included or excluded in the political community in Myanmar (Cheesman, 2017). The term itself has a long and political history, emerging from the colonial period, which is an important preface for the way it is used today. It first rose to prominence in the 1920s, with a primarily negative quality—nationalist movements demanded the barring of ‘non-taingyintha’ communities from owning or leasing land; to fit into the taingyintha in this case simply meant not being European, Chinese or Indian (Cheesman, 2017). The term was used twice in immediate post-independence papers, both in the citizenship section of the 1947 Constitution, in clauses 11.1 and 11.2, where it meant “the indigenous races of Burma”, though there is no clarification as to who this includes. It became of much greater significance due to its use in government documents and rhetoric under the regime of Ne Win in the 1960s, which published seven books on the ‘taingyintha of Myanmar’, one for each administrative region: Kachin, Karenni, Karen, Chin, Shan, and, later, the Arakanese and Mon (see, e.g., BSPP, 1967). These books sought to bring together major groups under a socialist regime, highlighting the “valiant” fighting the groups had collaboratively done against the British invaders (Cheesman, 2017). This was during a period in which the “Myanmafication” of the country was happening (Houtman, 1999), in which the government pushed hard for ‘Burma’ to transition into ‘Myanmar’. This nation-building move was carried out to help solidify ideas of solidarity amongst different groups, as ‘Burma’ references specifically the Bamar (or Burman) group while ‘Myanmar’ supposedly references all taingyintha—though colloquially it has strong associations with the Bamar people as well (Lintner, 2003). Indeed, despite the ostensible openness of this period, the only language and alphabets taught were the Burmese, and to be cultured and civilized ‘like Burmans’ was critical to being considered part of the taingyintha (Treadwell, 2014). The ‘Taingyintha’ and Burmese Citizenship Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the 1982 Burmese Citizenship Law—which is still in effect today—outline the critical importance of being part of the taingyintha for accessing contemporary citizenship, as only certain delineated ‘nationals’ are considered eligible to be Burmese citizens by birth. These Articles read as follows: “3. Nationals such as the Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Burman, Mon, Rakhine or Shan and ethnic groups as have settled in any of the territories included within the State as their permanent home from a period prior to 1185 B.E., 1823 A.D. are Burma citizens. 4. The Council of State may decide whether any ethnic group is national [taingyintha] or not.     21