Country: Myanmar

Group: Mon

Date Finalized: 4/5/2020

Team: Giselle Chavez Lopez (lead), Sophia Agne, Aracely Esquer

As one of the first settlers in the territory of present-day Myanmar, the Mon had ruled kingdoms in the regions until the arrival of ethnic Burmans and Tai (Minority Rights, n.d.). After the fall of the last Mon kingdom in 1757, Burmese control ordered the destruction of Mon literature, forbade Mon language, and killed about 3,000 Buddhist priests in the capital (Mon are predominantly Buddhist) (Lieberman 1978, Minority Rights, n.d.). A century later, the British Empire took control of the region, and in 1947, Myanmar gained independence under control of the Burman majority.  Due to unofficial policies of ‘Burmanization’, Mon have been subjected to forced displacement, community dispersal, and restrictions on teaching Mon language and practicing Mon culture (Clarke 2001, Mon 2010).  In the 1990s, about 50-60% of Mon were unable to read or write in Burmese, which adds to the systematic ethnic suppression (Welker, 1995). Under Burman rule, the Mon have been continually suppressed and “denied their cultural, political and religious rights” (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, 2018). The data quality rating is 3, because of the specificity, accessibility, and reliability of the sources.

Sources

  1. Clarke, G. (2001). From ethnocide to ethnodevelopment? Ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia. Third World Quarterly, 22(3), 413-436.
  2. Karen Organization of Minnesota (n.d.). Ethnic Groups. Retrieved March 23, 2020, from https://www.mnkaren.org/history-culture/ethnic-groups/
  3. Fong, J. (2008). Revising the ethnodevelopment model: addressing Karen self-determination within the context of the failed ethnocratic state of military-ruled Burma. Ethnic and racial studies, 31(2), 327-357.
  4. Lieberman, V. B. (1978). Ethnic politics in eighteenth-century Burma. Modern Asian Studies, 12(3), 455-482.
  5. Minority Rights (n.d.). Mon. Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/mon/
  6. Mon, P. N. (2010). Identity, Image and Ethnic Conflict in Burma: A Case Study of Mon People. Dissertation, Washington State University.
  7. Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. (2018, June 6). Mon. https://unpo.org/members/20865