Corrected Version Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X2000027X 1 Modern Asian Studies , First View , pp. 1 - 24 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X2000027X Mobilizing bodies and body parts from Myanmar to Manipur: medical connections through borderlands in ‘transition’ Duncan McDuie-Ra School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Newcastle Duncan.McDuieRa@newcastle.edu.au Abstract This article focuses on cross-border medical connections between Myanmar and Manipur (India). Non-state actors have been instrumental in creating the networks to bring bodies and body parts back and forth, first bypassing then enmeshing state actors. I focus on the movement of patients and medical samples across the border—from western Myanmar to Imphal city and back again—and the health infrastructure that enables it. Analyzing these connections makes several contributions to the study of border governance. First, movement is primarily from Myanmar to Manipur for treatment or diagnosis, and these connections project particular ways of thinking about each place—western Myanmar as poor and remote, Manipur as advanced and networked. Second, both Manipur and western Myanmar can be considered in ‘transition’ as territories being recalibrated by political dynamics emanating elsewhere yet becoming connected through shared needs. Third, patients and samples move through territories controlled by paramilitary forces, underground groups, and different tribal councils. Routes are sometimes blocked or passage treacherous, testing the limits of conventional notions of bilateral border governance. Finally, cross-border medical connections between Manipur and Myanmar draw attention to the risky cross-border medical mobility of the poor. Rather than seeking to minimize cost, patients utilize Manipur’s health infrastructure out of necessity, providing insights into the contours of cross-border medical care in times of transition. Introduction Cross-border relations between Myanmar and Manipur—a former kingdom and state in present day India—have a rich history. These relations are usually conceived in two ways: (i) historic community-to-community connections animating familial, cultural and gastronomic ties, and (ii) official connections capitalizing on recently improved relations between India and Myanmar evident in cooperation —or at least talk of cooperation—in security operations against insurgents, economic ties, and cross-border infrastructure, including possible gas pipelines. 1 This article focuses on a third domain of cross-border 1 Renaud Egreteau, ‘A Passage to Burma? India, development, and democratization in Myanmar’, Contemporary Politics, vol. 17, no. 4, 2011, pp. 467-486; Marie Lall, ‘Indo-Myanmar Relations