In search of home: exploring Myanmarese diasporas dynamics through transnational engagement in Dutch and Danish contexts

This research aims to explore the Myanmarese diasporas dynamics living in the Netherlands and Denmark with various forms of their engagement in the conflict back home, Myanmar. To do so, I looked at the interrelation of chosen trauma, identities, and belonging of Myanmarese diasporas manifested in their transnational engagement through ethnographic fieldwork. I argue that contextualizing the decades-long conflict intensified with the 2021 military coup is a key to uncovering identity construction and belongingness that are not mutually exclusive. As well it is crucial to comprehend how 14 Myanmarese diasporas make sense of themselves and home. This encompassed comprehension is unfolded from the nuances that I connected through the participants’ stories over sharing meals, semi-structured individual interviews, visual ethnography, participatory observation and paying attention to the social surrogates embedded in everyday micro-practices. And beyond, the heterogeneity of Myanmarese diasporas dynamics is unpacked by the extensive observation of cross-cutting boundaries particularly, religious, and spiritual belief, intergeneration, and culturalization of transnational engagement. Hence, this study sought to bridge the gap in understanding the Myanmarese diasporas dynamic residing in Dutch and Danish contexts through transnational engagement