My Photo Story:
Cultural Visualization of a Burmese International Student

Show Ei Tun
Eastern College

Since I came to the United States from my country, Burma, two years ago, I have experienced an array of cultural clashes. For instance, on my arrival to the U.S. when I first entered my host parents’ house, I was going to take my shoes off and they said I did not have to do that and they did not either. I was confused. Then when they took me to the room that was arranged for me upstairs, again I was going to take my shoes off and they grinned and said, "We do not take our shoes off when we come into the house." My problem is that when I'm in Burma we always take our shoes off at the door before going into the house unless the floor is cement, particularly when we visit someone else's house.  If we do not take our shoes off, it is considered rude. In the same way, either at school, at church, at the grocery store, or almost everywhere; I come across similar problems.  Every time I run into a situation that makes me feel somewhat confused, funny, embarrassed, or sometimes uncomfortable, it reminds me of my identity and my different background.  Ever since I came to America, comparing my culture with the American culture is a part of my daily routine that I can’t escape.   It makes me think of redefining myself:  who I am, where I am from, and how I grew up. In other words, my experience of learning American culture and comparing it with Burmese culture helps me to see the distinct parts of my culture, or my origin, which I would not have noticed if I were still in Burma.

Thinking about American and Burmese culture, I realize one thing that is common between the two cultures is that each is culturally diverse or multicultural in its own way. Needless to say America is multicultural in terms of a variety of nationalities, immigrants, scholars, and business people from different countries. Burma, on the other hand, is more diverse in terms of its various tribes or ethnic groups, which possess their own distinct cultures within the country. Since Burma is composed of over 135 ethnic minorities, including the eight major ethnic groups, describing the culture is not easy. Therefore, I will describe my culture compared to others by sharing about myself:  my ethnic origin and my homeland. Before I go on, I would like to give you a brief introduction to  Burma.

Picture 2.  Map of Burma

Burma, known as "Myanmar" since 1988, is in Southeast Asia between the two big countries--India in the west and China in the northeast--and two smaller countries--Laos in the east and Thailand in the southeast. It was under the British control for over a hundred years until 1948. After that it was ruled under the Burmese version of Socialism, which is said to be a combination of isolationism and Buddhism.  In 1988, the military regime took over the power and has been ruling up until today.

Burma is the size of the state of Texas. It has a population of forty-six million. There are seven "divisions" and seven "states."  In fact, we could say there are fourteen states, but the difference between "division" and "state" is that each state represents one of the seven major ethnic groups:  Kachin, Kayah, Kayin or Karen (the same spelling of the American girl's name "Karen"), Chin, Mon, Rekhine, and Shan. "Division" is just a term used instead of "state," but it does not imply differences in ethnic groups.                                  

Picture 3. The dancing of the Chin ethnic group.

Each of the seven major ethnic groups has its own culture:   traditional goods, clothing, language, literature, beliefs, and skills. Although Burman (Ba-mar) is the largest group in Burma, there is no state called the Burman or Ba-mar State; most of the Burman people are spread out in the middle part of Burma. Apparently there are over a hundred minor ethnic groups with their own languages, clothing, and foods; but most of them do not have literature.  There is also a large Chinese and Indian population in Burma.

The national or official language in Burma is Burmese, the language of the Burman (Ba-mar) people.  Most people speak at least two languages, Burmese and their tribal or ethnic language.  In some rural areas, people do not even know Burmese but speak their own tribal language.

Picture 4. A Burmese on a Burmese cow (the cow that Burmese farmers use to plough the ground)

Now I will introduce myself and the way I understand myself in relation to other cultures.  I am a Burmese, which means simply that I am a citizen of Burma; it does not reveal my ethnic background. Like an American that can be white, black, Asian, or Latino, I come from four different groups:  my dad is Mon and Chinese, and my mom is Karen and Kayah. Although my dad is half-Chinese and half-Mon, he knows very little about Chinese or Mon culture since he grew up in the middle part of Burma where Ba-mar influence prevails. As for my mom, she grew up with her grandparents who are Karen so he knows only Karen and was raised as a Karen. Consequently, I feel more comfortable claiming myself as a Karen rather than a combination of the four since I can speak only Karen, which I learned from my mom; and I am more familiar with Karen culture than the culture of other groups in my blood. I go to a Karen church and I have the word "Naw" in front of my name:  Naw Show Ei Ei Tun.  "Naw" stands for "Miss" in the Karen language. If a woman introduces herself as "Naw" (the name), we know she is a Karen woman and as "Nang" (the name), we know she is a Shan woman.  The same thing is true for men but with different words.

Picture 5.  My mom, my dad, and I in front of my elementary school when I was in the first grade.  I'm wearing a Karen dress.  My parents are wearing formal Burmese dress.

I cannot speak Kayah but I do know a little bit about the culture. I speak some Mandarin Chinese, not from my dad but by taking a class because the Chinese that my dad knows is a different dialect. Therefore, the common language in my family is Burmese, the official language of the country. For me, how I define myself in terms of ethnic origin has more to do with how I grew up rather than my family heritage.

Although I claim myself as a Karen Burmese, due to the fact that I am an ethnic mix I tend to be more liberal than those who are purely from a certain ethnic background and are more or less tightly bound by their own culture. In other words, I have always been interested in the cultures of others and have learned to appreciate them because I am part of those cultures.

By looking my ethnic origin, one can tell there are intercultural marriages in Burma; but I want to convey that the people of Burma are more concerned about marrying within the same ethnic group. Maintaining their ethnic origin is a priority and is considered necessary to be faithful to their ethnicity. Even within a certain ethnic group; for instance, Kachin; there are sub-Kachin groups and they have a rule that a woman of that sub-Kachin group is not supposed marry a man from that sub-Kachin group. They believe that if they marry somebody of a different culture they ruin their ethnic purity; and also it is hard to blend the two different cultures.

Since following the values of their culture is such an honor within each ethnic group, ethnic groups do not usually adopt new ideas or ways of doing things. Sometimes this ethnocentrism leads to conflicts between ethnic groups.  (There have been some major issues between some ethnic groups in Burma that go beyond the focus of this Photo Story.) 

In my hometown, most green grocery sellers are Pa-O, one of the minor ethnic groups. And when we go grocery shopping, they expect us to speak their language. We have to know at least how to call numbers in their language to communicate with them in a market place.

Picture 8. Pa-Oo ethnic group selling groceries at the marketplace.

While Americans are well-known to be very "individualistic," which is understood as thinking independently and expressing their thoughts freely without being under unnecessary restriction, the Burmese people cannot be thought of as "individualistic" in the American way because of the strict Burmese political system. If culture also includes how we think and how we express what we perceive, then it's worth noting that the Burmese political system plays a certain indirect role in shaping how the Burmese think. Burmese society is much more closed compared to America. There is no freedom of speech and press. As a result, most Burmese people tend to keep their thinking to themselves and be obedient in action. In addition, the Burmese culture is considerably influenced by the national religion, Buddhism; which represents 90 to 94% of the population.

Religion is part of the everyday lives of the Burmese. Religious activities fill much media coverage as well as seasonal events. Culture, religion, and politics are interestingly intertwined in Burma.

Despite the close social and political system among the people of Burma, the influence of American culture, which we call western culture, is inevitable. For instance, when I show the picture of my cousins (below) to my American friends, they notice something I would have overlooked.  In the picture there is a wall poster of the American Titanic star, Leonardo DeCaprio, hanging on the wall.  For me, when I was in Burma seeing American movies and songs was quite commonplace.

Picture 11.  A splash of American influence among Burmese young people

In conclusion, it is very fascinating for me to see Burma as multicultural with it owns diverse ethnic groups. I respect the way the ethnic groups treasure their norms and values. And it has always been a delight to think that I have a mix of four different bloods. The more I understand the complexity of my own cultural diversity, the more I believe that the awareness of other cultures is important in our daily life wherever we live because every country is multicultural in its own way.    

I would like to thank Diana Sowards, Raewyn Munhenk, and Daw Dawromu for allowing me to use their photos for this paper.

www.myanmars.net/myanmar/people.html