Losing My Religion

Insight Myanmar · Aug 21, 2025 · 1h 47m

Episode #382: Zack Tu Nan, a queer, ethnic Zaiwa activist and student living in the Netherlands, reflects on his journey through marginalization, faith, identity, and exile. Born in 1994 in—literally—a rice field in Kachin State while his parents fled military violence, Zack grew up in a remote village run by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), where he enjoyed a rich, traditional Zaiwa upbringing. But entering a Burmese state school in Loi Jai exposed him to Bamar cultural domination—his family name was stripped away, his pronunciation mocked, and even his given name, “Tu Nan,” ridiculed.

As…