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Richard Humpheries (Black and White) Jason Miller Shwe Koako, Karen State Sylvia Murcfeld Photographs Jean de La Tour Richard Humphries _______________ Version Date June 2004 12/01/2005 Website: Designed, Built and written by Paul Keenan |
Very little is known about the Karens prior to the Konbaung Dynasty (1752-1885). The main reason for this is the fact that the Karens were never united under one ruler, preferring, if not forced, to keep to the hills or in isolated communities. What is known however is the subjugation of the Karens under the then Burman Kings. The Burman rulers saw the Karens as inferiors and often used them as slaves or taxed them more heavily than the Burman villagers themselves[i]. In upper Burma Karen villages were taxed as a whole and then the tax divided up by the number of family members per household. This led to the Karens paying a much higher tax rate than the Burmans.[ii] Exploitation, according to a Sgaw Karen Spokesman addressing the Viceroy of India ('quoted by Anders Baltzer Jorgensen in an introduction to the Karen People of Burma'), also entailed hard labour with the Karens being used to drag boats, pull logs, cut rattan and collect honey, beeswax cardamon and bark for cordage. They had to build frotifications and weave large mats. In addition they were forced to grow vegetables, guard forts and act as guides. These duties took men away from their homes for weeks at a time and many dropped dead in the jungle. Due to the injustice of the Burman system many of the Karens found it easier to withdraw to the hillsides and areas of land faraway from major towns and villages which were surrounded with high stockades.[iii] |
