Apartheid City: Mass segregation and citizenship in Sittwe, Myanmar

我在缅甸若开邦首府实兑市进行的研究。2012年之前，实兑的人口约为15万人，其中约一半是罗兴亚人。在主要发生于2012年和2017年的大规模暴力事件之后，约有4000名罗兴亚人留在该市，其余的人要么被困在国内流离失所者营地，要么被迫流离失所到邻国。虽然缅甸的罗兴亚人长期以来一直面临歧视性政策，包括剥夺正式的公民权，但在2012年，政府以缓和族群间紧张局势和暴力升级为借口，制定了一项正式政策，将罗兴亚人与占多数的若开族佛教社区隔离开来。虽然可以理解地强调了这一政策的要素，包括剥夺罗兴亚人的法律地位、限制他们的行动自由以及限制他们获得包括医疗保健和教育在内的社会经济权利，但尚未充分了解支撑隔离政策的空间和政治经济层面。为了说明一个关键方面，实兑的隔离政策在两个相互关联的关键事态发展的背景下得到加强。首先，自2010年缅甸经济自由化和土地法的全面改革以来，缅甸政府已将实兑定位为国际投资目的地。例如，该市吸引了印度政府的大量投资，用于开发实兑港和韩国私人资本资助的一个滨水振兴项目。其次，在大规模暴力事件发生之前，外国投机性投资导致该市的土地和财产价值上涨，加剧了若开族佛教徒和罗兴亚人社区之间关于土地和财产的历史争端。在国内流离失所者营地对罗兴亚社区进行空间限制之后，在政府和军方的鼓励下，出现了一个投机市场，二次占领和出售他们的房屋和财产。我认为，必须在全球土地、住房和房地产市场金融化的背景下看待这种土地和产权排他性制度的产生。我的研究将旨在揭示土地和房地产市场在实兑罗兴亚社区隔离和丧失城市公民身份方面的种族化作用。具体来说，我的目标是解释缅甸不断变化的财产和土地权利制度是如何调解并经常使罗兴亚社区的隔离政策僵化的。此外，我的研究将探讨财产排他性制度的建立如何使国家进一步侵蚀罗兴亚人的实质性公民权。最后，我希望了解社区是如何应对财产和公民身份的损失的。

My research in the city of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State in Myanmar.Prior to 2012, the population of Sittwe was approximately 150,000 people, about half of whom were Rohingya. Following episodes of mass violence, primarily in 2012 and 2017, approximately 4,000 Rohingya remain in the city with the rest confined either in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps or forcibly displaced to neighboring countries. While the Rohingya in Myanmar have faced a long history of discriminatory policies including the stripping away of formal citizenship rights, in 2012, the government instituted a formal policy of segregation of Rohingya from the majority Rakhine Buddhist community under the pretext of deescalating inter-communal tension and violence. While elements of this policy including the denial of legal status to the Rohingya, restrictions on their freedom of movement, and limited access to socio-economic rights including healthcare and education have understandably been highlighted, the spatial and political-economy dimensions underpinning the segregation policy have not been fully understood.To elucidate a critical facet, the policy of segregation in Sittwe was reinforced in the backdrop of two key inter-linked developments. First, since the liberalization of the Myanmar economy and sweeping changes in land laws in 2010, the Government of Myanmar has projected Sittwe as an international investment destination. For example, the city has attracted significant investments from the Government of India in the development of the port of Sittwe and a waterfront revitalization project funded by South Korean private capital. Second, prior to the episodes of mass violence, the increase in land and property values as a result of speculative foreign investment in the city exacerbated historical contestations over land and property between the Rakhine Buddhist and Rohingya communities. Post the spatial confinement of Rohingya communities in IDP camps, a speculative market emerged in the secondary occupation and sale of their homes and property, often encouraged by the government and the military. I argue that the creation of such exclusionary regimes of land and property rights must be necessarily viewed in the backdrop of the global financialization of land, housing, and property markets.My research will aim to uncover the racialized role of land and property markets in the segregation and loss of urban citizenship of Rohingya communities in Sittwe. Specifically, I will aim to explain how changing regimes of property and land rights in Myanmar mediated and often, ossified the policy of segregation of the Rohingya community. Furthermore, my research will explore how the creation of exclusionary regimes of property enables the state to further erode the substantive citizenship rights of the Rohingya. Finally, I hope to understand how the community is contesting, negotiating, and navigating the loss of both property and citizenship.