First and foremost, I would like to praise the living God for all the blessings bestowed on me for having this privilege to study. I would like to thank my mother and family who prayed during my time in Chiang Mai and my fieldwork.
I would like to thank my friends and colleagues who have helped me with their advice to find this Program and a scholarship.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD), Faculty of Social Science, Chiang Mai University for accepting me to pursue this Program, and most importantly, I highly appreciate and value the full scholarship granted to me. Without this scholarship, I might have not been able to join this study Program. I would also like to extend my appreciation and thanks to RCSD and its publication team for selecting my research for publication.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Amporn Jirattikorn who guided me with valuable advice and suggestions from the preparation of my research proposal until the completion of the study Program. I also thank my co-advisor Dr. Mukdawan Sakboon and the thesis committee chair Ms. Jennifer Leehey for their helpful and wonderful comments and suggestions.
I would also like to thank Dr. Shirley Worland for editing the first version of my study. Then, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Nele Dewilde for her time and efforts in editing my study for publication.
With the help of these respectful people, I was able to complete this research successfully. I would also like to thank all the lecturers and professors for endowing me with valuable knowledge about conceptual learning and for sharing their experiences.
I appreciate Ms. Rungthiwa Hacker, the student support officer, and all the staff members from RCSD for their help and advice during my studies.
I would like to show my deepest appreciation and thanks to all the informants who helped me during my fieldwork. I would like to express my gratitude to the officials from the Indian Embassy in Yangon, the Indian General Consulate in Sittwe, and all the Kaladan Project contractors for sharing their time and information with me.
I would like to thank the member organizations of the Kaladan Movement (Chin Human Rights Organization, Arakan Rivers Network and Zo Indigenous Forum), and the Gender and Development Initiative for their cooperation, and for sharing their experience on social movements and knowledge about the Kaladan Project with me.
I also would like to thank all the community leaders, Members of Parliament, Burmese government officials, local people and villagers for sharing their opinions and experiences during my fieldwork. Without them, this research would have not been possible.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all my classmates, the class of 2018 of the Masters of Arts in Social Science (Development Studies), with whom I have had a fantastic experience and shared knowledge during our coursework.
June Nilian Sang