Mapping Cultural Nationalism: The Scholars of the Burma Research Society 1910-1935, by Carol Ann Boshier

• Published in: Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde Vol. 174; no. 2-3; pp. 298 - 301
• Main Author: Noor, Farish A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Leiden | Boston Brill 01-07-2018; Koninklijke Brill NV
• Subjects: Annexation; British Empire; Buddhism; Buddhists; Burmese; Collaboration; Colonialism; Communitarianism; Cultural identity; Culture; Ethics; Governance; Identity; Knowledge; Minority groups; Nationalism; Political activism; Public officials; Scholars; Society; Siam; Myanmar (Burma)
• ISSN: 0006-2294; 2213-4379
• DOI: 10.1163/22134379-17402005

(Boshier writes that Furnivall was worried that Burmese identity might eventually be diluted or relegated to the margins as a result of Burma’s annexation by the British Indian government, pp. 91–92). [...]from the outset the BRS was meant to be a ‘boundary-crossing’ enterprise that allowed colonized Burmese subjects to meet with British colonial officials and scholars on equal terms—as producers of knowledge working together (p. 4). [...]British colonial power and authority were concentrated on the governance of the Irrawaddy delta area and the management of the Burman ethic group, but less attention was paid to the development of the minority groups in the colony. [...]this was deemed a much more vulnerable symbol than was conceivable in Siam, not least through the disruptions of colonialism itself’ (p. 17). Yet such histories had to be written and discussed in a manner that did not upset the fragile colonial order, or the sensibilities of the Burman majority. [...]it came to pass that the BRS ended up (perhaps unwittingly) creating a more homogenous and essentialized understanding of Burman-Buddhist identity than its founders originally intended.