Some Reflections on Ethnic Identity of Refugee Migrants from Burma to Thailand

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to raise the question of the nature of the ethnic identities that we so often seem to take for granted when talking about the refugee migrants coming from Burma to Thailand. To do this, an introductory reference is made to the historical ‘ridge and furrow’ cultural structure of the region, and some implications this has for contemporary national integration projects within Southeast Asia. The theoretical core of the paper then revisits some concepts of ethnicity, with particular reference to the perspectives of ‘primordialism’ and ‘situationalism’. Literature relating these concepts is then outlined, noting their bearing upon the ‘ethnic’ political conflict in Burma. Finally the paper seeks to relate the fore-noted, apparently fixed nature of the ethnic identities of these migrants to the prospects for solutions to the twin crises of democratization and ethnic conflict in Burma.