950 (Jeannie N. Shinozuka)