During my doctoral studies, I visited Burma six times, conducting fieldwork, interviewing former political prisoners and democracy activists, and teaching at local universities and institutes. While I taught my students theoretical concepts, they showed me what applied theory in democracy studies looks like through their lived experiences. Along the way, I learned about the salience of researcher positionality on qualitative research, a few of which I share in this article: “Walking the Terrains of Burma: Researcher Positionality in Immersive Fieldwork.”

To read the doctoral dissertation (which was submitted and defended in 2020, before the Burma military coup in February 2021), you can access it here: The Making of First Movers: a Micro-level Study of High-Risk Dissent Initiators in Burma 1988-2011

But more than anything, I hope these photos capture the spirit of the incredible people I had the privilege to interview, learn from, and form lifelong friendships with.

Click through these photos and meet some of the extraordinary people from past and current generations of Burma fighting for democracy in their country.