With more than 25 years of research on the Moken in Thailand and Myanmar, Jacques Ivanoff (CNRS-France) and the Tanaosri team have collected a collection of about 250 pieces, 30 films, 1,000 books and 10,000 photographs covering more than 100 years of nomadism in the Mergui Archipelago.
This unique collection gave birth to three exhibitions:
- “A journey through the Myeik Archipelago” was the first exhibition to display Moken artefacts. The booklet of the exhibition can be downloaded here (low resolution, 22 Mo).
- “Moken Reflects 1894 – 2007” offers more than a century of photographs and Moken items retracing continuities and changes among the society through the last hundred years.
- Entre Noël 2004 et Pâcques 2005 (Between Christmas 2004 and Easter 2005)”, relates the consequences of NGOs and missionaries’ interventions on the Moklen and Moken communities in the aftermath of the India Tsunami.
These collection need to be valorised to give testimony of one of the last nomadic population in the world and an exemplary case of interactions between Moken and the dominant Burmese population.
A project of museum cum interpretation center presenting Moken society through time and in its contemporary dimensions is being elaborated in coordination with the Taninthayi Regional Government of Myanmar.
Historic of exhibitions on Moken by Jacques Ivanoff and the Tanaosri team
2002 (April) – A journey through the Myeik Archipelago
- Venue: Pan Sea Hotel – Yangon
- Duration: 1 week
- Estimated number of visitors: 3000
- Media coverage: MRTV-3, Myanmar Times
- Marking event: the collection of Moken artifacts gathered by Jacques Ivanoff and his team were offered to the Center for History and Tradition (SEAMEO -CHAT) on the 28th April 2002, in the presence of the French Embassador.
The collection is still stored in the CHAT’s compound.
2007 (September to December) – Two-fold exhibition “Entre Noël 2004 et Pâcques 2005” and “Moken Reflects 1894 – 2007”
- Venue: started at the Collégiale St-Pierre, Le Mans (France) and 10 other Convention Centers in France
- Estimated number of visitors: 45 000
- Media coverage: main tv channel and radios from France
- Marking event: launch of the first international exhibition on Moken culture and starting point of an itinerant exhibition throughout France, Thailand and Myanmar
2009 (26th of June to 7th of August) – Moken Reflects
- Venue: Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Antrhopology Centre, Bangkok, Thailand
- Estimated number of visitors: few hundreds
- Media coverage: Bangkok Post, The Nation, French networks
- Marking event: the exhibition has been opened by the French Ambassador in Thailand and the Thai Vice-Minister of Culture
2011 (15th of October to 3rd of November) – Moken Reflects
- Venue: French Institute of Yangon
- Estimated number of visitors: few hundreds
- Media coverage: MRTV-4, Myanmar Times, Seven Eleven news…
- Marking event: – the exhibition has been opened in presence of the French Ambassador; – A conference was held on the theme “Ethnicity and environment in the borderlands”. Speakers: Dr. Jacques Ivanoff (CNSRS-MNHN), Dr. Maxime Boutry (CASE-CNRS), Dr. Myint Thein/Takkatho Ko Latt (writer), Ko Aung Myo Chit (Wildlife Conservation Society Myanmar), Dr. Narumon Hinshiranan Arunotai (Research and Social Institute, Chulalongkorn University), Dr. Supang Chantanavitch (Asian Research Center for Migration, Chulalongkorn University), Thierry Lejard (Specialist of informal education for nomadic populations)
Moken Spirit 