The Return of the Galon King: History, Law, and Rebellion in Colonial Burma

Acknowledgments

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS At its core, this book is interested in how histories are made and how circumstances affect the way pasts are remembered. Thinking about history from this perspective is the result of many intellectual and personal experiences that began in the heartland of the United States and has taken me—inevitably it now seems—back to the Southeast Asia of my roots. During this journey, there have been many individuals who have helped shape the way in which I have come to understand Southeast Asia in general and Burmese history in particular. Their friendship, guidance, and support cannot be appropriately recognized by a lifeless footnote or bibliography. It is impossible to demonstrate or qualify the undeniable influence that Mrs. Virginia Marsden had on me as a fifth grader or how Mr. Joe Locascio’s high-school seminar on classical studies paved the way for an interest in history and classical Southeast Asia. Yet, they are part of this book’s genealogy, all part of the processes that led to its shaping. Circumstances have been kind to me by bringing these people into my history, and without them this book and this scholar would not be possible. One enormous influence on the texture of this study stems from the corridors of the University of Michigan’s history department and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Professors Victor Lieberman, Thomas Trautmann, Rudolf Mrazek, John K. Whitmore, and Michael L. Ross were an amazing dissertation committee. They extended their patience, encouragement, and insight during my time in Ann Arbor. Vic’s limitless knowledge, generosity, and critical eye gave me the time and confidence to find my own path to colonial Burma. I will always be xvi Acknowledgments thankful for the many times Vic and Sharon welcomed me into their home, where our dinner conversations took us (thankfully for Sharon) away from Burmese history to the other important things in life— “Law & Order,” baseball, and family. I will always be grateful to Tom for urging me to select different books on the Indian past than what my father read for him; his advice led me to approach Burmese history from the broader story of colonial knowledge production. John’s independent reading seminar introduced me to colonial scholarship on Southeast Asia and whetted my appetite for intellectual history and for Middle-Eastern food at our favorite restaurant on Maynard Street. (Auntie) Susan Go, head librarian of UM’s Southeast Asia division, not only found key sources that are at the very heart of this book but made sure that every Thanksgiving I had enough turkey, pancit, and warm company, which were always good for the heart. I was fortunate during my time at Michigan to have the opportunity to speak with and learn from people such as Pete Gosling, Linda Lim, Diane Hughes, Eleanor Mannika, Judy Becker, Carla Sinopoli, Luis Gomez, Montatip Krishnamra, Nancy Florida, Martin S. Pernick, and Maria Montoya, while benefitting from the friendship and advice of fellow grad students Shah Alam Zaini, Laichen Sun, Kerry Ward, Sarah Womack, Michael Charney, Atsuko Naomo, Jennifer Gaynor, Parna Sengupta, Rama S. Mantena, Will Redfern, and Andrew M. Goss. The University of Michigan’s deep commitment to interdisciplinary studies—especially in the fields of anthropology and history—has had a lasting impression on my work and I am grateful to these folks who took the time to share in and promote that unforgettable experience. My friends and colleagues at the Department of History, the Asia Research Institute, and the Southeast Asian Studies Program at the National University of Singapore have offered me their expertise, funding, and collaborative opportunities, without which I would not have seen this project to completion. I am indebted to Lily Kong and Chua Beng Huat, who first considered my postdoctoral application to the SEASP and then forwarded it to what would be called the Asia ResearchInstitute,settingintomotionmy“loveaffair”withSingapore. While there, Anthony Reid, James F. Warren, Geoff Wade, Ashley Acknowledgments xvii Carruthers, Mark R. Frost, Maung Aung Myoe, Mika Toyota, and Tilman Frasch graciously offered their company and criticism, nurturing in me the incentive to think about the epistemology of rebellion from a broad, pan-Asian perspective. The Asia Research Institute was also instrumental in supporting my efforts to co-organize with Kyaw Yin Hlaing the 2006 International Burma Studies Conference, which pursued a perspective through which Burmese studies could be more inclusive and engaging. The conference...