Karen ethno-nationalism and the wrist-tying ceremony along the Thai–Burmese border

Abstract

This article presents an ethnographic investigation of displaced Karen in a border area of northern Thailand, and in particular, the reasons for their enthusiasm for the wrist-tying ceremony. It examines the way in which Karen ethno-nationalists have both influenced this cultural practice and appropriated it. This study argues that Karen nationalist intellectuals invented and reinvented the tradition of wrist-tying by borrowing structure and content from the use of soul-calling for healing and other purposes. The invented tradition is persuasive and efficacious because of its continuities and ties with existing cultural practices. Ordinary Karen participants utilise vernacular elements of the wrist-tying rite — such as sensory experiences through the handling of ritual objects — to assure a well-balanced life and spiritual security.