Remembering the Samsui Women: Migration and Social Memory in Singapore and China

de la Perrière’s chapter on her research assistant/informant reveals the way in which the divide between ordinary people and those who hold power and influence in Burmese society is bridged by “professional mediators” or pweza (p. 71). These aspects of Burmese society are seldom discussed in newspaper articles, human rights reports and scholarly works. The strength of the book — the inclusion of non-academic writers and academic ones — is also its weakness. The non-academic writers bring personal sentiments and immediacy to the narratives, while the academic writers do an excellent job of foregrounding the personal accounts in wider social, political and economic contexts. However, the styles of writing are necessarily different in tone and context, and thus one experiences a sense of unevenness when going from an academic account to a personal one. However, this in no way detracts from a book that accomplishes its goal of exploring the lives of ordinary Burmese admirably.