Where did “Burmanization,” as a term, come from? We think the first mention is in a 1967 article by Robert Holmes entitled “Burmese domestic policy: the politics of Burmanization.” But there the author took “Burmanization“ to mean the cleansing of specific ”foreign“ elements (Western, Chinese, and Indian capitalist) from the country after the 1962 military coup. In other words, “Burmanization“ was not used as a way to differentiate Bama from taingyintha, at least in this specific text.

Houtman’s might be the first published use. Although his contribution, to be fair, is not explicitly on Burmanization but on Myanmafication. And this is not just a semantic quibble – for his use of “Myanmafication” focuses on the SPDC’s attempt to create a new quasi-civil identity under the sign “Myanmar” (all while smuggling in Bama normativity). His towering book is not just on these issues, however, and must be engaged by all serious Burma Studies students for the arguments about mental culture and its relationship to politics – which is why we link to it here, with all the other cuts.