Unpacking the Rohingya Genocide and Identity Crisis in Myanmar

The Identity Crisis and Genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya People

Abstract

This paper examines how Myanmar has strived for an ethnically homogenous society while excluding it's Rohingya minority. The paper is divided into sections of how Myanmar came about as a state, who the Rohingya people are, a constructivist analysis of its citizenship laws and the actions of external actors amidst this crisis. The historical context of Myanmar will set precedent for how the social structures of the country came about and construed the collective identity which is predicated on Buddhist nationalism. The constructivists idea of identity will help us understand how identity is a socially constructed entity and influences policies like the 1982 Citizenship laws that serves to marginalize ethnic minorities like the Rohingya and is harming their livelihoods.