1 Sgaw Karen is a Karennic language used in Burma and Thailand. Sgaw Karen and Pwo Karen are the two most widely-spoken Karennic languages, but there are dozens of others.

2 Cannadine, David, ‘The context, performance and meaning of ritual: The British monarchy and the invention of tradition, c.1820–1977’, in The invention of tradition, ed. Hobsbawm, Eric and Ranger, Terence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p. 120Google Scholar.

3 Ibid., pp. 122–4.

4 Cannadine, David, Ornamentalism: How the British saw their empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 121Google Scholar.

5 Ibid., pp. 125–7.

6 Ballantyne, Tony, Orientalism and race: Aryanism in the British Empire (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002), p. 15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bolt, Christine, Victorian attitudes to race (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971)Google Scholar.

7 Ferguson, Jane, ‘Who's counting? Ethnicity, belonging, and the national census in Burma/Myanmar’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde 171, 1 (2015): 1–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hirschman, Charles, ‘The meaning and measurement of ethnicity in Malaysia: An analysis of census classifications’, Journal of Asian Studies 46, 3 (1987): 555–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Lynn H. Lees, Planting empire, cultivating subjects: British Malaya, 1786–1941 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), pp. 155–7, 284–9; Kaori Shinozaki, Political participation in multiple homelands: Peranakanness of the Chinese in the Straits Settlements of Penang (Fukuoka: Kyushu University Press, 2017), pp. 185–6 (in Japanese).

9 Lees, Planting empire, p. 157.

10 Paul Kratoska and Ben Batson, ‘Nationalism and modernist reform’, in The Cambridge history of Southeast Asia, volume two, part one: From c.1800 to the 1930s, ed. Nicholas Tarling (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. 313.

11 Donald Smeaton, The loyal Karen of Burma (London: K. Paul, Trench & Co., 1887).

12 Ibid., pp. 225, 237.

13 Harry Ignatius Marshall, The Karen people of Burma: A study in anthropology and ethnology (Columbus: Ohio State University, 1922), pp. 25–6.

14 Ibid., pp. 304–9.

15 Government of India, Census of 1891: Imperial series. vol. 9, Burma report vol. 1 (Rangoon: Government Printing, Burma, 1892), pp. 56, 149.

16 San C. Po, Burma and the Karens (London: Elliot Stock, 1928).

17 Kei Nemoto, ‘The concepts of Dobama (“Our Burma”) and Thudo-Bama (“Their Burma”) in Burmese nationalism, 1930–1948’, Journal of Burma Studies 5 (2000): 1–2.

18 Ibid., p. 5.

19 See Ashley South, Burma's longest war: Anatomy of the Karen conflict (Amsterdam: Transnational Institute, Burma Center Netherlands, 2011).

20 Kazuto Ikeda, ‘A note on the origin of the Karen ethnic problem and Thakin historiography in Myanmar’, Ex Oriente 24 (2017): 27–61 (in Japanese).

21 Ronald Robinson, ‘Non-European foundations of European imperialism: Sketch for a theory of collaboration’, in Studies in the theory of imperialism, ed. Roger Owen and Bob Sutcliffe (London: Longman, 1972), pp. 118, 121–3.

22 Matthew Walton, ‘The “wages of Burman-ness”: Ethnicity and Burman privilege in contemporary Myanmar’, Journal of Contemporary Asia 43, 1 (2013): 1–27.

23 Mikael Gravers, ‘Religion and the formation of Karen ethnic identity in Burma’, in Exploring ethnic diversity in Burma, ed. Mikael Gravers (Copenhagen: NIAS Press), 2007; Ashley South, ‘Karen nationalist communities: The “problem” of diversity’, Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs 29, 1 (2007): 55–76.

24 Victor B. Lieberman, ‘Ethnic politics in eighteenth-century Burma’, Modern Asian Studies 12, 3 (1978): 457; Yoshinari Watanabe, ‘Ethnic policy towards various “peoples” in the early Konbaung dynasty: Ethnic awareness in eighteenth to nineteenth century Burma’, in The changing self image of Southeast Asian society during the 19th and 20th centuries, ed. Yoneo Ishii (Tokyo: Toyo Bunko, 2009), pp. 32–3.

25 Aurore Candier, ‘Mapping ethnicity in nineteenth-century Burma: When “categories of people” (lumyo) became “nations”’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 50, 3 (2019): 353–6.

26 Ibid., p. 356.

27 Hitomi Fujimura, ‘Disentangling the colonial narrative of the Karen National Association of 1881: The motive behind Karen Baptist intellectuals’ claim for a nation’ Journal of Burma Studies 24, 2 (2020): 275–314.

28 ‘Her Majesty's Jubilee’, Rangoon Gazette Weekly Budget (RGWB), 18 Feb. 1887, pp. 16–17.

29 American missionaries edited the four volumes of a Karen language thesaurus in the 1840s. See Sau Kau Too and Jonathan Wade, eds, Thesaurus of Karen knowledge, comprising traditions, legends or fables, poetry, customs, superstitions, demonology, therapeutics, etc., vols. 1–4 (Tavoy: Karen Publication Committee, 2001 [1847–50]). While Sau Kau Too and Wade were credited as co-editors, a vast vocabulary was also collected by other Karen converts.

30 ‘Asiatic Mission: Burma’, Baptist Missionary Magazine, July 1882, pp. 214–39.

31 Jonathan Wade, ‘The first twenty years of the Mission to the Karens of Burma: 1828–48’, n.d., Wade, Jonathan, 1328. International Ministries: Biographical Files, Group 1: Series 2. American Baptist Historical Society, Atlanta.

32 Jonathan Wade, ‘Letter from Mr. Wade’, Baptist Missionary Magazine, May 1833, p. 201.

33 Ellen M. Mason, Geography: Ancient and modern (Moulmein: American Baptist Press, 1861), p. 7.

34 For example, they called inhabitants in Dawei dawe pwa kalu (people of Dawei). See Sau and Wade, Thesaurus, p. 315. When ta (one) was inserted between pwa and kalu, pwa ta kalu denotes ‘one kind of people’. Pwa ta kalu was frequently used interchangeably with pwa kalu.

35 They stayed at least for two or three years, and some stayed much longer, up to nine years.

36 Theodore Thanbyah, A pilgrim's life (Rangoon: Hanthawaddy Press, 1920), pp. 70–71.

37 Ibid., p. 71.

38 ‘Thanbyah, T., The contest for economic supremacy in Asia’, in the Senior orations 1868–1877, 1913–14. Box 1, Rare Books, Special Collection and Preservation, University of Rochester Library.

39 Theodore Thanbyah, The Karens and their progress (1854–1914) (Yangon: Missionary Press, 1913), p. 88.

40 See Fujimura, ‘Disentangling the colonial narrative’.

41 ‘In memoriam’, HTG, Dec. 1906, pp. 190–91.

42 See Fujimura, ‘Disentangling the colonial narrative’.

43 Thanbyah, Karens and their progress, p. 89.

44 Thanbyah, Pilgrim's life, p. 20.

45 Shwe Nu, ed., Seminary's first jubilee (1845–1895) (Insein: Seminary Press, 1895), pp. 79–85.

46 Thanbyah, Karen and their progress, p. 88. The idea of holding a general meeting once every three years must have been derived from the American Baptist Mission's tradition.

47 Three of the founders, Thanbyah, Myat San and Yah Bah, had studied in New York together; little is known about the fourth, Pinnya Oo. Thanbyah, Karen and their progress, p. 93.

48 ‘Report on municipal administration in Lower Burma’, India Office Records and Private Papers, Departmental Annual Reports, IOR/V/24/2951 (1885–1889), British Library. We have little other information about this periodical because the early volumes are lost.

49 Thanbyah, Karen and their progress, p. 94.

50 The British Burma government introduced the municipal system in 1874. Seven municipal committees were set up, for Rangoon, Moulmein, Toungoo, Bassein, Akyab, Henzada and Prome. The British Burma Gazetteer, vol. 1 (Rangoon: Government Press, 1880), p. 494.

51 ‘Report on the administration of British Burma’, India Office Records and Private Papers, Departmental Annual Reports, IOR/V/10/496 (1880–81), British Library, London.

52 ‘Report on the working of municipalities of British Burma’, India Office Records and Private Papers, Departmental Annual Reports, IOR/ V/24/2950 (1883–85), British Library, London.

53 Ibid.

54 ‘Burma Proceedings (July 1886–Dec. 1886)’, India Office Records and Private Papers, Proceedings, IOR/P/2660, British Library.

55 Public interest in municipal elections remained low throughout the 1880s in general. Only about 5% of Rangoon's population (134,176) registered to vote in 1884. And among 7,205 who pre-registered, only 2,705 voted on election day. Even with the general low voting returns, the Karen scored the lowest. ‘Burma Proceeding (1884)’, India Office Records and Private Papers, Proceedings, IOR/P/2185, British Library.

56 ‘Burma Proceedings (1885)’, India Office Records and Private Papers, Proceedings, IOR/P/2431, British Library. According to the 1881 Census, there were only 171 Karen in Rangoon, though a mission source reported 3,945 Karen converts in the town (Baptist Missionary Magazine, 1880, p. 208). This discrepancy suggests Karen Baptists’ indifference in identifying themselves solely by their ethnic entity.

57 Ibid.

58 ‘Burma Proceedings (July 1886–Dec 1886)’.

59 ‘Report on Municipal Administration in Lower Burma’.

60 Intelligence Branch of the Quarter-Master-General's Department in India, History of the Third Burmese War 1885, 1886, and 1887 period I: History of the War prior to the annexation of the country (Calcutta: Government Printing, 1887), pp. 54–5.

61 Hodgkinson, the Commissioner on Special Duty in Rangoon, was nominated for the Star of India. Three other Britons were named for Order of the Indian Empire.

62 ‘Her Majesty's Jubilee’, 1887, 1/1/2481, National Archives Department of Myanmar (Yangon).

63 Ibid.

64 Although this local chief was nominated as a sawbwa, designating him as Shan, he was probably a Chin chief of Thang Thut. The exact name of the area was found in another colonial report regarding the Chin chiefdom issue (‘Kale and Thang Thut Sawbwas [1886–87]’, 1/1(A)/2562, National Archive Department of Myanmar (Yangon)). British officers in the 1880s called all non-Burmese chiefs in the highlands sawbwas, though the term sawbwa explicitly meant ‘Shan prince’.

65 ‘Her Majesty's Jubilee’.

66 Cannadine, Ornamentalism, pp. 88–90.

67 ‘Her Majesty's Jubilee’, p. 15.

68 ‘Miscellaneous’, HTG, Feb. 1887, p. 19.

69 RGWB, 13 Feb. 1887, p. 3.

70 Thanbyah, Karen and their progress, p. 110.

71 Ibid.

72 This began with a parade at 7.30 am on 16 Feb. The royal artillery fired an imperial salute and the united bands followed, playing the national anthem. The official thanksgiving prayer was held at St Trinity's, the largest Anglican church in Burma. At night, lanterns were hung throughout the city and British ships were decorated with lights. See ‘Her Majesty's Jubilee’, RGWB, p. 16.

73 Ibid.

74 ‘The Queen's Jubilee’, HTG, p. 41.

75 ‘Her Majesty's Jubilee’.

76 There is uncertainty about who presented the address. RGWB named Shwe Moung Oung as the presenter (‘Her Majesty's Jubilee’, RGWB, p. 17). On the other hand, a Karen delegate reported that Thanbyah read the address (‘The Queen's Jubilee’, HTG, p. 40). HTG seems more credible on local names, because the RGWB often had errors in spelling local names. Besides, Thanbyah's fluency in English supports his suitability to read the address.

77 ‘The Queen's Jubilee’, HTG, p. 40.

78 ‘Her Majesty's Jubilee’, RGWB, p. 17. Thanbyah, Karen and their progress, p. 110.

79 ‘The Queen's Jubilee’, HTG, p. 41.

80 ‘Her Majesty's Jubilee’, RGWB, p. 17.

81 Two Chinese names, Lim Soo Hean and Khoo Jeow, were found on the list. A Shan headman U Nanda and an inspector of police, Babu Khan, also received the certificate; ibid.

82 Ibid.

83 In the Sgaw Karen letter, the term pwa kalu appeared in the first and second sentences in the second paragraph. The English term ‘race’ appeared in the last sentence of the second paragraph and the second sentence of the third.

84 Ibid.

85 These acts of violence were not racially oriented even on the part of the Burmese, who attacked Baptist Karen and their villages not because they were Karen, but because they were followers of Christianity, the faith of the colonisers.

86 The government was also not interested in the Burmese request because it was planning to grant pardons for many political prisoners on the occasion of the Jubilee, in order to display British imperial generosity, but not in response to the request of their subjects.

87 ‘The Queen's Jubilee’, HTG, p. 41.

88 The publishing of the Sgaw Karen version was an example of the KNA's promotion of the concept of a nation, as traceable in the historiography of terms for ‘race’ and ‘nation’ in the language. See Hitomi Fujimura, ‘The emergence of dawkalu in the Karen ethnic claim in the 1880s and the beginning of contestations for “native races”’, in Living with Myanmar, ed. Justine Chambers, Charlotte Galloway and Jonathan Liljeblad (Singapore: ISEAS, 2020), pp. 315–34. Some of the discussion in ‘The emergence of dawkalu’, which does not provide the full context of the Golden Jubilee, has been incorporated in the present article.

89 Sau and Wade, Thesaurus, vol. 1, p. 51; ‘Taxes’, HTG, Aug. 1846, p. 200. Kupoh must have been borrowed from the equivalent Burmese term kywun daw (royal slave), as ku means ‘slave’ and poh ‘child’ or ‘person’.

90 Sau and Wade, Thesaurus, vol. 1, pp. 51 and 202. Those terms were commonly used as ‘your servant’. Yet, the Sgaw Karen letter frequently referred to the Queen simply as ‘you’, instead of ‘master’ or ‘lord’.

91 Sau and Wade, Thesaurus, vol. 2, p. 316.

92 Ibid., pp. 316–17.

93 ‘The Queen's Jubilee’, HTG, p. 42.

94 Ibid., pp. 42–3.

95 Speculatively, the KNA delegates’ disappointment that not a single Karen was honoured on the occasion of the Jubilee might also have stimulated them to publish the Sgaw Karen letter to seek more support for their cause from their own people.

96 ‘The Queen's Jubilee’, HTG, pp. 40–1.

97 Charles Bernard, ‘Burma: The new British province, delivered before the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee, November 1887’, Scottish Geographical Magazine 4 (1888), p. 72Google Scholar.

98 Ibid., p. 73.

99 Ibid., p. 75.

100 ‘Miscellaneous’, HTG, pp. 162–3.

101 J.H. Vinton, ‘The Karen Mission’, Baptist Missionary Magazine, Feb. 1888, p. 44. According to the annual report for 1886, 4,349 Karen Baptists were affiliated with the Rangoon Karen home mission, contributing a large sum equivalent to 5,100 dollars to sustain their mission work. ‘Seventry-third Annual report’, Baptist Missionary Magazine, July 1887, pp. 314–15.

102 J.H. Vinton, ‘The Karen Mission’, Baptist Missionary Magazine, Feb. 1888, p. 44. There are other Karen orthographies as well: the Baptist-oriented Pwo Karen, the Buddhist-oriented Pwo, and Ler Ker characters. For the historical development of each of these Karen orthographies and its community, see William Womack, ‘Literate networks and the production of Sgaw and Pwo Karen writing in Burma, c.1830–1930’ (PhD diss., School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 2005).

103 South, ‘Karen nationalist communities’, pp. 57–62.

104 The term pwa takalu or pwa kalu in the original text were translated as ‘one race’. And dawkalu was translated as ‘nation’.