Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T06:45:08.625Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Story of the Tattooed Lady: Scandal and the Colonial State in British Burma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Diana Kim
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article centers on Branded Woman v. Unknown, an unusual 1889 trial that gave birth to the “ordinarily accepted significance” of Burmese tattoos. What began as a snippet of gossip from a colonial village became a scandal involving the highest echelon of Britain's metropolis. I explain why this dynamic of escalation occurred and how colonial officials in Burma utilized a courtroom to transform tenuous fictions of tattooing into a seemingly coherent fact about Burma. My argument that this process—shaped through cues from a fragmented audience of peers (rather than a single audience of subordinates)—represents the production of an elite public transcript highlights how colonial scandals worked as eventful moments for an always precarious state to reconfigure its claim to power by prompting local agents to enact expressions of certainty. It further carries implications for scholarship on symbolic state power and the construction of legal facts and public knowledge.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , Fall 2012 , pp. 969 - 990
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References: Primary Sources

India Office Records, British Library (London, UK)

  1. Manuscript Collections

    1. Mss. Eur. F 98, File 1, 3: Private Papers of Temple, Richard.

    2. Mss. Eur. E 254: Private Papers of White, Herbert Thirkell.

  2. Public and Judicial Department Records 1795–1950 (L/P&J)

    1. L/P&J/6/255, File 1053: On House of Commons Question on Allegations of Abuse of Power by British Officers in Burma Being Published in Indian Newspapers.

      1. Question by Charles Bradlaugh (June 20, 1889).

      2. Question by Charles Bradlaugh (June 23, 1889).

    2. L/P&J/6/252, File 1830: On Recent Telegrams in the London “Times” (1889).

    3. L/P&J/6/265, File 2072: On Proceedings in the Matter of the Alleged Branding of a Burmese Woman on Her Forehead by Order of a Police Officer.

      1. Demi-Official letter from C. Crosthwaite, Chief Commissioner of Burma to Name Unknown, Inspector General of Police, Burma (May 31, 1889).

      2. Demi-Official Letter from M. J. Chisholm, District Superintendent of Police, Myingyan to Inspector General of Police, Burma (June 23, 1889).

      3. Demi-Official Letter from R. Martin Esq., District Superintendent of Police, Mandalay to Inspector General of Police, Burma (July 3, 1889).

      4. Demi-Official Letter from Z. M. D'silva, Proprietor of Mandalay Herald Press to R. Temple, Cantonment Magistrate, Mandalay (July 7, 1889).

      5. Brief by C. B. Cooke, Major, District Magistrate, Criminal Case Miscellaneous Case No. 49 (August 26, 1889).

      6. Annexure No. 9: Proceedings in the Court of the District Magistrate, Mandalay for Criminal Miscellaneous Case No. 49.

        1. Testimony of Ma Nge, 1st Witness of Prosecution (Preliminary Deposition: July 8, 1889, Trial Testimony: August 2, 1889).

        2. Testimony of Maung Nyo, 2nd Witness of Prosecution (Preliminary Deposition: July 8, 1889).

        3. Testimony of G. Swewan, 2nd Witness of Prosecution (August 2, 1889).

        4. Testimony of Maung Ny Lun, 3rd Witness of Prosecution (August 2, 1889).

        5. Testimony of Maung An Gyi, 3rd Witness of Defense (August 13, 1889).

        6. Testimony of Maung Nyo, 4th Witness of Prosecution (August 13, 1889).

        7. Testimony of Maung San Po, 5th Witness of Prosecution (August 13, 1889).

        8. Testimony of Maung Sin, 6th Witness of Prosecution (August 19, 1889).

        9. Testimony of Po Ye, 7th Witness of Defense (August 19, 1989.

        10. Testimony of Nga Tha Han, 8th Witness of Defense (August 19, 1889).

        11. Testimony of Malcolm Chisholm (August 19, 1889).

        12. Testimony of H. N. Hirjee, Voluntary Witness (August 20, 1889).

      7. Letter from H. T. White, Officiating Chief Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, Burma to the Inspector General of Police, Burma (October 4, 1889).

      8. Resolution from Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner in the Judicial Department, No. 743P (October 2, 1889).

    4. L/P&J/6/216, File 2081: On the Burma Commission.

  3. Proceedings and Consultations, 1702–1945 (P)

    1. P/2720 Government of India, Home Department: Upper Burma Proceedings, 1886.

Manuscript Collections

  1. Mss. Eur. F 98, File 1, 3: Private Papers of Temple, Richard.

  2. Mss. Eur. E 254: Private Papers of White, Herbert Thirkell.

Mss. Eur. F 98, File 1, 3: Private Papers of Temple, Richard.

Mss. Eur. E 254: Private Papers of White, Herbert Thirkell.

Public and Judicial Department Records 1795–1950 (L/P&J)

  1. L/P&J/6/255, File 1053: On House of Commons Question on Allegations of Abuse of Power by British Officers in Burma Being Published in Indian Newspapers.

    1. Question by Charles Bradlaugh (June 20, 1889).

    2. Question by Charles Bradlaugh (June 23, 1889).

  2. L/P&J/6/252, File 1830: On Recent Telegrams in the London “Times” (1889).

  3. L/P&J/6/265, File 2072: On Proceedings in the Matter of the Alleged Branding of a Burmese Woman on Her Forehead by Order of a Police Officer.

    1. Demi-Official letter from C. Crosthwaite, Chief Commissioner of Burma to Name Unknown, Inspector General of Police, Burma (May 31, 1889).

    2. Demi-Official Letter from M. J. Chisholm, District Superintendent of Police, Myingyan to Inspector General of Police, Burma (June 23, 1889).

    3. Demi-Official Letter from R. Martin Esq., District Superintendent of Police, Mandalay to Inspector General of Police, Burma (July 3, 1889).

    4. Demi-Official Letter from Z. M. D'silva, Proprietor of Mandalay Herald Press to R. Temple, Cantonment Magistrate, Mandalay (July 7, 1889).

    5. Brief by C. B. Cooke, Major, District Magistrate, Criminal Case Miscellaneous Case No. 49 (August 26, 1889).

    6. Annexure No. 9: Proceedings in the Court of the District Magistrate, Mandalay for Criminal Miscellaneous Case No. 49.

      1. Testimony of Ma Nge, 1st Witness of Prosecution (Preliminary Deposition: July 8, 1889, Trial Testimony: August 2, 1889).

      2. Testimony of Maung Nyo, 2nd Witness of Prosecution (Preliminary Deposition: July 8, 1889).

      3. Testimony of G. Swewan, 2nd Witness of Prosecution (August 2, 1889).

      4. Testimony of Maung Ny Lun, 3rd Witness of Prosecution (August 2, 1889).

      5. Testimony of Maung An Gyi, 3rd Witness of Defense (August 13, 1889).

      6. Testimony of Maung Nyo, 4th Witness of Prosecution (August 13, 1889).

      7. Testimony of Maung San Po, 5th Witness of Prosecution (August 13, 1889).

      8. Testimony of Maung Sin, 6th Witness of Prosecution (August 19, 1889).

      9. Testimony of Po Ye, 7th Witness of Defense (August 19, 1989.

      10. Testimony of Nga Tha Han, 8th Witness of Defense (August 19, 1889).

      11. Testimony of Malcolm Chisholm (August 19, 1889).

      12. Testimony of H. N. Hirjee, Voluntary Witness (August 20, 1889).

    7. Letter from H. T. White, Officiating Chief Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, Burma to the Inspector General of Police, Burma (October 4, 1889).

    8. Resolution from Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner in the Judicial Department, No. 743P (October 2, 1889).

  4. L/P&J/6/216, File 2081: On the Burma Commission.

L/P&J/6/255, File 1053: On House of Commons Question on Allegations of Abuse of Power by British Officers in Burma Being Published in Indian Newspapers.

  1. Question by Charles Bradlaugh (June 20, 1889).

  2. Question by Charles Bradlaugh (June 23, 1889).

Question by Charles Bradlaugh (June 20, 1889).

Question by Charles Bradlaugh (June 23, 1889).

L/P&J/6/252, File 1830: On Recent Telegrams in the London “Times” (1889).

L/P&J/6/265, File 2072: On Proceedings in the Matter of the Alleged Branding of a Burmese Woman on Her Forehead by Order of a Police Officer.

  1. Demi-Official letter from C. Crosthwaite, Chief Commissioner of Burma to Name Unknown, Inspector General of Police, Burma (May 31, 1889).

  2. Demi-Official Letter from M. J. Chisholm, District Superintendent of Police, Myingyan to Inspector General of Police, Burma (June 23, 1889).

  3. Demi-Official Letter from R. Martin Esq., District Superintendent of Police, Mandalay to Inspector General of Police, Burma (July 3, 1889).

  4. Demi-Official Letter from Z. M. D'silva, Proprietor of Mandalay Herald Press to R. Temple, Cantonment Magistrate, Mandalay (July 7, 1889).

  5. Brief by C. B. Cooke, Major, District Magistrate, Criminal Case Miscellaneous Case No. 49 (August 26, 1889).

  6. Annexure No. 9: Proceedings in the Court of the District Magistrate, Mandalay for Criminal Miscellaneous Case No. 49.

    1. Testimony of Ma Nge, 1st Witness of Prosecution (Preliminary Deposition: July 8, 1889, Trial Testimony: August 2, 1889).

    2. Testimony of Maung Nyo, 2nd Witness of Prosecution (Preliminary Deposition: July 8, 1889).

    3. Testimony of G. Swewan, 2nd Witness of Prosecution (August 2, 1889).

    4. Testimony of Maung Ny Lun, 3rd Witness of Prosecution (August 2, 1889).

    5. Testimony of Maung An Gyi, 3rd Witness of Defense (August 13, 1889).

    6. Testimony of Maung Nyo, 4th Witness of Prosecution (August 13, 1889).

    7. Testimony of Maung San Po, 5th Witness of Prosecution (August 13, 1889).

    8. Testimony of Maung Sin, 6th Witness of Prosecution (August 19, 1889).

    9. Testimony of Po Ye, 7th Witness of Defense (August 19, 1989.

    10. Testimony of Nga Tha Han, 8th Witness of Defense (August 19, 1889).

    11. Testimony of Malcolm Chisholm (August 19, 1889).

    12. Testimony of H. N. Hirjee, Voluntary Witness (August 20, 1889).

  7. Letter from H. T. White, Officiating Chief Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, Burma to the Inspector General of Police, Burma (October 4, 1889).

  8. Resolution from Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner in the Judicial Department, No. 743P (October 2, 1889).

Demi-Official letter from C. Crosthwaite, Chief Commissioner of Burma to Name Unknown, Inspector General of Police, Burma (May 31, 1889).

Demi-Official Letter from M. J. Chisholm, District Superintendent of Police, Myingyan to Inspector General of Police, Burma (June 23, 1889).

Demi-Official Letter from R. Martin Esq., District Superintendent of Police, Mandalay to Inspector General of Police, Burma (July 3, 1889).

Demi-Official Letter from Z. M. D'silva, Proprietor of Mandalay Herald Press to R. Temple, Cantonment Magistrate, Mandalay (July 7, 1889).

Brief by C. B. Cooke, Major, District Magistrate, Criminal Case Miscellaneous Case No. 49 (August 26, 1889).

Annexure No. 9: Proceedings in the Court of the District Magistrate, Mandalay for Criminal Miscellaneous Case No. 49.

  1. Testimony of Ma Nge, 1st Witness of Prosecution (Preliminary Deposition: July 8, 1889, Trial Testimony: August 2, 1889).

  2. Testimony of Maung Nyo, 2nd Witness of Prosecution (Preliminary Deposition: July 8, 1889).

  3. Testimony of G. Swewan, 2nd Witness of Prosecution (August 2, 1889).

  4. Testimony of Maung Ny Lun, 3rd Witness of Prosecution (August 2, 1889).

  5. Testimony of Maung An Gyi, 3rd Witness of Defense (August 13, 1889).

  6. Testimony of Maung Nyo, 4th Witness of Prosecution (August 13, 1889).

  7. Testimony of Maung San Po, 5th Witness of Prosecution (August 13, 1889).

  8. Testimony of Maung Sin, 6th Witness of Prosecution (August 19, 1889).

  9. Testimony of Po Ye, 7th Witness of Defense (August 19, 1989.

  10. Testimony of Nga Tha Han, 8th Witness of Defense (August 19, 1889).

  11. Testimony of Malcolm Chisholm (August 19, 1889).

  12. Testimony of H. N. Hirjee, Voluntary Witness (August 20, 1889).

Testimony of Ma Nge, 1st Witness of Prosecution (Preliminary Deposition: July 8, 1889, Trial Testimony: August 2, 1889).

Testimony of Maung Nyo, 2nd Witness of Prosecution (Preliminary Deposition: July 8, 1889).

Testimony of G. Swewan, 2nd Witness of Prosecution (August 2, 1889).

Testimony of Maung Ny Lun, 3rd Witness of Prosecution (August 2, 1889).

Testimony of Maung An Gyi, 3rd Witness of Defense (August 13, 1889).

Testimony of Maung Nyo, 4th Witness of Prosecution (August 13, 1889).

Testimony of Maung San Po, 5th Witness of Prosecution (August 13, 1889).

Testimony of Maung Sin, 6th Witness of Prosecution (August 19, 1889).

Testimony of Po Ye, 7th Witness of Defense (August 19, 1989.

Testimony of Nga Tha Han, 8th Witness of Defense (August 19, 1889).

Testimony of Malcolm Chisholm (August 19, 1889).

Testimony of H. N. Hirjee, Voluntary Witness (August 20, 1889).

Letter from H. T. White, Officiating Chief Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, Burma to the Inspector General of Police, Burma (October 4, 1889).

Resolution from Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner in the Judicial Department, No. 743P (October 2, 1889).

L/P&J/6/216, File 2081: On the Burma Commission.

Proceedings and Consultations, 1702–1945 (P)

  1. P/2720 Government of India, Home Department: Upper Burma Proceedings, 1886.

P/2720 Government of India, Home Department: Upper Burma Proceedings, 1886.

Newspapers and Magazines

  1. The Times

  2. Mandalay Herald

  3. Rangoon Gazette

  4. Quarterly Civil List for Burma (1908–1930)

The Times

Mandalay Herald

Rangoon Gazette

Quarterly Civil List for Burma (1908–1930)

Secondary Sources

Abbott, Andrew. 2001. Time Matters: On Theory and Method. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Adas, Michael. 1974. The Burma Delta: Economic Development and Social Change on an Asian Rice Frontier, 1852–1941. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Adut, Ari. 2009. On Scandal: Moral Disturbance in Society, Politics, and Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, Claire. 2000. Godna: Inscribing Indian Convicts in the Nineteenth Century. In Written on the Body: The Tattoo in European and American History, Caplan, Jane, ed., 102–117. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, Claire. 2004. Legible Bodies: Race, Criminality, and Colonialism in South Asia. Oxford: Berg Publishers.Google Scholar
Arnstein, Walter. 1957. The Bradlaugh Case: A Reappraisal. Journal of the History of Ideas 18 (2): 254–269.Google Scholar
Bailkin, Jordana. 2005. Making Faces: Tattooed Women and Colonial Regimes. History Workshop Journal 59:33–56.Google Scholar
Becker, Howard. 1963. Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Chatterjee, Partha. 1993. Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Chew, Edward. 1979. The Fall of the Burmese Kingdom in 1885: Review and Reconsideration. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 10 (2): 372–380.Google Scholar
Clark, Anna. 2004. Scandal: The Sexual Politics of the British Constitution. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cole, Anna. 2005. Governing Tattoo: Reflections on a Colonial Tattoo. In Tattoo: Bodies, Art, and Exchange in the Pacific and the West, Thomas, Nicholas, Cole, Anna, and Douglas, Bronwen, eds., 109–122. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Cooper, Frederick. 2005. Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, and History. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cooper, Frederick, and Stoler, Ann. 1997. Between Metropole and Colony: Rethinking a Research Agenda. In Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World, Cooper, Frederick and Stoler, Ann, eds., 1–58. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Crosthwaite, Charles. 1912. The Pacification of Burma. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Dirks, Nicholas. 2006. The Scandal of Empire: India and the Creation of Imperial Britain. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Donnison, Frank S. V. 1953. Public Administration in Burma: A Study of Development during the British Connexion. New York: Royal Institute of International Affairs.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1972. The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse of Language. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Furnivall, John. 1948. Colonial Policy and Practice: A Comparative Study of Burma and Netherlands India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gluckman, Max. 1963. Papers in Honor of Melville J. Herskovits: Gossip and Scandal. Current Anthropology 4 (3): 307–316.Google Scholar
Guha, Ranajit. 1997 Dominance without Hegemony: History and Power in Colonial India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gusfield, Joseph. 1984. The Culture of Public Problems: Drinking-Driving and the Symbolic Order. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hacking, Ian. 1986. Making Up People. In Reconstructing Individualism: Autonomy, Individuality, and the Self in Western Thought, Heller, Thomas et al., eds., 222–236. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Ikeya, Chie. 2011. Reconfiguring Women, Colonialism, and Modernity in Burma. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Keeton, Charles. 1974. King Thebaw and the Ecological Rape of Burma: The Political and Commercial Struggle between British India and French Indo-China in Burma, 1878–1886. Delhi, India: Manohar Book Service.Google Scholar
Kolsky, Elizabeth. 2010. Colonial Justice in British India: White Violence and the Rule of Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Loveman, Mara. 2005. The Modern State and the Primitive Accumulation of Symbolic Power. American Journal of Sociology 110 (6): 1651–1683.Google Scholar
Mantena, Karuna. 2010. Alibis of Empire: Henry Maine and the Ends of Liberal Imperialism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mehta, Uday. 1999. Liberalism and Empire: A Study in Nineteenth-Century British Liberal Thought. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Myint-U, Thant. 2001. The Making of Modern Burma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pitts, Jennifer. 2010. Political Theory of Empire and Imperialism. Annual Review of Political Science 13:211–235.Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 1977. The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 1990. Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 2009. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Scott, James G. 1882. The Burman: His Life and Notions. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Scott, James G. 1932. Burma and Beyond. London: Grayson and Grayson.Google Scholar
Shibutani, Tamotsu. 1966. Improvised News: A Sociological Study of Rumor. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Stoler, Ann. 2009. Along the Archival Grain: Epistemic Anxieties and Colonial Common Sense. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Tannenbaum, Nicola. 1987. Tattoos: Invulnerability and Power in Shan Cosmology. American Ethnologist 14 (4): 693–711.Google Scholar
Webster, Anthony. 2000. Business and Empire: A Reassessment of the British Conquest of Burma in 1885. Historical Journal 43 (4): 1003–1025.Google Scholar
Wiener, Martin. 2009. An Empire on Trial: Race, Murder, and Justice under British Rule, 1870–1935. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar