Myint Than. Multidimensional community-level impacts of cement production development project in Mon State, Myanmar. Master's degree(Social Sciences). Chiang Mai University. Library. : Chiang Mai University, 2024.
Multidimensional community-level impacts of cement production development project in Mon State, Myanmar
Abstract:
This research explored the top-down development intervention of Mawlamyine Cement Limited (MCL) and the socio-economic and environmental impact on the community resulting from the extractive operation in the Phar Taung area, Mon State, Myanmar. This thesis articulates a critique of top-down development practices as a modernization project in Myanmar through the lens of extractivism. This study conceptualized the cement production of MCL as a form extractivism through the mentalities, rationales, and practices of exploitation, subjugation, and violence to achieve a non-reciprocal relationship with the local ecology and irreversible depletion of the natural resources of the communally owned mountains, forests, and rivers. I employed an explorative qualitative research design with semi-structured interviews with community members in the Phar Taung area while utilizing purposive and snowball sampling methods to collect qualitative data for thematic analysis. The findings showed strong evidence that MCL operations and cement production represent examples of extractivism in the Phar Taung area. The views and attitudes of the local community toward the establishment of MCL evolved from acceptance to resistance. The role of the government was collaborative with the foreign company to facilitate a model of the wealth accumulation of global capitalists. The communitys networking with activists and connections with local and international non-governmental organizations inspired the affected community to stand up and demand justice for their local ecology and the well-being of their community. The notion of double loss urged the community members to rethink their positioning and stand on the issues of socio-environmental impact on the community. As a result, a new method of resistancesacralization of the mountainsemerged in the community to counter the dominant, powerful entities such as MCL and the central government. The MCLs cement production has pressured and constrained the well-being of the local ecology and community health due to its exploitative and non-reciprocal relationship with the community and its community-owned resources. The central government and developers need to listen to the concerns of the local community to protect their local ecology and prevent adverse socio-economic consequences in the Phar Taung area.