Humanities Core Course
Forms of Association
Nation and Empire
Professor Haynes
Week
V
Winter
2007
Burmese Days: Boundaries and Tensions in
Colonial Burma
Key
Terms:
*Nation-State: a circumscribed
territorial space with a single government that assigns rights and responsibilities
*Imperialism: process of expansion and
assertion of domination over contiguous and non-contiguous territory
*Colonialism: organization and experience of ruling
territories
*Colonizer and Colonized: beneficiary of
ruling power vs subject to power of colonial state
I.
Expansion
and Transformation of British Presence in India and Burma
A.
From
East India Company to Imperial Raj, 1700-1858
1.
used military might to consolidate position in
region up to 1820 while accommodating traditional elites and cultural practices
2.
after 1820 Liberal reformers sought to make India in
the image of Britain—outlawed certain customs, reorganized land ownership ;
annexed provinces adjoining kingdom of Burma in 1824 and 1852 (“Eastward
Ho!” and “Home
Again” [1858] by Henry Nelson O'Neil and “In Memoriam” [1858] by Joseph Paton)
3.
rebellion in 1858 led to a reversal in policy;
Indians treated as a race apart,
accelerated territorial expansion, annexed Burma to India in 1885. (“The Accession of the Queen of India." Punch
11 September 1858:107; 'The Secret of England's Greatness' by Thomas
Jones Barker1863;
"New Crowns for Old Ones", by John Tenniel,
1876; and Map of Burma)
B.
Twilight
of the Imperial Raj, 1890-1934
1.
colonial policies contradicted British principles
of equality before the law, free trade, political rights
2.
agreed to devolve some power to colonial subjects in
exchange for support during World War I in 1923 and intensified mass campaign
for home rule and independence
3.
Burma
separated from India in 1935; assumes control over internal government
II.
George
Orwell’s Burmese Days (1934)
1.
born
in India, attended boarding school in
Britain before returning to India to
serve as a police officer and resigned after five years to become a writer (Image
of Orwell as a Baby with Ayah) and Image in Police Officer Group)
2.
published first novel Burmese Days in 1934
(Image of Cover of Novel)
3.
contributed to debate in British society about the
legitimacy of the British empire: A Thankless Noble Burden or Pretext for
Economic Exploitation
B.
Tensions
of Rule in Colonial Burma
1.
boundaries classify people either as colonized and
colonizer:
a) spatial boundaries-residential and commercial, public and
private (Orwell references, pp. 15, 17, 18 & 52)
b) social boundaries-race, class and gender
2.
contingent nature of British power made colonial
and colonized categories flexible:
a) relied on Burmese men and women to support economy and
distribution of power (Orwell references, pp. 11, 50 & 52-55)
b) used knowledge of the power and prestige to enhance
position in the colonial hierarchy (Orwell references, pp. 11, 46-47, 51 &
54-55)
c) institutional, social and spatial boundaries transgressed by
Burmese and Britons in daily life
(Orwell references, pp. 15, 36, 52, 56-61, 62, 73-74, 101 & 125-129)
3.
rules and rituals police and reproduce colonizer and
colonized identities:
a) restricting contact and forms of communication (Orwell
references, pp. 15, 36, 49 & 52)
b) dress and food ways (Orwell references, pp. 20 & 26)
c) group rituals and social practices (Orwell references, pp.
51 & 73-74)
d) imagining “home”(Orwell references, pp. 20, 23 & 25-26).
