Exposed Soul
Prologue:
We are all in this together, posted by the泭, March 16, 2020
. That's the consoling statement I've been seeing lately on social media and in the news when fighting the global spread of coronavirus. However, I have been wondering if we are really in this together. In this moment, I feel as if泭my soul has been exposed, a common Burmese expression 凍筵澄矜脊 (latepya malone) to connote the feelings of guilt, shame, embarrassment, and insecurity. My soul is exposed precisely because we are泭紳棗喧泭in this together, at least not in the same way.
On March 23, 2020, the泭泭published a report on the nations first two positive cases of COVID-19. Subsequent reports on coronavirus cases paint a distinctive picture in Myanmar; that is, the virus travels from western countries like the US, England, and Europe to泭. As the number of positive cases began to rise, Myanmar social media became saturated with public outrage, shaming returnees from western countries泭滄勳喧堯泭the virus. At the time of this writing,泭and the Myanmar government has stopped issuing international visas.
Interlude:
Comment 1: Because of those animals who return after getting green cards and those who only think highly of the foreign countries, now its all gone! Itll be a trouble if we have to close our businesses and lock down the nation. Why are we accepting everyone who returns?
Comment 2: The present of those dogs who returned from abroad, they gave us the trouble and suffering!
(Comments posted under theon the first reported cases of coronavirus in Myanmar on March 23, 2020)
I was born Burmese and am now a naturalized US citizen. I left Myanmar in 2012 at the age of 20. All my family members remain in Myanmar. Eight years later in 2020, the day after I became a citizen on January 31,. The ban limits future immigration, including family-based migration. The new barriers imposed between Myanmar and the US intensified the feelings of separation with my home country, now exacerbated in this pandemic.
In times of emergency we have an instinctive desire to be close to our loved ones. However, the xenophobic hatred towards expatriates in Myanmar challenges that desire in me. At the same time, it makes me question the privilege of choosing to expose my family to a potential threat of contagion just so I can feel closer to them.
The rhetoric of "we're all in this together" understandably tries to evoke a shared sense of vulnerability. Yet the outbreak inevitably underscores systemic hierarchies in our societies. National sovereignties and geographic border policies like the US travel ban have already split our bodies and minds apart. The spread of the coronavirus further stresses our existing differences in socioeconomic and immigration status, cultural and moral values, race, gender, age, (dis)ability status, and more. The international response to this pandemic today remains as fragmented as our own individual ability to cope with this crisis. My soul is exposed by the feelings of guilt from this realization and the shameful fact that we are泭not really泭all in this together.
Epilogue: Dry or 澄晨矜筵 (chautkat) streets of downtown Yangon, shared by a friend on Instagram Story, April 3, 2020
Acknowledgement: 脊嗤猿脊 凍筵澄矜凍 ﹥筵凍唸筵脊嗤 脊嗤﹥晨矜 脊嗤詬晨詬聊 Juan Garc穩a Oyervides ﹥矜詬頗晨詬唸詬筵頗
Chu May Paing
PhD Student, Department of Anthropology
chu.paing@colorado.edu