We put the history and present of capitalist development and labour struggles in Burma/Myanmar into conversation with concepts and arguments in contemporary labour theory.
What Can Myanmar’s Labour History Teach Us?
Course Description
Dominant labour theory is heavily shaped by analysis of the Euro-American historical experience. The extent to which this theory, in its current or adapted form, may be useful for understanding capitalist dynamics and labour struggles in Asia is an open question.
With that premise, this course has two guiding questions: What are the implications of Asian labour history for rethinking labour theory in general? And how can labour theory help labour organisers, activists, and researchers better support local and regional labour movements?
More specifically, the course puts the history and present of capitalist development and labour struggles in Burma/Myanmar into conversation with concepts and arguments in contemporary labour theory.
Students in the course will learn about labour theory in general and about Myanmar labour history specifically. Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to critically evaluate and debate the relevance—for contemporary Asian labour movements—of prominent theory, concepts, and arguments in labour studies.
- Teaching: 6 Weekly Online Sessions / 1.5 hour per session
- Course Fee: USD$60 (Regular Price) / USD$40 (Students/Workers/Unemployed)
- Class Size: Class Limited to 15 Students
Course Facilitator
Stephen Campbell is an associate professor in the School of Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has been researching and writing about labour conditions and workers’ struggles in Thailand and Myanmar for the past fifteen years. His publications on these issues include two books and over two dozen articles, along with commentaries in various public media.
Class Time
- 1pm: Pakistan
- 1:30pm: India/Sri Lanka
- 2pm: Bangladesh
- 2:30pm: Myanmar
- 2:45pm: Nepal
- 3pm: Indonesia/Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam
- 4pm: Hong Kong/Taiwan/China/Philippines/Singapore/Malaysia
- 5pm: Japan/Korea
Class Project
As a final course project, students will be asked to give a brief presentation (under 10 minutes) during the final session, in which they explain one course concept and discuss how it may (or may not) be useful for analysing a historical or contemporary case of capitalist development and/or labour dynamics. The case need not be from Myanmar, but it should be from Asia.
Weekly Class Schedule
Session 1 – March 22, 2025: Colonial capitalism in Burma/Myanmar
How did capitalist development under British rule transform labour dynamics in colonial Burma? To what extent do colonial-era labourers fit the model of the industrial “free” wage worker that shaped colonial-era labour theory and politics within Europe? Concepts: capitalism, class, dispossession, proletarianization, free/unfree labour, debt bondage
Session 2 – March 29, 2025: Anti-colonial labour movements
How did anti-colonial activists in Burma connect national liberation struggles to the concerns of workers? How can the left-labour perspective of anti-colonial activists inform labour struggles in the present? Concepts: decolonization, nationalization, workers self-management, neocolonialism
Session 3 – April 5, 2025: Racial capitalism
How has structural ethnic/racial inequality in Myanmar divided workers and facilitated capital accumulation? How have labour organisers and activists dealt with (or neglected) ethnic/racial inequality? Concepts: racial capitalism, solidarity vs. unity, imperialism, internal colonization
Session 4 – April 12, 2025: Patriarchal capitalism
How has capitalism exacerbated gender inequality in Burma/Myanmar? How has gender inequality enabled capital accumulation? How have activists and organisers connected feminist struggles to workers’ struggles? Concepts: patriarchy, care work, social reproduction theory
Session 5 – April 19, 2025: Displaced labour
What factors underpin large-scale Myanmar labour migration? Is the migrant/refugee distinction relevant in the context of post-coup Myanmar? Does labour migration help or hinder national development? Concepts: displacement, the migrant/refugee distinction, migration as economic imperialism
Session 6 – April 26, 2025: Labour struggles and democratization
How do workers’ struggles relate to democratization in Myanmar? What are the challenges and opportunities for workers’ struggles under military rule in Myanmar today? Concepts: democratization from below, workplace democracy, electoralism vs. people’s power
To contact us: convenor@labourschool.org
