Nationalism, Refugees and Territories: The Karen’s Struggle for National Space

Abstract

Nationalism is a political movement that aims to politicize a nation’s native land. It is a spatial contest. If two rival communities simultaneously claim the same plot of land as their own, the movement usually appears in the form of military operations as the spatial contest. The Karen and the Burman, due to different understandings of history and expectations of their national spaces, have each launched their respective nationalist movements. Karen people’s nationalism also exists in refugee camps. The spatial contest inside refugee camps transforms the camps into a Karen non-territorial territory that turns the Karen people into a recognizable displaced nation as opposed to a group of rootless refugees.