"The Future of Genocide in Asia: Burma and Elsewhere"

Magnus Fiskesjö, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University

The demonizing and mistreatment of the Rohingya in Burma is taking place alongside similarly alarming developments elsewhere in Asia, such as Thailand’s callous treatment of refugees, and the increasing brutality towards internal others by the Chinese state. Together these trends and developments are raising the specter of new genocides in Asia’s future. This is so perhaps especially for Burma, and originally sympathetic international supporters today increasingly worry about the possible prospects of mass killings and genocide which might take place there. In this presentation I would like to assess these concerns from an anthropological perspective on genocide -- some of which may be counterintuitive or even surprising. In particular, I seek to compare the recent Asian developments with the components of genocide preparations that have been recognized from elsewhere in the world.