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Recommendations requested re Burma (1 Viewer)

F

Fratercula

Member
I am a definitely inexpert and non-erudite birder -- will be spending a week in December, in Burma. This, on a trip basically for other purposes than birdwatching; but it will be chiefly in rural areas, within a couple of hundred miles' radius of Yangon. If Burma today is anything like, in my recollection, India 25 years ago -- there will be birds all over the place; and I envisage plenty of opportunities for enjoying them.

Can anyone recommend a bird-recognition-guide book appropriate for this particular part of the world, which does not cost a king's ransom? I'd be very grateful for any suggestions.
 
Just a a side remark I would recommend for you to stop calling it Burma, especially as an apparently British person.
 
andyadcock said:
Exactly, the name Myanmar was foisted on the country by the military regime.

https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2016/12/20/should-you-say-myanmar-or-burma
Click to expand...

Which has been ousted, there were internationally accepted free elections 4 years ago and they did not decide to revert the name. For most locals it's not such a big deal because in burmese, the words are just two versions of the same, but some groups of people consider Burma less inclusive to minorities in the country and others as straight up colonialist, especially when used by, you know, citizens of the former empire.
 
opisska said:
Which has been ousted, there were internationally accepted free elections 4 years ago and they did not decide to revert the name. For most locals it's not such a big deal because in burmese, the words are just two versions of the same, but some groups of people consider Burma less inclusive to minorities in the country and others as straight up colonialist, especially when used by, you know, citizens of the former empire.
Click to expand...

Oh really, it's a puppet government, ASSC is a collaborator and they should take the nobel away from her as has been suggested.

Anyway, start a thread in RF if it means so much to you, it doesn't belong in the bird forum.
 
Last edited:
opisska said:
Which has been ousted, there were internationally accepted free elections 4 years ago and they did not decide to revert the name. For most locals it's not such a big deal because in burmese, the words are just two versions of the same, but some groups of people consider Burma less inclusive to minorities in the country and others as straight up colonialist, especially when used by, you know, citizens of the former empire.
Click to expand...

Quite a lot to unpack there. First, the minorities to which you refer actually object to the name Myanmar because it is less inclusive, and find Burma more inclusive since it is not taken from the language of the majority ethnic group. In other words, the opposite of what you state. Second, Burmese nationals are, by definition, citizens of the former empire, just as much as Britons.

Finally, I've never met any actual real live normal person in any part of the former British empire who finds this sort of thing even remotely colonialist, including Burma. Outrage seems to be restricted to nationalist politicians / military dictators looking to manufacture an issue, and pearl-clutching western virtue signallers. I discussed this very subject earlier this year with a young Indian couple from Kolkata / Calcutta, and asked them whether local people still referred to the city as Calcutta. Their response was that both names are widely used, but they mostly refer to the city as Calcutta. Ditto Mumbai / Bombay.
 
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