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Humanities Division’s Visiting Scholar Larkin to give presentation
Author and journalist Emma Larkin will discuss “Why Should We Care About Burma?” on April 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lewis-Clark State College Silverthorne Theatre as part of the LCSC Humanities Division’s Visiting Scholar program.
The event is free and open to the public.
Larkin will serve as the 2008 Visiting Scholar on April 14-16 at the college and will conduct a series of classes and presentations for LCSC faculty and students during that time. She will also make her public presentation on April 16 about recent events in Burma, which is now called the Union of Myanmar.
Though born and raised in Asia, Larkin (a pseudonym to protect herself and her Burmese friends) has ties to Lewiston. She visited family members who lived in Lewiston while growing up. She later studied the Burmese language at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She currently covers Asia from her base in Bangkok. She has been making trips to Burma for more than a decade.
Larkin is the author of the book “Finding George Orwell in Burma.” The book examines the complex connections between the authoritarian world described in Orwell’s “1984” and “Animal Farm,” and the military dictatorship that rules Burma today. Larkin followed in the footsteps of Orwell, who lived and worked in Burma in his early years. Her book explains that some Burmese refer to him as “the prophet” because his foreknowledge of events seems to describe Burma today.
Larkin spent two years researching her book and will put recent events in context and describe what it’s like to live under a military dictatorship.
Last September, Burma’s Buddhist monks marched in protest against the ruling military junta, and estimates say there were as many as 100,000 protesters in Rangoon each day. Government soldiers were eventually brought in to quash the protest and reportedly killed an estimated 100 people in doing so. The regime then placed strict controls on information coming out of the country, which is why little is now heard about Burma.
Larkin went to Burma shortly after the protects and will discuss what she saw and learned during her public presentation.
The LCSC Humanities Division’s Visiting Artist/Scholar program is made possible through a donation from the Rosehill Estate. For more information on Larkin’s visit to LCSC, contact Sean Cassidy at 792-2284 or e-mail him at scassidy@lcsc.edu
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