New Books Network: Calibrated Engagement

In this episode of the New Books in Southeast Asia Podcast, Stéphan Huard discusses Calibrated Engagement: Chronicles of Local Politics in the Heartland of Myanmar (‎Berghahn Books, 2024), in which he takes a deep dive into the history and anthropology of village leadership in Myanmar’s central dry zone, or anya. Though the book was researched prior to the military coup of 2021, it offers material with which to make sense of both why and how people in the dry zone formed new armed groups along what Stéphen calls an internal frontier.

The book is available for download free of charge via the publisher’s website. This episode was produced by NYSEAN Partner, theNew Books Network.