In Burma, and especially in the Mergui Archipelago, it is the right time for the development of tourism. Although still in its early stages, the tourism industry has much to gain from linking itself to local heritage, particularly to the exotic power of attraction of the Moken, one of the last sea nomad populations that is in constant evolution while never letting go of its core. Nevertheless, the social and political context in which they live remains complex.
© F. Galangau-Quérat
Amidst the rise of communitarian, territorial and/or religious demands, the media often depicts Burma’s ethnic minorities using simplistic representations as rebel armies or as exotic remnants of past archaic societies that have escaped from modernity.
Thus, creating a museum would be a means to assert identity, to preserve and value what remains of the heritage of a culture that is under threat, to create a place of memory, to rebuild a history. Since the end of the 1960s, a wide variety of local museum tools and methods have developed around the world to cater to increasingly numerous and diversified demands: local museums, community museums, eco-museums, heritage trails, cultural centres, etc. Often the spearheads of these projects, local populations are becoming more and more involved in project development. However, due to the harsh reality in which museums need to increasingly become their own sources of revenue as state funding is progressively decreasing — a phenomenon that has given rise to the museum-related term “cultural/creative industries” — what culture has to offer is inexorably pulling towards instrumentalization, often having to gear itself towards a luxury audience by offering prestigious displays and activities and by establishing economic partnerships that are primarily luxury-oriented. Thus, much of the museum experience feedback reveals a complex instrumentalization of both local communities and “tourists” alike, the latter being a polymorphous actor in this process1.This phenomenon can be characterized through folklorization or exclusion, as experienced among the Moken of Thailand, thus making it necessary to work on both sides of the border, and through certain cultural elements being given more value over others in order to meet the demands of tourism, whether real or imaginary, thus resulting in the mummification of traditions in national parks or in their conceptualization in tourists spots reflecting the fantasies of NGOs, development actors or researchers. In order to develop a “Moken Museum” in Burma, one would need to go beyond the mere touristy image of flotillas of hulled boats by accommodating the dynamics of Burmese-Moken inter-ethnic relations all while asserting this potential museum’s active role in preservation. Continue reading
Moken Spirit 