Publication Information The main body of the Publication Information page contains all the metadata that HRAF holds for that document.
Author: Author's name as listed in Library of Congress records
Leach, Edmund Ronald
Title:
Political systems of highland Burma: a study of Kachin social
structure
Published By: Original publisher
Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1954. xii, 324 p.
ill., maps
By line: Author's name as appearing in the actual publication
E. R. Leach ; With a foreword by Raymond Firth
HRAF Publication Information: New Haven, Conn.:
Human Relations Area Files, 2012. Computer File
Culture: Culture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC) with the alphanumberic OWC identifier in parenthesis.
Kachin (AP06)
Subjects: Document-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Community structure (621);
Form and rules of government (642);
Cultural participation (184);
Water supply (312);
Tillage (241);
Topography and geology (133);
Ethnic stratification (563);
Behavior toward non-relatives (609);
Land use (311);
Territorial hierarchy (631);
Cereal agriculture (243);
Ethnosociology (829);
Territorial hierarchy (631);
Status, role, and prestige (554);
Form and rules of government (642);
Production and supply (433);
Linguistic identification (197);
Settlement patterns (361);
Classes (565);
Functional and adaptational interpretations (182);
Abstract: Brief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This book is concerned with the Kachin and Shan population
of North-East Burma. By the author's admission, the ethnographic information is neither
detailed nor new, but rather serves as a vehicle for demonstrating what Leach describes as
an oscillation between one Kachin 'republican' political system (gumlao) and the Shan
'aristocratic' system. In this description, the native concepts of territorial division,
kinship, ownership, the supernatural and authority are discussed. The Appendices are
documents offered in support of Leach's 'oscillation' theory. In view of this treatment of
the ethnographic data, it is essential that the reader familiarize himself with category
121, before use of other categories is attempted. Chapter IV, i.e., pp. 63ff, is marked
with the unnumbered subheading 'Hpalang', in order to delineate the continuity of the
categories used. The author did field work among the peoples about whom he writes. He also
served in the Burma Army from 1940-45, much of which time was spent in Northern Burma. Dr.
Leach did his academic work in the University of London.
Document Number: HRAF's in-house numbering system derived from the processing order of documents
26
Document ID: HRAF's unique document identifier. The first part is the OWC identifier and the second part is the document number in three digits.
ap06-026
Document Type: May include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs or chapters/parts of monographs.
Monograph
Language: Language that the document is written in
English
Note:
Includes bibliographical references (p. 313-318)
Field Date: The date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1939-1940
Evaluation: In this alphanumeric code, the first part designates the type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigene, and so on. The second part is a ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data
Ethnologist-5
Analyst: The HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection.
W. Carr ; 1956
Coverage Date: The date or dates that the information in the document pertains to (often not the same as the field date).
1930-1954
Coverage Place: Location of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Kachin State, Burma
LCSH: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Kachin (Asian people)//Ethnology--Burma
