Convergences conceptuelles en Birmanie : la transition du xixe siècle

Abstract

Burmese political conceptions have varied through centuries, borrowing and adapting certain foreign concepts according to the changing sociopolitical context. In this sense, the contact with the Western political thinking was very productive. Between 1820 and 1880, the Burmese kings lost two wars against the British and had to give away several territories before the final annexation of their country in 1886. During this period, the Burmese political and religious elites were confronted to the progressive penetration of British ideas and values. A historical and linguistic investigation of significant texts shows the gradual changes of their sociopolitical representations. Modern political thinking had a strong influence on the Burmese literati from the 1830’ onwards. They gradually rationalized and adapted concepts, whether local or borrowed from the pāli, to a changing conception of the world. These conceptual convergences gave shape to a new way of thinking in the 1870’. The idea of universal king was neglected, when the literati emphasized the social interpretation of the laws of kinship conduct. The modern conception of the reform, conveying the notion of progress, was used to draft new laws. Western notions of racial classification, territorial definition, linguistic and cultural communities, were adopted. But these borrowings did not dramatically alter the Burmese traditional conception of humanity, based on the laws of kamma and impermanence, and the interdependence between the social and the cosmic order as well.

Keywords

• Burma (Myanmar)
• political thinking
• intellectual history
• 19th century
• British empire
• Burmese language