Expanding the Southern urban critique: Elite politics, popular politics, and self-governance in the wards of Mandalay

Abstract

This article explores everyday urban governance and politics in Mandalay, Myanmar. We examine this through a focus on state-society interactions within Mandalay’s ward offices, which are the lowest tier of the administrative backbone of the Myanmar state known as the General Administration Department. This reveals the existence of three intertwined forms of urban ‘politics’ in Mandalay: elite politics, which echo the practices of civil society in the sense of Partha Chatterjee; popular politics, which echo the practices of political society; and self-governance, which is an approach to politics culturally and historically situated in Theravada Buddhism and Myanmar’s authoritarian legacies. The situatedness of the case prompts us to argue in favor of expanding the southern urban critique beyond its conventional focus on liberal democratic metropolises of the global South, in order to enrich our understanding of what constitutes postcolonial urban politics. We suggest this could be achieved, as we attempt here, by adopting collaborative research methodologies and by extensively building on southern area scholarship in ways that mediate epistemic expropriation.

The secular/religious construction of neighbourhoods in Mandalay, Myanmar: Dhamma‐youns and wards

“…Modern secularism which presumes a rational socio‐political structure free of personal and religious entanglements has not materialised in Mandalay or Myanmar more broadly. Rather, Myanmar people rely on a situated politics of merit and self‐governance (Hsu, 2019; Roberts, 2020; Roberts and Rhoads, 2021; Sanchez and Myat, 2021) which is evident in the everyday life of neighbourhoods.…”

“…The various hse‐ein‐gaung then negotiate who will serve as the ya‐ein‐gaung (head of 100 households), to represent the entire community at the level of the ward (Htet Min Lwin, 2021). Although the numbers 10 and 100 suggest exactitude, these heads of households tend to represent a street or a block rather than exactly 10 or 100 households (Sanchez and Myat, 2021). Furthermore, while ya‐ein‐gaungs work with Ward Administrators, ward level administration is a grey zone (Thawnghmung, 2011; Sanchez and Myat, 2021) of entangled procedures that compel local residents to resolve their own issues through interpersonal relationships and accommodations 16…”

“…Although the numbers 10 and 100 suggest exactitude, these heads of households tend to represent a street or a block rather than exactly 10 or 100 households (Sanchez and Myat, 2021). Furthermore, while ya-ein-gaungs work with Ward Administrators, ward level administration is a grey zone (Thawnghmung, 2011;Sanchez and Myat, 2021) of entangled procedures that compel local residents to resolve their own issues through interpersonal relationships and accommodations. 16 Sometimes, the ya-ein-gaung is also the chairperson of the dhamma-youn and is responsible for building and maintaining neighbourly relationships (Htet Min Lwin, 2021).…”

“…However, elections as a national democratic process was dormant between 1962 and approximately 2010. The election process in the dhamma-youns described in this article are based on the life experience and research shared by Htet Min Lwin.16For a more detailed discussion of the role of Ward Administrators and the different types of politics that play out at the level of the ward, seeSanchez and Myat (2021). Expanding the Southern urban critique: Elite politics, popular politics and self-governance in the wards of Mandalay.…”

Dislocating Urban Theory: Learning with Food‐Vending Practices in Colombo and Delhi

“…This disenfranchisement has led to trivialisation of knowledge from elsewhere , both in and beyond the boundaries of North/West (Banerjee et al. 2015; Sanchez and Myat 2021). Therefore, the countering of this metropolitan urban theory (or dislocating urban theory) could also be argued to be two‐pronged.…”