Anthropological Study on Formation of National Culture in Myanmar

缅甸是一个多民族国家，在第二次世界大战后获得独立。如何研究缅甸的文化动态？本文认为，缅甸或缅甸文化是东南亚大陆世界形成过程中“文化标准化或同质化”的重要因素，并结合几次文化变迁的浪潮。其过程可称为缅甸化（Burmanization或Bamamization），即缅甸民族文化的形成，特别是在20世纪90年代。掸族是缅甸的少数民族之一。对掸族来说，“宗教”认同和“民族”认同是不可分割的。Poykhu mo tai是代表两种身份的象征性活动之一。在缅甸，掸族的文学传统与其他各民族的文学传统一样，都被认为是最基本、最有价值的文学传统。从他们的祖先的连续性或家谱可以通过佛教书面经文的媒介来体验。日 ...更多信息 我们是佛教徒，不仅意味着对佛教信仰的肯定，而且也意味着加入佛教谱系和传统，为掸族以及缅甸其他佛教徒。就掸族而言，他们对“宗教”身份和“民族”身份的意识是如此之多，以至于他们不仅试图保留新的文字系统，而且还试图保留旧的文字系统，以寻求起源。后者的知识象征着他们与祖先的联系。文学遗产是在掸族文化化的过程中通过识字而得以传承和保存的。民族国家是我们这个时代占主导地位的政治形式。它意味着一个明确界定的领土，或多或少同质的人口和某种代议制政府。关于第二个因素，人们期望每个国家或公民都有受教育的权利，政府应该实施义务教育。任何组成民族国家的民族群体，通常都要学习本民族语言，以便与其他民族群体共同建设一个更加现代化的民族国家。这种情况在世界各地都很容易发现。近年来，似乎又出现了另一个因素，即互联网传播的全球化。全球化一方面有文化跨国界同质化的趋势，另一方面也出现了文化本土化的现象，如文化本土化的复兴。在未来，掸族的一种自我民族意识可能会以不同于以往的方式表现出来。由于罗马不是一天建成的，掸邦的知识传统是通过佛教崇拜和民族关系，特别是与缅甸的关系形成的。掸族通过对文学文化的反思和发掘来建构和重构知识，可以在本土化和全球化的文化复兴语境中继续发挥作用。少

Myanmar is a multi-ethnic nation-state that became independent after the second World War. How cultural dynamics in Myanmar will be studied? My thesis is that Myanmar or Bamar culture is an important factor of "cultural standardization or homogenization" in the making of mainland southeast Asian world combining with several waves of cultural change. Its process may be called Myanmanization (Burmanization or Bamamization), e.g. formation of national culture in Myanmar, especially in 1990s. The Shan is one of the ethnic minorities in Myanmar. For the Shan, "religious" identity and "ethnic" identity are inseparable. Poykhu mo tai is one of the symbolical activity that represents both identities. In Myanmar literary tradition of the Shan is especially regarded as essential and valuable one just as case of other ethnic groups who have each writing system for a long time. The continuity or genealogy from their ancestors can be experienced through the medium of Buddhist written scriptures. Th … More us being Buddhist signifies not only affirmation of Buddhist belief but also joining in Buddhist genealogy and tradition for the Shan as well as other Buddhists in Myanmar. In case of the Shan, their consciousness toward both "religious" identity arid "ethnic" identity can be so multiplied that they try to preserve not only the new writing system but also the old one for seeking the origin. The knowledge of the latter symbolizes their linkage with the ancestors. Literary heritage is truly transmitted and preserved by acquisition of literacy in the process of enculturation of the Shan.The nation-state is the dominating political form of our times. It implies a well-defined territory, a more or less homogenous population and some kind of representative government. Concerning about the second factor, it is expected that every national or citizen shall have the right to education and the government shall execute compulsory education. Any national group who composes a nation-state shall usually learn the national language for the purpose of building a more modem nation-state together with the other national groups. Such a case is easily found out everywhere in the world. Recently it seems there appears another factor, i.e. globalization of communication by inter-network. On one hand globalization has a direction of homogenization of culture crossing national borders, on the other hand there is seen several cases of localization, for example cultural revival in locality. In the future a kind of self-ethnic consciousness of the Shan may manifest itself in other mode than before. As Rome was not built in a day, Shan tradition of knowledge would have been formed by Buddhist worship and interethnic relationship especially with the Myanmar. Shan construction and reconstruction of knowledge by reviewing and discovering their literary culture may be continuously acted in the context of cultural revival in locality and globalization. Less