Today, issues of ethnicity and ethnic identity are of global concern. This is especially so with regard to the nation-state, which in recent years has come underincreased pressure – both from globalizing and from localizing processes. In Burma as in other countries there has been discussion about the role of ethnicity either as a source of conflicts (and constituting a threat to the nation-state) or as an essential element in democratic development. This is not a simple conundrum to resolve. However, it is the aim of this volume to take the analysis beyond such generalizations and probe into the complexity, the multiple voices and the historical dimensions of ethnic classification and identification in Burma