In today's portrait, we are featuring one of Yale MacMillan Center's Fox Fellows, Moe Thuzar from Myanmar.
“As a child of diplomats, and as a lapsed member of the Burmese foreign service myself, I have always felt between two worlds. I have seen both sides of the policy-making process: the internal negotiations leading to decisions, and the effects of those decisions on everyday life. Telling the story of this 'lived experience' of foreign policy became the focus of my long-delayed PhD studies, after a three-decade transition from a foreign service officer to a regional civil servant, and finally an academic.
Throughout these years, I had been unconsciously trying to find myself and a place to fit in between different worlds. Coming to Yale as a Fox International Fellow has helped me complete that transition. My desire to tell the story of how people cope in difficult and challenging circumstances, albeit in the context of foreign policy implementation, has taken on a deeper meaning as I walk through an empty campus silent under the social distancing measures to stop the Coronavirus spread.
My memories of Yale will be of this time, made all the more poignant as I recall the wonderment I felt when first engaging with Yale's rich array of intellectual and archival resources. Thoughtful conversations I have had with members of the Yale community and my fellow Foxes have helped me gain better clarity and focus for my learning journey, as well as illuminating what matters most in my life.”
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