How do people understand the “spirit of Panglong” and how could it be revived or transformed in the conference’s 21st century configuration? What might a new understanding of Panglong’s legacy— and its re-emergence today— mean for Myanmar in its present period of transition? How might dominant understandings of citizenship, political identity and national unity be reinforced or undermined by a more inclusive “Panglong-style” conference? How should we assess the plans of its organizers and what alternate plans or perspectives should be considered?

At the Tea Circle—an online forum for new research on Burma/Myanmar at the University of Oxford—we aim to explore these questions, and more, in the weeks leading up to the 21st Century Panglong Conference. As such, we are now accepting 1,000-1,500 word submissions for a mini-forum, to be published in the weeks leading up to and following the July conference. We wish to stress that Tea Circle is not only for academic analysis and we welcome submissions from anyone who wants to share their thoughts on this important subject. As the forum progresses, we also welcome writers to respond to previous posts in the forum, to develop an online discussion.

Submissions should be sent by email to editor@teacircleoxford.com with the subject line “Panglong Forum.” The text of the submission should be attached in a word document with minimal formatting. A short biography (under 100 words) and byline should be included in the document, as well as a proposed title for the piece and a related image, if possible.