Karen People Research Articles

High-Value Plant Species Used for the Treatment of "Fever" by the Karen Hill Tribe People.

The symptom “fever” is generally not itself a terminal condition. However, it does occur with common mild to severe ailments afflicting the world population. Several allopathic medicines are available to attenuate fever by targeting the pathogen or the symptom itself. However, many people in marginal civilizations are obligated to use locally grown medicinal plants due to limited access to common pharmaceuticals. The Karen ethnic group is the biggest ethnic minority group in the hill-tribes of Thailand. They utilise a vast repertoire of medicinal plant species. Since many modern drugs were discovered out of traditional therapies, it is possible to discover new allopathic drugs in the treatment of fever and associated pathogens from the Karen people. Thus, this study aims to identify and record the ethnomedicinal plants they used for the treatment of “fever”. The names of plants used by the Thai Karen people for the treatment of fever were mined from publications on ethnomedicinal uses. Useful plant species and families were identified using the Cultural Importance Index (CI). With the mined data, 125 plant species from 52 families were identified, distributed across 25 Karen villages. A chemical cross-examination of these species provided valuable insights into chemical classes worthy of further investigation in the context of fever and associated pathogens.

Traditional Uses of Leguminosae among the Karen in Thailand.

Leguminosae (legumes) are one of the largest plant families. They are widely used for a variety of purposes by people around the world and include many important cultivated economic food crops. On local scales, legumes are commonly used by various ethnic groups. However, the data are incomplete and scattered, not least in Thailand. We found that species of legumes were important in Karen communities, so we decided to investigate in detail the traditional knowledge of legumes on a local scale among Karen people in northern Thailand. We interviewed six herbalists and eighty-four nonherbalist informants in three Karen villages in Chiang Mai province about their use of legumes, and about the local names for the species, using semistructured interviews. A total of 83 legumes species (in 45 genera) had 4443 use reports. Five of the 83 legume species had not been reported previously as used in Thailand. Most Karen use reports (43%) of legumes were for food, medicine (36%), and materials (8%), but in term of species more legumes (68 species) were used for medicine than for food (53 species). The legume genera with most used species were Crotalaria and Flemingia each with six species. The most important species are Tamarindus indica (CI = 3.38), Senegalia rugata (CI = 2.39), Glycine max (CI = 1.27) respectively.

Bound within Borders or Free as a Bird? Karen Life in Refugee Camps on the Thai–Burma Borderlands

ABSTRACT Some residents of Thai–Burma border refugee camps regard themselves as caged birds—as prisoners of war—with little or no freedoms. External imaginations of camp residents as bound within borders are also common. This paper provides another perspective. It argues that residents subvert camp limitations; it describes how they stretch life beyond borders. Despite their armed monitoring, camp borders are contested by outwardly connecting, using tactics of transnationalism and translocalism; in essence, cross-border mobility. Such tactics provide freedom in an otherwise incarcerated camp-life and empower people in an otherwise powerless world. They enable individual actors to change their socio-political narrative. Naturally, severely isolated and restricted camps have low morale and residents have little hope. Given the relative permanence of Thai–Burma border camps (now in their fourth decade of existence), and an annual downward trend in their international aid, I recommend policy that ensures consistently clear channels of connection to life beyond camps’ borders. This paper contributes to the borderlands debate by adding camp borders as another framework for investigation; it reflects on geopolitical contexts and shifting political landscapes impacting on cross-border mobility; and underscores the agency and self-determination of the Karen people from Burma.

The Instrument as Instrumental: Pgaz k’Nyau Bamboo Musicking and Karen Eco-Friendliness

While the tehnaku, the iconic six-string curved neck harp of the Pgaz k’Nyau (Sgaw Karen) people has made a strong comeback after 19th and 20th century, scholars lamented its demise, many other traditional bamboo instruments of the Pgaz k’Nyau still remain little-known, not only in academia but increasingly within Pgaz k’Nyau communities themselves, due in part to national forestry laws, resettlement and evictions, modernisation campaigns, and an increasing scarcity of, or restricted access to, certain natural and cultural resources. This ethnographic study investigates the various uses of bamboo in two Pgaz k’Nyau communities in Thailand, illustrating the importance of local knowledge of natural resources and the place of bamboo in shaping Pgaz k’Nyau music, ethics, aesthetics, ecological activity, beliefs and social relations. Bamboo musical instruments, in legends and in everyday application, are co-created with help from rodents and insects, lure wild pigs from the forest, bookend human lifecycles, help to confine spirits to the forest and the afterlife and are reworked from pig troughs into slit-drums used to drum up communal action. This research discusses how these increasingly rare bamboo musical instruments speak to a variety of contemporary contextual issues faced in Pgaz k’Nyau communities. We argue that Pgaz k’Nyau bamboo is instrumental in reflecting and perpetuating long-standing eco-friendly cultural practices embodied in a five-part Pgaz k'Nyau prescription for managing ecological relations within the self, between self and other, between the human and animal world, between human and forest, and between human society and the supernatural world; and it does so in response to Thai political narratives that have inappropriately labelled the Pgaz k’Nyau as destroyers of national forests.

Karen Homegardens: Characteristics, Functions, and Species Diversity

Diversity is one of the most important traits of homegardens and contributes to maintaining their functions. Here, we investigated the diversity, characteristics, and functions of 75 Karen homegardens from four villages in Chiang Mai and Tak provinces in northern Thailand. In each homegarden, all used plant species were registered and classified according to their main use. The diversity and richness in each homegarden was estimated and the stratification of plants in horizontal zones was investigated. A total 268 plant species were recorded, ranging from 100 to 146 species in each of the four villages. These plants were mostly kept in the homegarden yard or along their boundaries. The most common species were mango (Mangifera indica L.), jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.), guava (Psidium guajava L.), and taro Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott. Besides these species, most plants differed from one village to another. Distance between the homegardens was important; homegardens in the same village were more similar than those in different villages. However, beyond the individual level, the distances alone could not be used to determine similarity. Despite the variation of species found in homegardens, the function and horizontal stratification of the Karen homegardens shared many traits. They satisfied both physical and aesthetic needs to the Karen people as witnessed by the high proportion of food and ornamental species. The reverse effects of urbanization (we used the distance from the nearest urban area as a proxy) on the diversity of ornamental species was also observed. In general, Karen homegardens had high richness and diversity which directly benefited the conservation of plant species. This diversity promotes food security at the household and community levels.

ARDETH MAUNG THAWNGHMUNG. The "Other" Karen in Myanmar: Ethnic Minorities and the Struggle without Arms. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2012, xxxii+197p.

The Other Karen in Myanmar: Ethnic Minorities and the Struggle without Arms ARDETH MAUNG THAWNGHMUNG Lanham: Lexington Books, 2012, xxxii+197p.For decades, the face of the Karen people to the outside world has been rebels fighting the Government of the Union of Myanmar. The year after independence following an Arakanese rebellion and an insurrection by the Communist Party in 1948, different elements of Karen-led army units broke away from the government and eventually coalesced with yet other armed groups under the leadership of the Karen National Defense Organization.In a country run by a military government and all but closed to international researchers from 1962 until recently, the Karen rebellion was viewed by many as a valiant (although increasingly futile) stand for minority autonomy against oppression. The largely Protestant leadership of the rebellion evoked sympathy from outside the country especially in North America so much so that the Karens were sometimes mistakenly seen as predominantly Christian.What most observers did not realize, however, was that Karens involved in the rebellion constituted only a small minority of the Karen population in the country and that by far most Karens were not Christian.These misunderstandings are not surprising. There is a lack of access to the country's minority areas with travel restrictions impeding contacts even by the country's citizens so that nobody, local or expatriate can do field research. With the main avenue of understanding ethnic relations coming from refugees on the Thai border, who often are sympathetic to the Karen National Union (KNU), it is clear how misunderstandings about Karens developed and grew.Now a big step has been taken towards filling this gap with Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung's book, The Other Karens. Even before opening the book one gets positive feelings from favorable comments on the back cover by Robert Taylor and Ashley South, two scholars who do not always agree on the area's ethnic peoples.The author is eminently prepared to study this subject. She studied at some of the best institutions of secondary and higher learning in the country and also had access to indigenous Karen networks. She writes (p. xxi) that As a Karen, I have had privileged access to the community and information that are not easily accessible to foreign researchers. Through family connections she got to know leading scholars such as U Tun Aung Chain, an ethnic Karen who understands perhaps better than anyone the position of Karens in the country. Besides serving on the Myanmar Historical Commission, Stanford (as he is often called) is scrupulously honest and impartial, something recognized by the KNU in consenting to his serving as translator for its ceasefire negotiations with the government. Fluent in Karen, Burmese, and English, the author also was able to visit refugee camps in Thailand as well as cities across the United States and elsewhere to meet Karens.She also importantly had the determination and patience to see this study through. She comments that her research aroused suspicions among Karens about her motives as well as doubts among KNU supporters that she was not faithful to the cause of the rebellion. She writes (p. xxiv) that she could not count the times I was tempted to abandon this project as a result of the emotional stress and moral dilemmas involved in pursuit of it.Partly this is because the Karen population is diverse and politicized. It is also subject to so many variables that no precise definition is possible. Discussions over the issue have not settled what Karenness is since anthropologist Peter Hinton asked, Do the Karen really exist in 1983. The fact is, as Hinton wrote, that they (an indefinite term at best) have no common identity.Even seemingly definitive factors, such as fluency in one of the Karen languages, cannot conclusively determine whether one is or should be considered Karen. …

Two versions of Buddhist karen history of the late british colonial period in Burma: Kayin Chronicle (1929) and Kuyin Great Chronicle (1931)

The majority of the Karen people in Burma are in fact Buddhist, in spite of their widespread image as Christian, pro-British, anti-Burman, and separatist. In the last decade of British rule, two Buddhist interpretations of Karen history—virtually the first ethnic self-assertion by the Buddhist Karens—were published along with the first Christian version. Writing in Burmese for Burmese readers, the authors of these Buddhist versions sought to prove that the Karen were a legitimate people (lumyo) comparable to the Burman and Mon in the Buddhist world, with dynastic lineages of their own kingship (min) reaching back into the remote past, and a group faithful to their religious order (thathana). This linkage of ethnicity=kingship=religion was presented in order to persuade skeptical readers who believed that the Karen, lacking the tradition of Buddhist min, were too primitive to constitute an authentic lumyo of the thathana world. Analysis of these texts will shed light on the social formation of Karen identity among the Buddhists from the 1920s to the 1930s. This will also lead us to consider the historical processes whereby the quasi-ethnic idioms and logic innate to the Burmese-speaking world were transformed in the face of modern and Western notions of race and nation, and consequently the mutation of Burma into an ethnically articulated society.

First structured camera-trap surveys in Karen State, Myanmar, reveal high diversity of globally threatened mammals

AbstractThe hill forests of Karen State, Myanmar, were previously inaccessible to biologists and conservationists for security and political reasons. We have, however, now been able to conduct six surveys across the area, using camera traps, for a total of 9,511 trap-nights, to ascertain the presence of threatened mammal species. We obtained 4,191 records of at least 31 mammal species, including 17 categorized as Near Threatened, Vulnerable or Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Carnivores were especially diverse, with 19 species recorded, indicating a globally significant community, including the tiger Panthera tigris, leopard Panthera pardus and dhole Cuon alpinus. Our methodology was not appropriate for estimating relative abundance or occupancy but the species richness of the mammal community, the number of records and the number of locations where species were detected suggest the area is important for the conservation of a globally threatened mammal community that is in decline across the majority of its range. Despite long-standing conservation efforts undertaken by the Karen people, their forests are threatened by hunting and habitat loss. These threats are likely to be exacerbated as political change brings rapid development. Urgent action is thus needed to assist the Karen people to protect one of South-east Asia's last intact rich and diverse ecosystems.

Autosomal STR variations reveal genetic heterogeneity in the Mon-Khmer speaking group of Northern Thailand

Since prehistoric times, Mon-Khmer speaking people have been recognized as indigenous ethnic groups living in northern Thailand. After the period of Tai colonization in the thirteenth century CE, the Mon-Khmer inhabitants were fragmented; some were expelled to rural areas while some were integrated into the mainstream of Tai society. Autosomal STR variations revealed that the present-day Mon-Khmer people could be genetically divided into two clusters. This finding appears to be consistent with the level of historical contact with the Tai majority ethnic groups. The cluster consisting of the Khamu, Lua, Paluang and Htin people, indicate that they have lived in remote areas and have had little historical contact with the Tai people. In this way, they appeared to have maintained aspects of their Mon-Khmer ancestral genetic bloodline but have genetically diverged from the Tai people. The cluster comprised of the Mon and Lawa people had an exclusively close relationship with the Tai people during the establishment of the prosperous Lan Na Kingdom. A fraction of the Tai genetic component investigated among the Mon people and some Lawa populations reflected the evidence of genetic admixture. However, some Lawa people, who have lived in the mountainous area of Mae Hong Son Province have exhibited a unique gene pool, which might have been shaped by the founder effect that occurred during their historical fragmentation. The rise of the genetic assimilation of the hill-tribe Karen people into the Mon-Khmer and the Tai gene pools indicated that different languages, cultures, and geographical distances have lost their power as barriers of inter-ethnic marriages in the present day.

Extremely High Prevalence of Metronidazole-Resistant Helicobacter pylori Strains in Mountain People (Karen and Hmong) in Thailand.

This study aimed to survey the prevalence, patterns of antibiotic resistance, and clinical factors associated with antibiotic resistance in Helicobacter pylori among the Karen and Hmong mountain people of Thailand. We recruited dyspeptic patients in the Maesod district, Tak Province, Thailand. All subjects underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and three antral gastric biopsies were obtained for rapid urease tests and culture. An epsilometer was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations of amoxicillin (AMX), clarithromycin (CLR), metronidazole (MNZ), levofloxacin (LVX), ciprofloxacin (CIP), and tetracycline (TET). A total of 291 subjects were enrolled; 149 (51.2%) were infected with H. pylori. Helicobacter pylori infection was present in 47.1% of Thai, 51.7% of Karen, and 58.7% of Hmong subjects. Antibiotic resistance was present in 75.8% including AMX (0.8%), TET (0%), CLR (5.6%), MNZ (71.8%), CIP (19.4%), LVX (19.4%), and multidrug resistance in 21.8%. Karen subjects had the highest prevalence of MNZ resistance (84.6%), and Hmong subjects had the highest prevalence of fluoroquinolone (27.3%) and multidrug (34.1%) resistance. MNZ plus fluoroquinolone (14.5%) was the most common multidrug resistance. There was no association between clinical factors and antibiotic resistance. MNZ resistance was prevalent, whereas fluoroquinolone- and multidrug-resistant H. pylori infections are important problems in mountain people of Thailand.

Validation of a brief mental health screener for Karen refugees in primary care.

Karen refugees from Burma are one of the largest refugee groups currently resettling in the USA. Karen people have endured decades of civil war and human rights violations, leaving them more likely to develop serious mental health disorders. There is a noted lack of brief, culturally validated tools present in primary care settings for detecting posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) in Karen refugees. To create the Karen Mental Health Screener, a five-question screening tool used to identify depression and PTSD and to validate it against a clinical reference standard. This validation study was conducted during a primary care visit. Participants completed a 20-item questionnaire using a 4-point visual aid and the PTSD and MDD portions of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID-CV for DSM-IV) as the reference standard. Both the questionnaire and the relevant sections of the SCID-IV were rigorously translated and administered by trained researchers along with a trained Karen interpreter. Logistic regression models and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were used to determine a subset of items that could be used to construct a screener to identify Karen patients who were most likely to have PTSD and/or MDD. A final five-question screener was created with very strong performance characteristics. With a clinical cut score of 4, these items displayed very strong performance characteristics with sensitivity = 0.96, specificity = 0.97, positive predicted value = 0.83 and negative predicted value = 0.99. The Karen Mental Health Screener is a valid measure for detecting PTSD and major depression in Karen people from refugee backgrounds presenting in a primary care setting.

Microgeography and molecular epidemiology of malaria at the Thailand-Myanmar border in the malaria pre-elimination phase.

BackgroundEndemic malaria in Thailand continues to only exist along international borders. This pattern is frequently attributed to importation of malaria from surrounding nations. A microgeographical approach was used to investigate malaria cases in a study village along the Thailand–Myanmar border.MethodsThree mass blood surveys were conducted during the study period (July and December 2011, and May 2012) and were matched to a cohort-based demographic surveillance system. Blood slides and filter papers were taken from each participant. Slides were cross-verified by an expert microscopist and filter papers were analysed using nested PCR. Cases were then mapped to households and analysed using spatial statistics. A risk factor analysis was done using mixed effects logistic regression.ResultsIn total, 55 Plasmodium vivax and 20 Plasmodium falciparum cases (out of 547 participants) were detected through PCR, compared to six and two (respectively) cases detected by field microscopy. The single largest risk factor for infection was citizenship. Many study participants were ethnic Karen people with no citizenship in either Thailand or Myanmar. This subpopulation had over eight times the odds of malaria infection when compared to Thai citizens. Cases also appeared to cluster near a major drainage system and year–round water source within the study village.ConclusionThis research indicates that many cases of malaria remain undiagnosed in the region. The spatial and demographic clustering of cases in a sub-group of the population indicates either transmission within the Thai village or shared exposure to malaria vectors outside of the village. While it is possible that malaria is imported to Thailand from Myanmar, the existence of undetected infections, coupled with an ecological setting that is conducive to malaria transmission, means that indigenous transmission could also occur on the Thai side of the border. Improved, timely, and active case detection is warranted.

Ethnomedicinal plants used for digestive system disorders by the Karen of northern Thailand.

BackgroundDigestive system disorders have a substantial effect on worldwide morbidity and mortality rates, including in Thailand, where the majority of the rural areas have a lack of proper sanitation and awareness about disease prevention. This has led to the prevalence of different types of digestive diseases. Karen people in Thailand still use medicinal plants as first aid remedies in treating these diseases. Therefore, this study aimed at documenting the plants used to cure and prevent different types of digestive system disorders by Karen people of Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand.MethodsEthnomedicinal data were collected from six key informants and 172 non-specialist informants regarding their traditional knowledge of medicinal plants. Quantitative approaches were used to determine Use Value (UV), Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) and Fidelity Level (FL) values.ResultsThe study revealed that 36 medicinal plant species belonging to 31 genera and 24 families were used to treat digestive system disorders. The most prevalent plant families were Zingiberaceae (6 species), Euphorbiaceae (4 species) and Fabaceae (4 species). Leaves were the most commonly used plant part accounting for 32.6% of the plants, followed by the bark (18.6%). About 60% of the administrations were given orally by potion (60%) and consumption as food was also indicated (14%). The highest ICF values were recorded for carminative disorders, stomachaches, geographic tongue, constipation, appetite stimulants and food poisoning (1.00 each) indicating the best agreement among the informants knowledge of medicinal plants that were used to treat aliments in these categories. The highest fidelity level values were recorded for Punica granatum (100.00), Psidium guajava (95.45), and Gymnopetalum integrifolium (90.91) showing conformity of knowledge on species with the best healing potential.ConclusionMedicinal plants still play an important role among Karen culture. The present information on these medicinal plants, which have high UV and FL values, may serve as the baseline data to initiate further research for the discovery of new compounds and the biological activities of these potential plant remedies. Further research on these plants may provide some important clues for the development of new drugs for the treatment of digestive system diseases.

War trauma and torture experiences reported during public health screening of newly resettled Karen refugees: a qualitative study.

BackgroundKaren refugees have suffered traumatic experiences that affect their physical and mental health in resettlement. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends assessing traumatic histories and mental health symptoms during initial public health screening. This article reports the traumatic experiences that Karen refugees were able to describe during a short screening and contributes knowledge to existing human rights documentation systems.MethodsFour semi-structured and open-ended items asked about lifetime experiences of war trauma and torture. Interviews were completed with adult, Karen refugees during their initial public health screening. Experiences of war trauma and torture were coded using the extensive Human Rights Information and Documentation (HURIDOCS) Micro-thesauri coding system. Additional codes were created to describe experiences not captured by existing codes.ResultsOver 85% of 179 Karen people interviewed experienced life-threatening war trauma. All participants who reported war trauma or torture stories were able to describe at least one event. New war trauma codes proposed include: widespread community fear, systematic destruction/burning of house or village, exposure to dead bodies, orphaned in the context of war, injury caused by a landmine, fear of Thai police or deportation from Thailand, and harm or killings in the context of war. New torture codes include: forced portering; forced to be a human landmine sweep; forced to be a soldier, including child soldier; forced contact with a dead body; and removal of the eyes.ConclusionKaren refugees were able to report traumatic experiences in the context of a brief health screening. The findings confirm existing reports of human rights violations against Karen people and suggest that additional codes be added to the HURIDOCS Micro-thesauri system that is used by torture treatment centers. Understanding the nature of traumatic experiences of this group is important for health providers working with resettled Karen refugees in their countries of resettlement. Health providers may need specialized training to understand the traumatic histories of this new refugee group, learn how to initiate conversations about trauma and its impact on health, and make appropriate mental health referrals in the context of a brief public health screening.

Different Views of Nature, Ecological and Disaster Mitigation Policies in South-East Asia

Official ecological and disaster mitigation policies in South-East Asia are often experienced by the local people who live close to nature as being detrimental to their well-being and future. It can be seen in the experiences of the Karen people in the highlands of Thailand, the gunung Balak people in South Sumatra and the people who live in the surroundings of the Merapi volcano in Central Java. The policies are usually based on Western or modern construction of nature, which excludes human beings from nature. To save nature means to save it from the reach of human beings. Modern disaster mitigation also starts from the same assumption. As successful mitigation policy must reduce risk to the minimum, it always ends in eviction and resettlement. This is different from the traditional construction of nature, which includes human beings as part of nature. The way of life of those who live in the areas which are designated as “protected forest or wilderness” never endangers the continuation of nature, as the end of nature means the end of human beings as part of nature. Natural disasters are not seen in the same way as in the Western model, where human beings must prevail against nature and no risk is taken. Natural disasters are dangerous, but they are part of the cycle of life, and in life people have to take risks. So it is a clash between different worldviews. Here it is proposed that a dialogue between these different worldviews should be taken, and perhaps Christian communities who live close to nature can contribute theologically to the development of a Christian theology of creation, which does not place in antithesis, nature and human beings, and even nature and God.

OR01-3 * TRAINING PRIMARY HEALTH WORKERS ABOUT ALCOHOL PROBLEMS ON THE THAI MYANMAR BORDER

Alcohol and other drug problems are significant issues for communities and health workers who work among internally displaced people in Myanmar including among the Karen people group. Health services for these people are largely supported by NGOs and there has been little training for health workers regarding these issues. Short course training has been conducted for primary health workers for 10 years to provide some knowledge and skills in dealing with these issues both clinically and as a community. In this presentation the background to the situation is described, the course methadologies and content are summarized and examples of results of training given. Consistently evaluation has shown increase in knowledge and skills, and confidence for assessment and treatment of alcohol and drug issues.

Karen Resettlement: A Participatory Action Research Project

Since 2007, ethnic Karen refugees have been resettling in communities across the USA. To date, a dearth of information exists in the academic literature, and mainstream culture about the Karen people and even less has been reported on their resettlement. This study offers insight into the Karen people and their resettlement experiences via a collaborative research project between a US graduate student and three Karen brothers. Together, we investigated the Karen resettlement experience in four different communities in the USA. This particular paper draws on data gleaned from our 2-year collaboration. We focus on issues identified by the research team as principal concerns of the brothers’ Karen community in rural Georgia and the broader Karen community in the USA. As a collaborative project, this paper offers a unique synthesis of both emic and etic perceptions on Karen resettlement.

Large-scale mitochondrial DNA analysis in Southeast Asia reveals evolutionary effects of cultural isolation in the multi-ethnic population of Myanmar

BackgroundMyanmar is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia with a population of 55 million people subdivided into more than 100 ethnic groups. Ruled by changing kingdoms and dynasties and lying on the trade route between India and China, Myanmar was influenced by numerous cultures. Since its independence from British occupation, tensions between the ruling Bamar and ethnic minorities increased.ResultsOur aim was to search for genetic footprints of Myanmar’s geographic, historic and sociocultural characteristics and to contribute to the picture of human colonization by describing and dating of new mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups. Therefore, we sequenced the mtDNA control region of 327 unrelated donors and the complete mitochondrial genome of 44 selected individuals according to highest quality standards.ConclusionPhylogenetic analyses of the entire mtDNA genomes uncovered eight new haplogroups and three unclassified basal M-lineages. The multi-ethnic population and the complex history of Myanmar were reflected in its mtDNA heterogeneity. Population genetic analyses of Burmese control region sequences combined with population data from neighboring countries revealed that the Myanmar haplogroup distribution showed a typical Southeast Asian pattern, but also Northeast Asian and Indian influences. The population structure of the extraordinarily diverse Bamar differed from that of the Karen people who displayed signs of genetic isolation. Migration analyses indicated a considerable genetic exchange with an overall positive migration balance from Myanmar to neighboring countries. Age estimates of the newly described haplogroups point to the existence of evolutionary windows where climatic and cultural changes gave rise to mitochondrial haplogroup diversification in Asia.

Traditional Weaving as an Occupation of Karen Refugee Women

This study explores the meaning of weaving for Karen refugee women from Burma as they participated in their traditional practice of weaving in Salt Lake City, Utah. Participants included eight Karen refugee women. Data were collected through one focus group and in-depth, semi-structured, open-ended interviews, structured to capture past and present meanings related to weaving. Transcription and analysis of the interviews and focus group were guided by phenomenology. Three themes emerged from structured, qualitative analysis: “I am Karen people”; “When there is nobody I am not happy, but with a lot of people I am happy”; and “If I can sell a lot of things I am happy to weave all the time”. The findings demonstrate how potent one occupation can be for the well-being of a particular group of people in terms of cultural identity construction, empowerment, social support, and economic survival in a new environment.

Religious expressions of spirituality by displaced Karen from Burma: The need for a spiritually sensitive social work response

A series of events following the 7 November 2010 election in Burma triggered a large-scale displacement of majority Karen people from eastern Burma to the Thai side of the border. The authors were involved in a research project in which narratives were collected from these people to gain an understanding of the impact of this displacement on their lives. The essentiality of spirituality within their religious belief was a significant theme that arose from the data. This article relates to this theme and highlights the importance of developing culturally competent, spiritually sensitive responses into social work practice when working with people who have experienced displacement and subsequent trauma in their lives.