Political Systems of Highland Burma

by Edmund Leach

Political Systems of Highland E.R. Political Systems of Highland Beacon FIRST First Edition Thus, 6th Printing. Not price-clipped. Published by Beacon Press, 1965. Octavo. Paperback. Book is very good with the previous owner's inscription on the flyleaf, remainder mark on the top page ends, and light edgewear. Seller 308056 History

Genres: Anthropology, Nonfiction, Politics, Sociology, Cultural, Linguistics, Ethnography

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Sir Edmund Ronald Leach was a British social anthropologist.

Reviews

[David]

This is an anthropological classic of the first water - and one of the books that opened my eyes to what anthropology could be. It's hard to explain how reading about hill tribes in Southeast Asia where powerful people periodically try to create little kingdoms (gumsa) in imitation of the Shan states in the valleys, but where the complexities of their forms of agriculture and marriage systems inevitably lead them to collapse and form democratic republics (gumlao) again - and then the whole cycle starts all over again - but when you read it, you are entranced. Well, okay, I was. It's books like this that made me want to dedicate my life to anthropology.

[André]

Ouch, I had to read something anthropological/ethnographical again. Those things are always more like a badly sorted collection of stories that either the ethnologist or his informants experienced, mixed with uncertain and imprecise ideas about what everything means or what it might be important for. It's like reading a book of folklore stories and legends. Entertaining (sometimes), but not always very helpful in understanding the actual social relationship or the history of the people. Historical facts were present in the book, though only in one chapter presented as a really really short overview, almost as if it's not important. I realize that this book is a classic and more than 60 years old, but the standards of writing scientific material can't have been that low back then. I did learn many important things from this book, about the Kachin (Jinghpaw) and the Shan, but it was very bothersome to extract important and useful information and seperate them from all the side-notes. I really cannot recommend this book, unless you want to research mid-20th century ethnological British writing style. Sadly, this style is still so common among ethnologists.

[Sara]

Old classics like these are still so important to anthropology. Leach shows that many of the refined techniques used today were also in practice during the early days. Read this as a companion to Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande by Evans-Pritchard and enjoyed the different ethnographic techniques used.

[Hitalo]

sobre cosmovisões e rupturas na antropologia social.

[Lily Bronski]

A classic for a reason

[Completelybanned]

A classic of anthropological theory. Remains highly readable and relevant to those with the eyes to see.

[Athena Yu]

"There are few books that are so 'good to think with'."

[Cjsavage]

THE anthropological work on Upper Burma/Myanmar, particularly the Kachin and Shan States. It remains 'The Burmese Bible' more than fifty years since its first publication in 1954. A must read.

[André]

Originally I had read another version of this book, but I got this one for free, so I put it into my virtual bookshelf. Read my original review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...