A Hybrid Generation: The Tsao-hpas of Late Colonial Burma between Political Ethnicity and Shan Nationalism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14764/10.ASEAS-0146Keywords:
Burma, Ethnicity, Nationalism, Saohpa/Sawbwa/Tsao-hpa, ShanAbstract
From the late 1880s to 1948, the Shan States, situated in north-eastern Burma, were part of the British colonial empire. Their rulers, the Tsao-hpas or Sawbwas, were kept in power with the British ruling indirectly through them. During the decades of colonial rule, the Tsao-hpas repeatedly put forward demands to have their powers increased and to keep the Shan States independent from Burma. These were based on an understanding of Shanland as being separate and distinct from Burma. Arguing against simplified depictions of the Tsao-hpas as mere feudal lords keen on retaining their powers, this study not only traces their demands through the decades, but aims to show how they played an important role in the development of Shan national identity and nationalism which still plays a crucial role in Burma’s conflicts today. Furthermore, the study locates the generation of Tsao-hpas of late colonial Burma, by being the only class in the Shan States with access to modern education until the late 1930s, as a hybrid and transitional class, between aristocracy and modern intelligentsia, fulfilling both these roles in the development of Shan nationalism, thus diverging from other examples and theories of the development of nationalisms.
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