ABSTRACT
Burma’s cultural heritage has become highly politicized under the authoritarian military rule of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and appropriated as a powerful political tool in the construction of a national identity that is both ethnically Burman and Buddhist. Since coming to power in 1988, the SPDC has pursued its nation-building goals, in particular the achievement of national unity. More specifically, the reconstruction of Buddhist cultural heritage sites and the revival or reinvention of Burmese cultural traditions and rituals have played a significant role in the SPDC’s attempts to establish a sense of continuity with the past. Burma, geographically located in South-East Asia, has drawn on its historical traditions, in particular with the political system of monarchical rule in the pre-colonial period, when political authority was legitimated through the moral authority of Theravada Buddhism. Hobsbawm and Ranger (1983: 1-2) first coined the term ‘invented tradition’ to refer to a set of practices ‘of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past’. They identify three types of invented traditions: traditions that establish or legitimize institutions, status or relations of authority; traditions that establish or symbolize social cohesion of communities; and traditions that inculcate beliefs, values and conventions of behaviour in a society. The SPDC has sought to revive or reinvent Burmese cultural traditions for all three purposes: to promote the legitimation of authoritarian military rule; to promote the national unity of Burma’s diverse ethnic and religious groups; and to promote those Theravada Buddhist beliefs and values that serve its political ambitions.
