Bamboo People

Burma—a Southeast Asian country bordered by China, India, Laos, Bangladesh, and Thailand—has officially been known as “the Union of Myanmar” since 1989. The name was chosen by the military government, and its use remains inconsistent around the world. The UN uses the term “Myanmar,” but the US continues to refer to the country as “Burma” and its people as “Burmese.” Burmese people use the name Burma informally; Myanmar is considered more “formal and ceremonial” (271). Which name is preferred often relates to the contentious relationship between the military regime and the nation’s many independent ethnic groups. Perkins’s choice to use “Burma” reflects the novel’s emphasis on the efforts of Burma’s ethnic minorities to maintain their sovereignty and culture.

The British colonized Burma from 1886 to 1948, dividing the country into two main regions: “‘Ministerial Burma’ or ‘Burma Proper’, dominated by the Burman majority, and the ‘Frontier Areas’, populated mainly by ethnic nationalities” (“History Since Colonisation.” Burma Link, Burma Link, 10 Oct. 2014). Many ethnic groups ruled their own peoples separately, which created disparities in the development of each region. During Burma’s liberation movement, many ethnic groups allied with Britain, believing that it would “support their right to self-determination” (“History Since Colonisation”), a promise Britain later broke.

The 1947 Panglong Conference, which finalized Burma’s parliamentary democratic constitution, included some ethnic leaders (e.g., the Shan), but Karenni were only observers, and many other groups weren’t represented. Seeking to unite the diverse peoples of Burma, Burmese General Aung San worked hard to gain the trust of various ethnic leaders, but the constitution didn’t include clear protections of ethnic rights. General Aung San’s assassination and Britain’s swift exit from Burma left many issues between the ethnic groups and the Burman majority unresolved, a situation that dramatically worsened and continues today, creating the “longest running civil war in the world” (“History Since Colonisation”).

Most Burman/Bamar (Burmese) are Buddhist, and though many ethnic groups converted to Christianity because of British missionary work, Buddhism became the state religion in the 1950s. In 1962, the military officially seized power. Rejecting General Aung San’s work toward unification, the military government, known as the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), committed human rights violations and repressed criticism. Despite many protests over the next 12 years, Burma remained under martial law. Several ethnic groups near the Thai border controlled their traditional lands, but a BSPP attack in 1984 resulted in some 10,000 refugees fleeing to Thailand, a migration that continues today. In 1987, the BSPP demonetized nearly 70% of Burmese currency, exacerbating widespread poverty.

A pivotal date in Burmese history is August 8, 1988, when the military regime killed thousands of protestors at a nonviolent demonstration in support of “an elected civilian government” (266-67). Although Bamboo People doesn’t specify the novel’s temporal setting, it references the Karenni gym’s establishment in 1984, suggesting that Chiko’s experiences and fledgling activism may culminate in the August 8, 1988 protests. However, Burma’s continued state of turmoil, the regime’s violence against the Burmese people, and the oppression that these people—including ethnic groups—face today suggest a timelessness to Chiko and Tu Reh’s experiences because they parallel current events. Although the boys seek peace, confronting the complicated and painful repercussions of Burma’s past and present will require a reckoning for the future.