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OF CONTENTS
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Buddha and Billboards
by
Ryan Bahry
My first day in Myanmar (Burma), I attended a city
orientation of
Yangon, the country’s capital and largest urban center. I was
able to walk through parts of Yangon that were home to many of the old
British colonial buildings, now dilapidated and decaying. I
viewed many of the important religious sights, including the Sule and
Shwedagon pagodas, and the reclining image of Buddha. I walked
through the bustling marketplace, more primitive than those in Vietnam
but filled with curious looks and smiles from the Burmese people.
I spent the week based in Yangon, and I was able to experience many
aspects of the city, and found that in this particular city more than
any that we had visited previously, I was easily able to identify many
examples of contrast between the transnational and the
vernacular.
In Donald Seekins’ article “The State and the City:
1988 and the Transformation of Rangoon,” he discusses the evolution of
Yangon in recent years to attain a more transnational identity.
Seekins discusses the events leading up to Yangon’s shift, and
describes a city where there are opportunities to eat high priced
Chinese food dishes or just a hamburger, enjoy
entertainment such as karaoke and disco dancing, and where one can
window shop for electronics such as televisions and CD players. I
was fortunate enough to experience this transnational identity of
Yangon, and realized that much of what Seekins described in his article
was clearly illustrated in Yangon city life.
One of the most transnational buildings I was able
to visit was the Sakura Tower, a business tower that offered a
panoramic view of the city from its top floor. The modern
building, complete with a high-end bar and restaurant on the
observation deck, was extremely similar to the elegant design and
luxurious services of similar buildings I have visited in cities such
as Seattle in the United States, or even the Tokyo Tower in
Japan. The view from the Sakura tower also allowed for the
observation of several contrasts between the transnational and the
vernacular. Standing at the top of this beautiful, modern tower,
one can observe stretches of old, dilapidated buildings as far as the
eye can see. These old buildings, which appear to be old housing
units, are a stunning reminder of the reality of life in Yangon, and
remain decaying and covered in mold—these structures and housing units
are impossible to disguise with the veil of modernization in the form
of electronics shops and well-kept green space. At the same time,
one can look down and observe the beautiful, vernacular Sule pagoda in
the midst of a traffic circle and surrounded by busy flows of
traffic.
The vernacular aspects of Burma were present almost
everywhere I visited, but the religious influence and local importance
placed on Buddhism and monks were unavoidable in the city of
Yangon. One of the most stunning images that I was able to
observe was a monk, dressed entirely in traditional robes and garb,
standing on an overpass looking out at the traffic and billboards all
around him. It was an interesting illustration of the contrast
that exists between the transnational and the vernacular in Yangon.
More so than any city that I had visited previously,
Yangon possessed many examples that clearly illustrated the concepts
that we have discussed in our class regarding the transnational and
vernacular present. In this Yangon’s recent history, it is clear
that progress has been made to make the city a more transnational
space—however, it is impossible to avoid the stunning local influences
that remain present throughout the city.
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