The enigmatic clans of the Palaung: kinship clusters and continuity in Upper Burma

Journal article

This essay tries to bring some clarity to the notion of ‘clan' as employed by early British ethnographers and administrators of Upper Burma, especially with regard to the Palaung population of the Shan States. Several aspects of the ethnographic records of a hundred years ago are examined and discussed. It is suggested that in terms of positivist sociological morphology the actual inconsistent social formations existing at that time remain very elusive. It is suggested that they may be better understood as being formed in processes in which a common, ‘inward-looking', cultural template as to social continuity was, when socially realized, influenced pragmatically by varying discourses and changing realities. The social clusters that resulted showed significant diversity, while still modally honouring the template.

Authors: Aijmer, G

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Anthropological Society of Oxford
• Journal: Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford Online
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 130-154
• Publication date: 2021-01-01
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-jvdebv8vg
• ISSN: 2040-1876
• Language: English
• Keywords: clanship; modal analysis; Upper Burma; Palaung; symbology; JASO