Social Dynamics in the Highlands of Southeast Asia: Reconsidering Political Systems of Highland Burma

This reappraisal of Political Systems of Highland Burma, the seminal work by E.R. Leach, presents much new material on the highlands of Southeast Asia and its borders from writers with long-term research experience in these areas. The Introduction establishes in detail both the theoretical and regional ethnographic significance of Leach’s work and the chapters to follow. Part One discusses issues relating to Leach’s fieldwork, including the background to his research and issues arising from his fieldwork practice. Part Two presents a variety of engagements with Leach’s theoretical approach, particularly his ideas of socio-political oscillation. This theory is considered in relation to the historical experience of culture contact in Assam and Laos, particularly between Tai and non-Tai groups. Part Three considers once more Leach’s ideas with respect to communities that are, or could be considered, Kachin sub-groups in Burma, Tibet and Yunnan, this time focusing on interpretations of exchange and the notion of ritual language. A discussion of approaches towards the study of transethnicity concludes the work. The book is a significant contribution to the development of a new regional anthropology of Southeast Asia, incorporating material from areas that were, until recently, closed to researchers.

François Robinne, Ph.D. (1985) in Social Anthropology, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS Paris), is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Research on Southeast Asia (IRSEA-CNRS). He has published Fils et maîtres du Lac. Relations interethniques dans l'Etat Shan de Birmanie (CNRS, 2000) and Prêtres et chamanes. Métamorphoses kachin (L'Harmattan, 2007).

Mandy Sadan, Ph.D. (2005) in History, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, is British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography (Pitt Rivers Museum), University of Oxford and Junior Research Fellow, Wolfson College, University of Oxford. She has published a number of articles and is currently working on a monograph on the emergence of ethnic categories in Burma.