抄録
During the period of British administration, certain areas in the Bago mountains were designated as Karen Reserve Forest. Today, the same area is still reserved for Sgaw Karen farmers who cultivate swidden fields. This paper starts by briefly examining the historical continuity of forest administration of this region from colonial times to the present, including the period of post-independence internal conflict which deeply affected the area. The purpose is to elucidate the peculiar position of the village in the country's administrative system. Then, the article pursues two objectives. The first is to present an ethnography of swidden farming, following the annual cycle of cultivation and exchange of labor involved, paying attention to the mutual relationships within the unit of production which is here designated as “the house,” a notably independent socioeconomic unit. On this basis, the paper then examines how, in this village which has experienced half a century of mobility, relocation, and settlement, “the house” has become a nexus of networks of relationships, both geographically over a wide area and historically through time and generations. Drawing upon some of the literature on “house societies,” especially in Southeast Asia, it concludes that the continuing independence of the house in the Bago Karen village facilitates mobility while maintaining the horizontal ties which provide the necessary network for security, as well as the vertical ties which provide a locus of identity.
