Gendering Asia,no. 7. Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2012. xiii, 370 pp. (Figures, map.) £19.95, paper. ISBN 978-87-7694-089-8.
This is the first history of women in Burma to run the gamut of the historical period, from the second-century BCE to the present day. It is an impressive attempt to encapsulate the experiences of women throughout the shifting geopolity we now know as the state of Myanmar; indeed, Harriden’s success in achieving a history that examines the temporal dimensions across an area that has rarely remained unchanged for long are to be applauded, let alone her focus upon women in particular.
Here, too, she has made an excellent contribution, as scholars of gender issues and history in Myanmar and amongst the Burmese diaspora have had little else to rely upon until very recently. The appearance of two other historical studies of women in Burma relatively simultaneously: Chie Ikeya, Refiguring Women, Colonialism, and Modernity in Burma (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2011) and Tharaphi Than, Women of Modern Burma (Routledge, 2013) indicates, however, that there is a need for the “gender gap in Burmese history” to which Harriden refers (2) to be filled, and that others are beginning to address this need.
The book is modeled closely upon other longue durée histories in the Gendering Asia series from NIAS Press. The classical/premodern period precedes the colonial era, which in turn gives way to a discussion of nationalism, a decade of post-independence social reconfiguration, and increasingly narrower bands of time are analyzed through the end of the twentieth century up until the present day. Where Harriden departs from this model is in her innovative chapters on the ambiguity of “femaleness” in Burmese culture and the empowerment of women in exile.
The introduction emphasizes that the timeless nature of gender equality asserted by some Burmese writers is at variance with reality, contextualizing the situation of women in Burma in a political, social and economic sense. The section on the historiography of gender in Southeast Asia cites the usual gender history suspects in preparing a theoretical framework; the description of sources and methodology (8–14) was enlightening and should be noted by scholars intending to carry out in-country research themselves. Chapter 1 is perhaps the most useful for non-Burmese specialists as it gives an excellent explanation of three Burmese Buddhist concepts, hpoun, ana, and awza, without which it is impossible to understand power in Burma/Myanmar. Chapter 2 is the first historical chapter, drawing together the earliest polities (Pyu, Mon, and Burman groups before the Konbaung dynasty) in a coherent manner for analysis. Chapter 3 is devoted exclusively to the Konbaung dynasty, from 1752 to 1855; chapter 4 starts in the aftermath of the Second Anglo-Burmese War, when the power of the Burmese elite had begun to wane in the face of British annexation, and concludes after the Japanese and the British had been expelled.
Chapter 5 looks at the impact of independence and modernization on women in Burma until the military takeover in 1962, itself explored in chapter 6. Chapter 7 is solely focused upon the rise of Aung San Suu Kyi and her continuing significance despite cultural beliefs regarding gender roles. Chapter 8 carries through from the post-8888 persecutions of pro-democracy group members until early March 2011. Chapter 9 moves outside of Burma/Myanmar proper to the space of exile and resettlement in diaspora, where gender norms have been reconceived in different ways by women who continued to call Burma “home.” The conclusion links together the past history of Burmese women with their present and addresses their potential futures as agents of change and keepers of tradition.
Harriden’s argument is that despite a general belief that Burmese women were accorded higher status than their counterparts elsewhere in Asia, first espoused by colonial-era writers and taken up as evidence of Burmese “progress” in the nationalist movement and after independence in 1948, this was not the case in the distant past nor in the present. She cites examples of women who, through a combination of external forces particular to their time and place, were able to articulate agency and wield power; but these examples are few and reinforce her overall thesis. Aung San Suu Kyi, the symbol of resistance against an oppressive state in what is seen as an inherently Burmese manner, involving non-violent protest, literary works and discussion, is a woman, certainly, but her attraction for the Burmese people began not because of her inherent personal qualities as a leader. It was rather because of her relationship to Aung San, her father, a national hero assassinated at the very moment that Burma prepared to embrace independence from Great Britain. Despite the personal sacrifices she has made in pursuit of freedom for Burma and in spite of her oratory skills that blend Burmese tradition with modern, democratic reform, she is a woman, and therefore cannot possess hpoun. Lacking hpoun, no one can be seen as a force for political change in Burma.
Scholars of Burmese history will find this book an excellent accompaniment to the histories of Burma that tend to obscure women or pay lip service to the supposed “high status” of Burmese women compared to other women in Asia. Readers beyond the academic realm—working in gender and development, public health programming, and governance and human rights training—should read Authority of Influence for a solid grounding in the trajectory of Burmese history and how it has shaped gender perspectives within Burmese culture today. Historians of Southeast and South Asia who are interested in questions of gender will find it essential reading. While some will no doubt complain that a deeper analysis of one or perhaps two periods of history would have been “better,” I argue that there is a place for the longue durée approach, especially in an area of history such as women’s history that has been woefully understudied, if only so as to provide a starting point for future scholars. In this book, Harriden has provided such a beginning, and restored a female voice to the span of Burmese history.
Trude Jacobsen
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, USA
pp. 194-196