Burma in indigenous and colonial historiography.

Abstract

The paper looks critically in Burmese indigenous and colonial historiography from the late colonial period to the early years of independence. Burmese historiography has been dominated by Englishspeaking authors; first by the British colonial scholars and after the Second World War by the Anglo-American authors. Scholars like G.E.Harvey, Gordon Luce and D.G.E. Hall have dominated our views on colonial and pre-colonial Burma, whereas authors like John S. Furnivall discuss the transition period from colonialism to independence. Very few indigenous voices have been heard; most noteworthy in the elder generation are Maung Htin Aung for the pre-colonial history and Maung Maung covering particularly the crucial years of early independence. The paper compares historiography as presented by Western and indigenous scholars and emphasizes legacies and myths created by the scholarship.