2023 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The Making of Modern Siamese-Burmese Boundaries: The Ethnographic Factor
| Project/Area Number |
22K00911
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
C Pavin 京都大学, 東南アジア地域研究研究所, 准教授 (40646098)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2022-04-01 – 2025-03-31
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| Keywords | Territorial conflicts / Spatial knowledge / concept of sovereignty / Colonial politics / Thai-Burmese Relations |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
This year, I underwent an in-depth analysis of how the ethnographic classification led to border demarcation. I studied different mapping techniques based on the result of ethno-classification in drawing the borderline, focusing on the choropleth mapping technique in identifying the borderline. I found documents recorded by diplomats, historians, translators and missionaries who initiated knowledge production in the border region. I also participated in a workshop in Britain in February 2024 to discuss the method of ethnographic classification. In London I collected archival diplomatic telegrams to continue my work in the final year.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
I was able to search for the right materials, using my academic networks in the United Kingdom. The assistance from the Royal Historical Society which jointly organised a workshop in London in February 2024 allowed me to consolidate my networks. I found all the necessary documents for my current research and for the next step of my conclusion. I was also able to connect with scholars in the same field who shared with me the essential mapping techniques for the re-interpretation of the colonial map, hence being able to understand the underlining existence territorial conflict between Thailand and Myanmar as a result of the politicised mapping.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
For this final year, I will explore the bilateral diplomatic negotiations. The Border Commission used the ethnic classification to negotiate which ethnic groups belonged to Burma or Siam (hence their territorial occupancy). The negotiation was particularly important in the event that ethnic classification failed to offer a satisfactory conclusion to either side. To further discuss these intricate diplomatic negotiations, I will hold the final workshop at the University of Harvard and invite researchers who partook in a previous meeting in London to share their latest findings. I will submit the findings in a peer-reviewed journal and will continue to work with those in my networks on the same topic beyond this three-year project.
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