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‘Imagining' the Rohingya: Navigating Identity, Memory, and Visibility Examining different methods of documenting Rohingya identities, experiences, and lives.

On the 25th of August 2017, the Myanmar military, Tatmadaw, launched a systematic orchestration of what the UN described as a ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing' of the stateless minority group, the Rohingya residing in the Northern Rakhine region of Myanmar. Since August 2017, more than 700 000...

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Main Author: Bose, Sumona
Other Authors: Scanlon, Helen
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Political Studies 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author Bose, Sumona
author2 Scanlon, Helen
author_browse Bose, Sumona
Scanlon, Helen
author_facet Scanlon, Helen
Bose, Sumona
author_sort Bose, Sumona
collection Thesis
description On the 25th of August 2017, the Myanmar military, Tatmadaw, launched a systematic orchestration of what the UN described as a ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing' of the stateless minority group, the Rohingya residing in the Northern Rakhine region of Myanmar. Since August 2017, more than 700 000 Rohingya fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Apart from the gross human rights violations they have suffered from decades long persecution, there is a persistent concern over their loss of identity, culture and personhood. This thesis serves as an explanatory investigation of the complex narratives, memories and experiences of Rohingya lives. It emphasises the importance of socio-cultural interventions conducted through multidisciplinary initiatives aimed at mobilising memory work, that are intended to act as a tool for the Rohingya as a means to navigate their identity and memory politics, agency and advocacy. The need for recognition, dignity, and forms of healing through trauma has been instrumental in resisting the cultural destruction they have endured. This thesis focuses on the accessible modes of acknowledgement that enhances the Rohingya community's visibility by sharing their stories, memories and experiences through memory initiatives considering the prevailing context of exile and uncertainty of return or redress. Memorialisation as a sociocultural and cathartic process has been an important tool of healing, awareness, and dialogue for the Rohingya survivors. By focusing on memory initiatives that have grown from Cox's Bazar with active participation from the Rohingya community themselves, this thesis explores the necessary intervention of deconstructing marginalisation as the dominant positionality of the Rohingya identity.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/39285
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:31:26.417Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher Department of Political Studies
publisherStr Department of Political Studies
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/39285 ‘Imagining' the Rohingya: Navigating Identity, Memory, and Visibility Examining different methods of documenting Rohingya identities, experiences, and lives. Bose, Sumona Scanlon, Helen Political Studies On the 25th of August 2017, the Myanmar military, Tatmadaw, launched a systematic orchestration of what the UN described as a ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing' of the stateless minority group, the Rohingya residing in the Northern Rakhine region of Myanmar. Since August 2017, more than 700 000 Rohingya fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Apart from the gross human rights violations they have suffered from decades long persecution, there is a persistent concern over their loss of identity, culture and personhood. This thesis serves as an explanatory investigation of the complex narratives, memories and experiences of Rohingya lives. It emphasises the importance of socio-cultural interventions conducted through multidisciplinary initiatives aimed at mobilising memory work, that are intended to act as a tool for the Rohingya as a means to navigate their identity and memory politics, agency and advocacy. The need for recognition, dignity, and forms of healing through trauma has been instrumental in resisting the cultural destruction they have endured. This thesis focuses on the accessible modes of acknowledgement that enhances the Rohingya community's visibility by sharing their stories, memories and experiences through memory initiatives considering the prevailing context of exile and uncertainty of return or redress. Memorialisation as a sociocultural and cathartic process has been an important tool of healing, awareness, and dialogue for the Rohingya survivors. By focusing on memory initiatives that have grown from Cox's Bazar with active participation from the Rohingya community themselves, this thesis explores the necessary intervention of deconstructing marginalisation as the dominant positionality of the Rohingya identity. 2024-04-03T13:10:43Z 2024-04-03T13:10:43Z 2023 2024-04-03T13:07:31Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39285 eng application/pdf Department of Political Studies Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle Political Studies
Bose, Sumona
‘Imagining' the Rohingya: Navigating Identity, Memory, and Visibility Examining different methods of documenting Rohingya identities, experiences, and lives.
thesis_degree_str Master's
title ‘Imagining' the Rohingya: Navigating Identity, Memory, and Visibility Examining different methods of documenting Rohingya identities, experiences, and lives.
title_full ‘Imagining' the Rohingya: Navigating Identity, Memory, and Visibility Examining different methods of documenting Rohingya identities, experiences, and lives.
title_fullStr ‘Imagining' the Rohingya: Navigating Identity, Memory, and Visibility Examining different methods of documenting Rohingya identities, experiences, and lives.
title_full_unstemmed ‘Imagining' the Rohingya: Navigating Identity, Memory, and Visibility Examining different methods of documenting Rohingya identities, experiences, and lives.
title_short ‘Imagining' the Rohingya: Navigating Identity, Memory, and Visibility Examining different methods of documenting Rohingya identities, experiences, and lives.
title_sort imagining the rohingya navigating identity memory and visibility examining different methods of documenting rohingya identities experiences and lives
topic Political Studies
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/39285
work_keys_str_mv AT bosesumona imaginingtherohingyanavigatingidentitymemoryandvisibilityexaminingdifferentmethodsofdocumentingrohingyaidentitiesexperiencesandlives