Arakanais
Diran's book explores Burma's "cultural diversity," portraying not only the better-described tribal groups, such as the Jinghpaw, the Karen and the Shan, but also lesser-known peoples including the Thet people, (a Rakhine people), the Bre, the Laytoo Chin and the Lahta. Sarah Dudley of the University of Leicester understands Diran's work as salvage ethnography, capturing images of a physical culture on the brink of disappearing. According to essay reviews in"Asiaweek" and "The Japan Times", Diran, entering Myanmar via a series of 7-day tourist visas issued in Bangkok, entered areas of the country barred to foreigners by the military regime either by evading or with the connivance of provincial officials and thereby obtained a unique series of images of societies on the brink of replacing traditional dress and locally woven cloth with modern fabrics and styles. Journalist Bertil Lintner took similar risks to enter Myanmar in this period.