Suchergebnisse

Review of the monograph: Donald Seekins: Burma and Japan since 1940. From 'co-prosperity' to 'quiet dialogue'. Copenhagen: NIAS Press 2008, ISBN 978-87-7694-017-1, 191 p.

This book looks at the earliest English contact with Burma; the episode of Thomas Samuel; the foundation of the Syriam factory and its early prosperity and its eventual failure. Further, it examines the conditions of trade experienced by English merchants in Burma in the 17th century; negotiations with Burma, 1680-86 and the Negrais episode, 1686-87. Finally, it covers private trade and the affair of Bartholomew Rodrigues; the mission of Edward Fleetwood and James Lesly to Ava, 1695-96; the period of intermittent relations, 1697-1723; and shipbuilding and the last years of the Syriam factory

Prior to British annexation in 1896, Chinram was an independent country ruled by traditional tribal and local chiefs. Annexation saw the land divided between India and Burma and Chin society abruptly transformed, not least by the arrival of Christian missionaries. The conversion of the Chin to Christianity from traditional locally based Chin religion had unintended consequences as the Chin became involved in Burmese independence movements. They began to articulate their own Christian traditions of democracy and assert a burgeoning self-awareness of their own national identity. Moreover, the church has taken a key role in the struggle of Chin liberation movements in Burma and India. Just how Christianity has provided the Chin people with a means of preserving their national identity in the midst of multi-ethnic and multi-religious environments is the main focus of this study. Written by an exiled former Secretary General of the Chin National League for Democracy, this study contains valuable data on the Chin and their role in the history of Burma, and provides a clear analysis of the close relationship between religion, ethnicity and nationalism.

Successive wars and the establishment of a border between the kingdom of Burma and British India in the nineteenth century challenged Burmese conceptions of sovereignty and political space. This essay investigates how European, and more specifically Anglo-American, notions of race, nation, and consular protection to nationals, progressively informed the Burmese concepts of 'categories of people' (lumyo) and 'subject' (kyun). First, I present the semantic evolution of these concepts in the 1820s–1830s, following the annexation of the western Burmese province of Arakan by British India in 1824. Then, I argue that the Burmese concept of lumyo was progressively associated with the European concept of 'nations' in the 1850s–1860s, following the annexation of Lower Burma in 1852. Finally, I uncover developments in the 1870s, when British consular protection extended to several freshly categorised 'nations', such as Shan, Karenni, and Kachin.

Indian labour migration to Burma and Malaya in the late nineteenth century was an important dimension of British colonial rule in Southeast Asia and coincided with the region's greater integration into the international economy. Compared to the Chinese, Indians formed an important minority only in these states where they filled a critical need in the urban manufacturing sector (Burma) and the plantation sector (Malaya). Their importance declined after World War Two, both in absolute and comparative terms. There were fewer millionaires and traders among them and their emigration to these territories was largely regulated by law. Moreover, the specific political and economic relationship between the Colonial Office in London and these territories determined recruitment patterns and influenced employment relations and working conditions. In turn, these impacted on the living conditions and mortality suffered by workers and shaped the structure of health services.