Heritage destruction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state: legal and illegal iconoclasm

ABSTRACT

In this article we map heritage destruction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. We outline the historic and contemporary political context in Myanmar explaining the background of the Rohingya Muslim ethnic group and addressing the contribution of religion and political change to anti-Rohingya discrimination and violence in Myanmar. We trace patterns of heritage destruction as legal and/ or illegal iconoclasm and specify the key elements of heritage destruction in Rakhine state. Our analysis focusses on the use of heritage destruction in Rakhine state as a tool of genocide, and we suggest that heritage destruction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state ought to be understood as part the authorities’ policies of genocide against the Rohingya. We conclude the article with a call for UNESCO to act to extend its ‘Unite4Heritage’ campaign to include the destruction of heritage by state actors.

KEYWORDS:

• Heritage destruction
• Myanmar
• Rohingya
• Genocide
• UNESCO
• iconoclasm

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. In this article our aim is to maintain meaning and avoid confusion where names are concerned. We use the name ‘Myanmar’ to refer to the country from the time its name was officially changed by the military junta in 1989. In referring to the country’s history prior to 1989, the name ‘Burma’ is used. Where necessary, to preserve meaning and avoid confusion, both the former and official name will be used in tandem as ‘Burma/Myanmar’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ronan Lee

Ronan Lee is an Irish-Australian visiting scholar at Queen Mary University of London’s International State Crime Initiative. His research interests include Myanmar, the Rohingya, genocide, hate speech, and politics. Ronan’s PhD thesis titled “Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide: Rohingya Perspectives of History and Identity” considered the identity, history, and politics of the Rohingya. Ronan’s professional background is in politics, media, and public policy. He was formerly a Queensland State Member of Parliament and served on the frontbench as a Parliamentary Secretary in portfolios including Justice, Main Roads and Local Government, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships.

José Antonio González Zarandona

José Antonio González Zarandona is an Associate Research Fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation. He is also Associate Researcher in the División de Historia, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), México. Antonio has been a Visiting Fellow at the University of Birmingham, the University of Oxford, and Goldsmiths University. He is the vice-president for the Barcelona-based NGO Heritage for Peace.