Slave Gathering Warfare and Creolizing Cultures in Pre-Colonial Burma

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Bryce Beemer (PhD Candidate, History) will present "Slave Gathering Warfare and Creolizing Cultures in Pre-Colonial Burma: Histories of Manipuri Captives in Mandalay," as the last session of the History Workshop series, "War and Society: Considering Justice, Violence, and the Military in History." This talk will briefly review the history of slave gathering warfare in Southeast Asia, the ways that captured people were incorporated into the society of their captors, and discuss the ways that skilled artisans, soldiers and intellectuals could be lifted into the upper tiers of the social hierarchy where they could become potent agents for culture exchange.

Though the focus will be on the religious culture of Manipuri descendents. Manipuri Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhist converts all participate in hybrid religious practices and ceremonies that both sustain their community identity as non-Burmese outsiders, but also reflect the profound processes of assimilation and accommodation of their communities to the new cultural and ecological environment in upper-Burma.

Event Sponsor
History, Manoa Campus

More Information
Suzanna Reiss and Matt Romaniello, 956-7407, histwork@hawaii.edu

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