Community Ethnography

Community Ethnography/ Community Researcher program initiated and implemented by Nyan Corridor is comprised of both the works of research and Research Methodology that is provision of Social Research Methodology as well learning a research methodology. Community Ethnography is a quality research method based on the concept of inclusive and co-productive knowledge production. In the community ethnographic research, the research, the researcher and the community studied are not separated. The analysis coming from the community. In survey research using qualitative research approach or ethnographic research conducted by researchers who come from outside of a certain community usually refers the community studied as “they”. But this is not the case in the community ethnography in which the researcher mentioned “us/we; some of us; only a few of us or few in the village/ward”. 

The method is also very relevant to the situations with high politically and militarily sensitive areas. The method is particularly prepared for the ordinary local people to do research in their everyday lives while they are pursuing their various livelihoods as community members. Doing research in their everyday life applying their research philosophies and the participant observations by the ordinary people living in a local community means a very bottom-up forms of ethnographic studies. The unit of analysis a locality which is not confined to a village or a ward but extended to all the adjacent areas of a community in which an ordinary local people living in a village or a ward could be in touch with physically to live their everyday lives and to earn their livelihoods. Nyan Corridor is learning about the Community Ethnographic Research Method in the process of conducting research methodology training and research works that has been now over 3.5 years. 

Nyan Corridor provides Social Research Methodology Trainings to the ordinary people living in twenty villages or wards of fourteen States and Regions of Myanmar. They are farmers, local schoolteachers and nurses (who engaged civil disobedience movements against 2021 Military Coup), grocery shopkeepers, religious leaders, freelance photographers and journalists. The community ethnographers of Nyan Corridor also have diverse background in terms of ethnicity: Bamar, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon, Pa O, Rakhine, Rohingya, Ta’ ang and Tavoy.  

Nyan Corridor is undertaking three research works applying the method of Ethnography/Community Researchers Program:

• Community Experiences and Perceptions of Climate Change During Violent Rupture
• Community Experiences and Perceptions of Local Governance and Security
• Community Resilience and Local Level Institutions in Post-Coup Myanmar

Community Experiences and Perceptions of Climate Change During Violent Rupture and Community Experiences and Perceptions of Local Governance and Security are conducted by community researchers applying Community Ethnographic Method particularly applying participant observations and informal interviews. The research works are reported every six months. Both research works are carried out in collaboration and partial financial support of Danish Institute of International Studies (DIIS).

Community Experiences and Perceptions of Local Governance and Security

The research work conducted by the 18 to 22 community researchers applying Community Ethnography Method under the guidance of senior researchers of Nyan Corridor. Community Researchers do observations and informal conversations in their everyday lives and reported the findings in every six months. The research mainly is intended to capture the gradual changes of governance and livelihoods of the people since the 2021 military coup and the massive strong resistance by the people. It is very important to understand the impact of 2021 military coup and the following massive strong resistance as this is unprecedentedly powerful political rupture encountered by most of the people across Myanmar in the country’s recorded history.   

The study explores the situations of people’s livelihoods, social life (education, health), everyday security, the changes of authorities and the people’s relationship with different authorities and the impact. The research work started in June 2022 and has finished six rounds of reports in January 2025. 

Download reports>>>

1. 21 Places of Myanmar in One Year (June 2022-June 2023)
2. Community Experiences and Perceptions of Local Governance and Security (Round 4), 
3. Community Experiences and Perceptions of Local Governance and Security (Round 5)
4. Community Experiences and Perceptions of Local Governance and Security (Round 6