With a young population of 50 million, an ambitious roadmap for political reform, and on the cusp of rapid economic development, since 2010 the world's attention has been drawn to Myanmar or Burma.

But underlying recent political transitions are other wrenching social changes and shocks, a set of changes less clearly mapped out. Relations between ethnic and religious groups, in the context of Burma's political modern of a state composed of ethnic groups, are a particularly important ""unsolved equation"".

The editors use the notion of metamorphosis to look at Myanmar today and tomorrow – a term that accommodates linear change, stubborn persistence and the possibility of dramatic transformation. Divided into four sections, on politics andinstitutions, identity and ethnic relations, social change in fields like education and medicine, and religion in a Buddhist-dominated society, the volume takes a broad view, combining an anthropological approach with perspectives from political scientists and historians. This volume is an essential guide to the political and social challenges ahead for Myanmar.