Karen people

The Karen or Kayin (Karen: Pwa Ka Nyaw Po or Kanyaw; , ; , Kariang or Yang), are a group of ethnic peoples who reside primarily in southern and southeastern Burma (Myanmar). The Karen make up approximately 7 percent of the total Burmese population of approximately 50 million people. A large number of Karen also reside in Thailand, mostly on the Thai-Burmese border. The Karen are often confused with the Red Karen (or Karenni). One subgroup of the Karenni, the Padaung tribe from the border region of Burma and Thailand, are best known for the neck rings worn by the women of this group of people. Karen legends refer to a 'river of running sand' which ancestors reputedly crossed. Many Karen think this refers to the Gobi Desert, although they have lived in Myanmar for centuries. The Karen constitute the biggest ethnic population in Myanmar after the Bamars and Shans.

Some of the Karen, led primarily by the Karen National Union (KNU), have waged a war against the central government since early 1949. The aim of the KNU at first was independence. Since 1976 the armed group has called for a federal system rather than an independent Karen State.

Distribution

The Karen people live mostly in the hills bordering eastern region and Irrawaddy delta of Burma, primarily in Kayin State, with some in Kayah State, southern Shan State, Ayeyarwady Region, Tanintharyi Region and in western Thailand.

The total number of Karen is difficult to estimate. The last reliable census of Burma was conducted in 1931. A 2006 VOA article cites an estimate of seven million in Burma. There are another 400,000 Karen in Thailand, where they are by far the largest of the hill tribes.

Divisions

The Karens have been divided by ethnologists into Red Karen and White Karen.

Red Karen (Kayah)

According to a 1983 census, the Red Karens (Karenni) consist of the following groups: Kayah, Geko (Kayan Ka Khaung, Gekho, Gaykho), Geba (Kayan Gebar, Gaybar), Padaung (Kayan Lahwi), Bres, Manu-Manaus (Manumanao), Yintale, Yinbaw, Bwe, Paku, Shan and Pao. Several of the groups (Geko, Gebar, Padaung) belong to Kayan, a subgroup of Red Karen.

S'gaw Karen

The largest and most widely scattered Karen group. Many live in Yangon Division, Bago Division(Taungoo District, Bago District and Tharyarwaddy District), Mandalay Division(Pyin Oo Lwin and Kalaw), Tanintharyi Division(Myeik and Dawei), Ayeyarwaddy Division(Hintharda District) , East Karen State (Thanton), Kayah State (Mawchi) and Thailand (Chiang Mai Province). S'gaw Karen language is a common language for most of the Karen People. In Karen, S'gaw Karen are called Bar Htee.

Pwo Karen

East Pwo Karen live in western Thailand and Kayin State, Burma; West Pwo Karen'' live in Irrawaddy Division, Burma. In Karen, Pwo Karen are called Mo Htee

White Karen

Most of the White Karen live near Pyinmana. S'gaw and Pwo Karen are not White Karen. In Karen, White Karen are called Ka Nyaw Wah.

Paku Karen

Paku Karen live in Taungoo, Bago Division, Kayah State, Mawchi and east Kayin State, Thandong. Paku Karen Baptist Association is headquartered in Taungoo. The Paku Karen speake S'gaw .

Political history

In 1881 the Karen National Associations (KNA) was founded by western-educated Christian Karens to represent Karen interests to the British. They argued at the 1917 Montagu-Chelmsford hearings in India that Burma was not "yet in a fit state for self-government", but 3 years later, after submitting a criticism of the 1920 Craddock Reforms, won 5 (later 12) seats in the Legislative Council of 130 (later 132) members. The majority Buddhist Karens were not organised until 1939 with the formation of a Buddhist KNA.

During World War II, when the Japanese occupied the region, long-term tensions between the Karen and Burma turned into open fighting. As a consequence, many villages were destroyed and massacres committed by both the Japanese and the Burma Independence Army (BIA) troops who helped the Japanese invade the country. Among the victims were a pre-war Cabinet minister, Saw Pe Tha, and his family. A government report later claimed the 'excesses of the BIA' and 'the loyalty of the Karens towards the British' as the reasons for these attacks. The intervention by Colonel Suzuki Keiji, the Japanese commander of the BIA, after meeting a Karen delegation led by Saw Tha Din, appeared to have prevented further atrocities.

. The small village on the left is disappeared as of 2008.]] The conflict continues , with a new KNU headquarters in Mu Aye Pu, on the Burmese–Thai border. In 2004, the BBC, citing aid agencies, estimates that up to 200,000 Karen have been driven from their homes during decades of war, with 160,000 more refugees from Burma, mostly Karen, living in refugee camps on the Thai side of the border. Reports as recently as February, 2010, state that the Burmese army continues to burn Karen villages, displacing thousands of people. Many Karen, including people such as former KNU secretary Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan and his daughter, Zoya Phan, have accused the military government of Burma of ethnic cleansing. The U.S. State Department has also cited the Burmese government for suppression of religious freedom. This is a source of particular trouble to the Karen, as between thirty and forty percent of them are Christians and thus, among Myanmar's, a religious minority.

Language

The Karen languages, members of the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family, consist of three mutually unintelligible branches: Sgaw, Pwo, and Pa'o. Karenni (Red Karen) and Kayan belong to the Sgaw branch. The Karen languages are almost unique among the Tibeto-Burman languages in having a Subject Verb Object word order; other than Karen and Bai, Tibeto-Burman languages feature a Subject Object Verb order. This anomaly is likely due to the influence of neighboring Mon and Tai languages.

Religion

Karens were Animists originally, but today the majority is Buddhist in conjunction with Animism. The Buddhist influence came from the Mon who were dominant in Lower Burma until the middle of the 18th century. Tha Byu, the first convert to Christianity in 1828, was baptised by Rev George Boardman, an associate of Adoniram Judson, founder of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. Today, Karen Christians are of two main denominations: Baptist and Seventh-day Adventists. Persecution of Christians by the Burmese authorities has continued to this day, fueled by the belief that Western imperialists have sought to divide the country not only on ethnic but on religious grounds.

The Seventh-day Adventists have built several schools in the Karen refugee camps in Thailand to educate and serve the Karen people. Eden Valley Academy in Tak and Karen Adventist Academy in Mae Hong Son are the two largest Seventh-day Adventist Karen schools.

The plot of the 2008 Sylvester Stallone film Rambo was about the rescue of Christian missionaries imprisoned by the Burmese junta for aiding the Karen people in Burma.

Kawthoolei

Kawthoolei is the Karen name for the state that the Karen people of Burma have been trying to establish since the late 1940s. The precise meaning of the name is disputed even by the Karen themselves; possible interpretations include Flowerland and Land without evil, although, according to Martin Smith in Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity, it has a double meaning, and can also be rendered as the Land Burnt Black; hence the land that must be fought for. Kawthoolei roughly approximates to present-day Kayin State, some parts of Pegu and Tanintharyi Division, although parts of the Burmese Ayeyarwady River delta with Karen populations have sometimes also been claimed. Kawthoolei as a name is a relatively recent invention, penned during the time of former Karen leader Ba U Gyi, who was assassinated around the time of Burma's independence from Britain.

See also

Kayin State

Karenni

Book about the Karen

Footnotes

References

Print

Online

Karen Baptist Convention in Thailand

San C. Po, Burma and the Karens (London 1928)

Film

The ongoing persecution of the Karen by the Burmese army is depicted in the 2008 film Rambo 4.

==External links==

the Karen people of Burma

S'gaw Karen Grammar

S'gaw Karen Dictionary

S'gaw Karen Bible

Karen Baptist Convention, Myanmar

Karen Media on Youtube

Adventist World Radio Karen

Karen Baptist Theological Seminary

Pwo Karen Theological Seminary

Karenvoice.net, shares the information of Karen interacting in the world from the past, struggling in Burma in the present and transiting in the world again in the future

Karenpeople.org, a non-profit web portal on the Karen peoples

Karen Human Rights Group, a new website documenting the human rights situation of Karen villagers in rural Burma

Drum Publication Group, web site of a community based Karen organization including an on-line English - Sgaw Karen Dictionary and Sgaw Karen and Burmese language e-books to download.

The Karen Hilltribes Trust a UK charity helping the Thai Karen. They work in partnership with the local Karen on a number of projects such as installing clean water systems and teaching English in the schools.

Kawthoolei meaning "a land without evil", is the Karen name of the land of Karen people. An independent and impartial media outlet aimed to provide contemporary information of all kinds — social, cultural, educational and political

Burma's Karen Face Hard Times as Insurgency Begins Sixth Decade Voice of America, February 2006

Free Burma Rangers, website of NGO that provides humanitarian assistance to Internally Displaced People

U.S. Dept. of State 2005 International Religious Freedom Report on Burma

Index of IRF reports on Burma 2001-5

Help without Frontiers

The Quest for Karen Unity Ashley South, The Irrawaddy, October 2006

Revolution Reviewed: The Karens' Struggle for Right to Self-determination and Hope for the Future Saw Kapi, February 26, 2006, Retrieved on 2006-11-12

Karen Seventh-day Adventist Church website

Kwekalu literally "Karen Traditional Horn", the only online Karen language news outlet based in Mergui/Tavoy District of Kawthoolei

Karen Women's Organization

Karen Mahouts Throw an Elephant Party The Irrawaddy, June 27, 2007

YouTube coverage of Burma and Karen documentary filmmaker CNN, October 6, 2007

Video of Karen The Globe and Mail

Remembering our heroes and rethinking the revolution Saw Kapi, Mizzima, August 13, 2008

Karen Audio Bible

For Us Surrender Is Out of the Question Mac McClelland, Mother Jones, March 1, 2010. An informative article written by a journalist who lived with Karen human rights activists.

Category:Ethnic groups in Burma Category:Ethnic groups in Thailand Category:Karen people