In spite of the political difficulties of doing scholarly research in Burma (Myanmar) today, in the last ten years there has been a steady stream of articles, books, and dissertations on ancient Burmese history and material culture. The books reviewed here are only two examples, but they demonstrate how dynamic the scholarship is and how interesting the rethinking of many academic assumptions can be.
Michael A. Aung-Thwin's book The Mists of Rāmañña is a sustained, carefully researched, and cleverly argued rhetorical study of how Mon culture in ancient Burma has been overly emphasized by modern scholars. The period he is dealing with is roughly the first millennium CE, before the flourishing of Pagan beginning in the eleventh century. Aung-Thwin argues that scholars have consistently presented Mon culture, albeit incorrectly, as the foundation for the Burmese culture developed at Pagan. The Mon are visualized as living in southern Burma, with Mon...
