Women in Myanmar's Ongoing Resistance with Nilanjana Sengupta
Bush House North East Wing, Strand Campus, London
Please join the Department of International Development at KCL for a talk with Nilanjana Sengupta on "Return of the Female Voice: The Role of Women in Myanmar's Ongoing Resistance."
About the talk
In this talk, Dr Nilanjana Sengupta will examine how political and social forces have contributed and reinforced gender roles, inequalities and power dynamics down the years for Myanmar. It will travel back to the past to explore the structures of patriarchy and socialization which restricted women from attaining centralized leadership roles in the twin public domains of politics and religion, assess the messages of both female-empowerment and disempowerment that was represented by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as focus on the present - how women are taking the current political crisis as an opportunity to reshape the narrative of women’s role in society in addition to opposing the military takeover. Trends and pitfalls of the new era of female activism will be discussed and important insights into the debate on gender and political change in societies affected by conflict will be offered.
About the speaker
Nilanjana Sengupta
Nilanjana Sengupta, author & community historian, is based in Singapore. Her last publication The Votive Pen: Writings on Edwin Thumboo (Penguin Random House, 2020), was shortlisted for both the Singapore Literature Prize 2022 and Singapore Book Award 2021. Her latest offering is Chickpeas to Cook & other Stories, a Penguin Random House publication that dwells on the lives of women from some of the smaller communities of Singapore. Her other books include A Gentleman’s Word: The Legacy of Subhas Chandra Bose in Southeast Asia (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2012, Cambridge University Press, 2013), The Female Voice of Myanmar: Khin Myo Chit to Aung San Suu Kyi (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Singapore, My Country: Biography of M Bala Subramanian (World Scientific Press, 2016). Sengupta also writes for The Straits Times and for publications of the National Heritage Board, Singapore. Her books have been critically acclaimed, adopted for university courses and translated into multiple languages. She has been associated with the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute as well as the National University of Singapore in various research capacities and is a recent participant in an Advanced Writing Program at the Oxford University and recipient of the inaugural National Arts Council-National Library Board Writers' Lab, Singapore, grant for 2024. She has also been the research lead for a TV series, ‘1943’ which has been recently nominated for five mainstream awards including Best Series, 2025 by MediaCorp, Singapore.
About the Interrogating Development Seminar Series
The 'Interrogating Development' seminar series is organised by the Department of International Development at King's College London. The series examines some of the most pressing issues of development facing global society today, with the authors of new books presenting cutting-edge research on a variety of topics related to development.
The talk will be followed by a wine reception. The event is open to everyone.
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