Yangon Echoes

Yangon Echoes welcomes readers behind the façades of heritage buildings to offer intimate views on life in the cosmopolitan city formerly known as Rangoon, Burma. An unprecedented work of oral history, Yangon Echoes is a rich anthology of fascinating life stories exploring notions and values of heritage and home. This popular history of buildings charts social space and urban folklore, linking past to present via living memories. The storytellers speak of joy and tragedy, simple pleasures and aching issues, candidly sharing their thoughts and feelings of living through Yangon’s emergence from decades of stagnation to engagement with a rapidly spinning world. Told with courage and charm, these informal stories record everyday life through domestic connections to old places.

“The rich tapestry of multicultural Yangon is reflected wonderfully in this brilliant book, a fusion of intangible and tangible heritage that is often overlooked in architectural studies of cities.” William Logan, Professor Emeritus, Deakin University, Melbourne

“This is a precious and intimate history of buildings.” Prof. Su Su, Department of Architecture, Mandalay Technological University

“Yangon Echoes gives voice to resilient people caught in a whirlwind of urban change. Their captivating stories breathe life into the places they’ve called home and transform ordinary buildings into extraordinary repositories of families lives.” Jeff Cody, Senior Project Specialist, Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles