Allegra Giovine (Information Science)

Zoom Link https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/96202625175?pwd=NXlJK0Eya1NYWStNQkpiZE5QV0xTdz09

What does it take to build shared understandings that support coordinated political action across a diverse set of stakeholders? This paper considers public understanding of federalism in Myanmar (Burma), a country in which new conversations about devolved governance are emerging in the wake of the 2021 military coup. Over the past decade, elite levels of political discussion have shown more acceptance of federalism as a system of government that could unify a country fractured by ethnic and other divisions since its founding in 1948. However, informed understandings of federalist governance structures have not had the opportunity to emerge among non-elite members of society, and public perception of federalism as disintegration and secession remains strong. Despite the tragedies unfolding after Myanmar’s recent coup, the subsequent protest movement and armed conflict against the military regime are creating new spaces for interethnic and interfaith alliances and understanding, as well as experimentation with local governance structures.

After providing a brief introduction to this research context, this paper reviews active learning techniques that have been used to increase non-elite understandings of federalism. These techniques include deliberative polling, which has already been used with promising results in Myanmar, and simulation, which has been used to teach federalism in US classrooms. Building on insights from these techniques, I propose two research designs for pilot programs to increase knowledge of federalism and trust among diverse stakeholders in Myanmar. The first design (R1) modifies the deliberative polling methodology to evaluate the role that intergenerational conversations might play to enhance learning and trust. R1 is motivated by widespread anecdotal evidence that younger generations in Myanmar have more positive understandings of diversity, and now, indeed, much practical experience mobilizing diverse coalitions in protest and resistance. R1 would invite young adults and adults (age 16+) to participate in an educational lecture followed by moderated small group informed discussions (intergenerational or same-generation) of federalism and diversity. Data analysis will include comparison of pre- and post-event surveys and qualitative analysis of group discussions. The second design (R2) evaluates the impact of participant-created drawings to enhance learning and trust. R2 is motivated by the use of graphical materials in current federalist training in Myanmar, the communicative power of maps in particular to show alliances emerging in the present moment, and insights from other research contexts on the enhanced learning benefits from active participant drawing. R2 would invite a similar pool of participants to participate in an educational lecture followed by a semi-structured interview to elicit knowledge and attitudes about federalism and diversity with reference to graphical materials (participant-generated or presented from lecture materials). Data analysis will include comparison of pre- and post-event surveys and qualitative analysis of interviews. The paper concludes with a necessary discussion about the ethics, security concerns, and logistics that must be considered before embarking on research with transformative potential in a fragile context.