Stories of Gender and Ethnicity: Discourses of colonialism and resistance in Burma1

This paper charts the discursive shift between colonial and ‘post’ colonial discourses about gender and ethnicity in Burma, and attempts to counter such representations by offering alternative stories to those colonialist rumours which have established their status as ‘truth’. The first part deals with missionary discourses in colonial Burma; the second with ‘post’ colonial discourses on Burmese women; and the final section offers stories told by women involved in the political struggles of contemporary Burma. The aim of the paper is to attempt to de-territorialize Burma as a site of colonialist knowledge.