Reconstruction of the Nu as an Ethnic Group in Northern Myanmar

The Nu in northern Myanmar comprising the Anung and Nusu branches have united giving rise to a movement of ethnic reconstruction. They have restructured the Myanmar Nu people as an ethnic entity with their social identity, cultural traditions, writing system and a Nu language-based Christian theology.

What makes a people so persistently guard its ethnic name, even at the expense of reconstructing its cultural entities? The Nu in northern Myanmar originated from the Anung and Nusu branches of the Chinese Nu people in the Nujiang River valley. In Myanmar's contemporary ethnic construction, the Nu failed to acquire an ethnic identity commensurate with their ethnic name, thus giving rise to their movement of ethnic reconstruction. Out of the need to retain their own language and culture and acquire their ethnic identity, the Anung and Nusu, who had little interaction with each other in history, have become united. Referring to the Chinese Nu people's construction pattern, they have reconstructed the Myanmar Nu people as a complete ethnic entity by enhancing their social identity, reshaping their cultural traditions, and creating their writing system, along with a Nu language-based Christian theological system, in the hope of eventually gaining recognition from various other ethnic groups in Kachin and of the Myanmar government.

Autorentext

He Lin, Doctor of Ethnology, is Associate Professor at the School of Ethnology and Sociology of Yunnan University. His research interests are Southeast Asian (Myanmar) ethnic groups, religions of ethnic minorities in southwest China, practical anthropology, and folk diplomacy research and practice. His major works include: monographs: The Anung: Different Religious Beliefs under One Roof, Folksongs of the Anung in Bingzhongluo; theses: "The Cultural Logics of Paukphaw in Myanmar," "Ethnology for Practice: Ethnology & Anthropology Based on the Practice in China," and "Research on `Pluralism-and-Unity Model and Harmonious Coexistence."

Inhalt

List of Tables Introduction: The Yearning of a People The Nu in Northern Myanmar and Christianity Who Are the Nu: Origin and Construction Ethnic Imaginings and Identity The Nu Script and Nu Language-Based Theology The Reshaping of Cultural Traditions Postscript.