[Fellowship Opportunities] Shan Collections at the British Library

This fellowship by the British Library is aimed at individuals from Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, and the deadline is 1 November 2022

This fellowship will be hosted by the Asian and African Collections department. The British Library holds about 3000 manuscripts from Southeast Asia, forming the largest and most significant collection of Southeast Asian manuscripts in the UK. Of these, approximately 100 manuscripts, divided between the Burmese and Thai collections, are written in Shan language and script, spanning from the 18th–19th centuries, and including some of the highlights of these collections. The Library also holds ca. 100 print publications in Shan, including early printed books from the 19th century. This Chevening British Library Fellowship is an opportunity to work closely with curatorial staff in the Library’s Southeast Asia Collections on cataloguing and researching Shan language manuscripts and print publications.

The Chevening Fellow will bring their understanding of Shan language and scripts to catalogue the items in a uniform way using Shan unicode (replacing Burmese or Thai script) and the Library of Congress romanisation table for Shan, as well as assess the contents of the items in order to produce full catalogue records. In addition, the Fellow will create a Shan collection guide, produce a hand-list of Shan manuscripts for researchers, help identify a suitable supplier of Shan print publications, and help organise a workshop or show-and-tell of Shan language material. The Fellow has the opportunity to connect with other Shan collections in the UK, Europe, USA, and in Myanmar to promote a wider understanding of Shan literary culture. The Fellow will also promote the Shan collection to wider, non-specialist audiences, using blog posts and social media. They are furthermore encouraged to present on the collection in conferences, to write research articles, and to participate in possible exhibitions and projects.

Source: Shan Collections at the British Library | Chevening