THE ROAD TO MANDALAY LESS TRAVELLED

‘The Road to Mandalay Less Travelled’ by Ingrid Raj provides research on a selection of Anglo-Burmese writing published from the period of British rule in Myanmar (formerly Burma) up until 2007. What Raj shares with us in this study is the knowledge she gained about the value of social resistance achieved through writing. Both fiction and non-fiction texts are included in arguing a case that these might be viewed as tools of often ambivalent resistance against oppressive regimes, both local and colonial.

Her research deserves a wider readership than was initially provided, and to this aim Sydney School of Arts & Humanities presents the work as its first publication in this new category of Essays & Theses. We hope that specialist researchers as well as members of the general reading public take this opportunity to learn more about the culture of the people of Myanmar through their unique approach to storytelling, based largely on their religious understanding, their rich store of folk legend and their chequered history.