Introduction

The first chapter starts off by outlining the current political situation in Myanmar, explaining the particular context that shaped the research questions of this book, and clarifying the author’s personal relationship to the subject matter. In broad terms the research as explained in the introduction is about contemporary heritage politics and spatial practice in Myanmar. The topic is exemplarily discussed with reference to Bagan, the country’s national sanctuary and world-famous Buddhist site. The specific scholarly inquiry is dedicated to a reconstruction program that was implemented at the site from 1995 to 2011. The program, also known as Adopt-a-Pagoda Program, was run by the autocratic military regime that controlled Myanmar from 1988 to 2011. The reconstructions lead to a stark spatial transformation of the site. The book addresses a research gap regarding the detailed account and scale of the reconstruction program and its political implications. The introduction provides key terms and concepts that are essential for a nuanced interpretation of Bagan’s transformed landscape that poses a counternarrative to the story fabricated by the dictatorial regime that ruled Myanmar from 1988 to 2011. As such the book reveals new implications tied to both the reconciliation politics of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy (NLD) government (2016–2020) and the UNESCO World Heritage System. The introduction lays out how these research questions will be addressed within the course of the book.