Saw Tun Associate Professor Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures sawtun@niu.edu

Personal Statement: 

I grew up in a small town in the upper part of Burma. There, I attended school in a traditional setting of Buddhist monastery that emphasized the learning of ancient scriptures. At age 12, I made the transition over to a more modern school setting that taught a broader range of subject matters. Still, my early training at the monastery stayed with me, and I remained fascinated with ancient forms of the Burmese language and literature.

This continued fascination propelled me to take my first teaching job in the Burmese department at the age of 21 at the Mandalay University. Later, as typical of Burmese university system, I took teaching posts at various universities in Burma.  At these postings, I had an opportunity to teach both language and literature in ancient and modern forms. In addition, I taught ancient Mon language. But my favorite part to teach, not surprisingly, was the ancient scriptures printed on stones that predated modern printing.

My teaching career made a transition when I took the visiting professor post to teach Burmese to non-native speakers at the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia. The experience proved to be highly rewarding that when I returned to Burma after the post, I remained actively involved in the teaching of Burmese to non-native speakers. This became more full-time when I took the teaching opportunity at the Foreign Language University in Rangoon in 1987.

However, after 27 years of being in Burmese academia, I made yet another career transition when I took the position of Burmese professorship at Northern Illinois University. At my present post, I am involved in regular classroom teaching as well as developing internet lessons for distance learners. Additionally, each summer, I teach at the Summer Institute of Southeast Asia (SEASSI), which provides an intensive learning experience for those with significant interest in learning Burmese. Although the summer teaching theoretically takes away my vacation, it truly is a rejuvenating experience to work with students who are thoroughly immersed in the learning of the language.

Current research projects, grants and interests:

Despite my new calling as a language instructor, my first love of ancient Burmese literature refuses to give way. Thus, this remains the area of my research, and the focus of my writings. In 1994, the book I have written on Burmese literature of the Pagan Period (1113-1300) received a research award in Burma. At present, I am working on a book on Burmese literature during the Pinya and Inwa Periods (1300-1526). In addition, I write regularly in Burmese monthly journals on language and literature. On occasions, I venture into the writing of short stories.

In addition to the Burmese language and literature, there are two other interests that occupy my time. The first is the documentation of ethnic languages in Burma. Although Burma has a rich diversity in ethnic languages, recent times had seen a drastic decline in their use and knowledge. In order to preserve what is left of the languages, I was involved in a task force on writing of the text on six ethnic languages. In addition to the text, I felt it was crucial to promote the general awareness of the value in documenting these languages. As such, I have written various articles on this front. My second interest lays in bringing about increased exposure of Southeast Asian literature to Burma. Despite increased familiarity with western literature in Burma, the awareness of Southeast Asian literature lags far behind. In order to do my part in amending the situation, I have translated works from neighboring countries, and have written articles on literature in Southeast Asia.

Teaching Interests: 

I regularly teach these courses: 

FLBU 103/104            Beginning Burmese

FLBU 203/204            Intermediate Burmese

FLST 381/382             Special Study

FLIS 481/482              Independent Study