日　時：2009年04月04日（土） 14：30～17：00
場　所：京都大学稲盛記念会館（川端通り荒神口角）３階中会議室

発表者：Ronald D.Renard氏　（京都大学東南アジア研究所客員・Former UNODC　Wa Project Manager）
演　題：The Wa of Myanmar and Culture Loss


レナード氏は、チェンマイ在住の歴史学者で、タイ・ビルマ国境の少数民族を専門とされてきました。近年、ビルマ・シャン州のワ族地域に国連の仕事で二年間滞在されました。その滞在期を兼ねて、歴史学者の視点から、当地域の少数民族について話をしてくださる予定です。

Abstract:
The Wa are a Mon-Khmer group in Shan State and Yunnan Province. On the
Myanmar side, there are about 350,000 Wa in Wa Special Region 2, along
with about 50,000 Lahu, Akha, Shan, Chinese, and other smaller groups.
Following a ceasefire agreement with Khin Nyunt in 1989, the local Wa
administration has considerable autonomy within its region. The Wa
maintain about 20,000 troops in the Wa Region where Myanmar government
influence is small.

Despite this indigenous authority, the Wa people are in danger of losing
their traditional culture. Major reasons include the remoteness of the
region, the extreme linguistic diversity among the Wa, and the negative
stereotypes outsiders hold on the Wa (such as they are headhunters and
drug runners). Other reasons include the priorities of the Wa leaders,
who often follow the Chinese model, using Chinese currency, Chinese
phones, and having Chinese serve as the language for Wa official
business. Related to this is the expansion of rubber cultivation in the
area, often by Chinese investors in joint ventures with Wa leaders.
Besides having a negative impact on the environment, rubber cultivation
contributes to the “deskilling” of the Wa by which they lose their
traditional way of life. A distrust of outsiders as well as the
disinterest in Wa culture by the Wa leaders contributes to the loss of
Wa ways of life.

The result may well be that the last Mon-Khmer indigenous culture will
have lost its way. This could easily impede efforts to develop the
region economically as well as scholarship on minority cultures in this
part of the world.

世話人・連絡先
片岡樹：kataoka[at]asafas.kyoto-u.ac.jp
倉島孝行：tkurakura[at]hotmail.com
蓮田隆：hsd[at]cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp
速水洋子：yhayami[at]cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp