ABSTRACT
One of the defining elements of Myanmar is its ethnic diversity. However, this diversity has resulted in national identity being one of the most contested aspects of the modern Burmese polity. The Burman identity that dominates in virtually every sphere nationally has been reinforced by five decades of military rule, but similarly domineering processes of hegemonic identity-creation have occurred within many of the country’s other ethnic identities. The 2021 coup has generated an unprecedented discursive attention to structural hierarchies of ethnicity, and resistance organisations are acting with it in mind, although the broader societal impacts remain limited. By analysing shifting dynamics of ethnic politics through different eras in Myanmar’s modern history and at sub-national levels, this chapter balances an understanding that ethnic identity is constructed (and thus contingent) with recognition that ethnicity and its effects are nonetheless real and politically impactful.
