"The interdisciplinary programme on Modern Burmese Studies is situated within the Asian Studies Centre at St Antony?s College. The programme is designed to open new perspectives on Burma/Myanmar during its period of political and economic transition and on the contested borders, social interactions and economic opportunities that exist within Southeast Asia and with its regional neighbours in South and East Asia. The programme will also explore and develop the ways in which existing research and teaching at Oxford can be brought together to bear on three main areas of regional interest: the common problems and issues which transcend national boundaries in the region within which Burma is placed; the interrelationships among the states and societies of this region; and its relationship to the external world of economic and cultural globalization as well as of geopolitics. The approach is interdisciplinary, drawing on the insights and methodology of history, economics and politics as a first step but also considering cultural, material and social issues. Most importantly, we plan to highlight groups and perspectives that have been historically marginalized both in Myanmar?s political developments and in scholarship on the country..."