From Contested Histories to Ethnic Tourism: Cinematic Representations of Shans and Shanland on the Burmese Silver Screen

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    Abstract

    Burma, or the Union of Myanmar, is internationally known for possessing one of the longest-running internal conflicts in modern history. In 1947, on the brink of the country’s independence from Britain, ethnic Karen insurgents first took up arms against the soon-to-be-installed Yangon government. The considerable dearth in international scholarly attention on the subject of Burmese cinema belies the fact that Burma has a nine-decade history of motion picture production, and active cinema production. Burmese film production dates back to 1920, and by the time of the Japanese occupation during the Second World War, the handful of Burmese motion picture studios, in varying degrees of cooperation with Indian studios, had produced approximately 640 films. The chapter discusses the historical inter-relationship between the Burmese and the Shan, and the ways in which the vision for the Union of Burma crucially depends upon a notion of ethnic pluralism, yet asserts and privileges the Burman majority.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationFilm in Contemporary Southeast Asia: Cultural Interpretation and Social Intervention
    Editors David Lim and Hiroyuki Yamamoto
    Place of PublicationLondon, New York
    PublisherRoutledge, Taylor & Francis Group
    Pages23-40
    ISBN (Print)9780415617635
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

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