<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br></div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">Randy J. LaPolla</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:randy.lapolla@gmail.com" target="_blank">randy.lapolla@gmail.com</a>></span><br>Date: Fri, Aug 26, 2022 at 7:51 PM<br>Subject: [Tibeto-burman-linguistics] Write to support Burmese scholarship at SOAS</div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div><div style="word-wrap:break-word;line-break:after-white-space"><div dir="auto"><h4 align="center" style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bolder;line-height:1;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;font-size:18px"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit">FYI: Write to support Burmese scholarship at SOAS</font></font></h4><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit">Date:</font></font></strong><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"> 23-Aug-2022 </font></font></span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit">From:</font></font></strong><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"> Justin Watkins <jw2</font></font></span><span style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;font-stretch:normal;line-height:1;font-family:FontAwesome;font-size:14px"></span><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="http://soas.ac.uk" target="_blank"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit">soas.ac.uk</font></font></a><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit">></font></font></span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><strong style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit">Subject:</font></font></strong><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"> Write to support Burmese scholarship at SOAS</font></font></span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><a style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(33,118,245);font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;font-stretch:normal;line-height:1;font-family:FontAwesome;font-size:inherit"></span><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit">E-mail this message to a friend</font></font></a><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit">Dear Colleagues and friends in Burma Studies - </font></font></span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit">With concern and sadness I'm sharing the news that the post of Professor of Burmese at SOAS, University of London, has been scheduled for termination and, if things go as SOAS plans, more than a century of scholarship and research in the lanɡuaɡes and linɡuistics of Myanmar and mainland SEAsia will draw to an end in just over a month. Some very limited Burmese language teaching may continue for now, but not by me, even after 23 years of service. It is some comfort that the late ဆရာကြီး John Okell is not alive to see his legacy being dismantled. </font></font></span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><font style="vertical-align:inherit"><font style="vertical-align:inherit">It's not clear why the Professor of Burmese post has been selected for removal, now that SOAS is under new leadership and recovering well from the financial meltdown of 2020. It seems particularly at odds with the ethos of SOAS to be cutting UK scholarship in Burmese at a time when Myanmar is in such an awful position, and also at odds with the founding charter of SOAS "to accept a special commitment to language scholarship relating to Asia, Africa and the Middle East." </font></font></span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">I call upon colleagues, former students and all those who would wish SOAS to reverse this decision to write to the Director or Deputy Director of SOAS in the most persuasive and supportive way you can, making the case for keeping the Professor of Burmese post. Do share this news with others who may wish to voice support, and feel free to email me privately for further information if you would like. </span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">yours </span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Justin Watkins </span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Professor of Burmese </span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">SOAS, University of London </span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics</span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Subject Language(s): </span><a href="https://linguistlist.org/forms/langs/LLDescription.cfm?code=mya" style="box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(33,118,245);text-decoration:none;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px" target="_blank">Burmese (mya)</a><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Language Family(ies): Tibeto-Burman</span><br style="box-sizing:border-box;font-family:roboto,"helvetica neue",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px"></div></div><br>
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