Burmese cloth maps and itineraries in Cambridge University collections

Tue 7 May 2019

Emmanuel College

Cambridge University Libraries hold a treasure trove of old Burmese maps. They vary enormously in size and quality, from massive sheets several meters wide with finely-penned features in multiple colours, to handkerchief size sketches in a single colour. An unusual feature of many of the maps is their use of cloth as a medium. While Cambridge holds a wealth of Burmese cloth maps in its collections--and others exist in the British Library and the Royal Geographical Society--no examples have survived in modern Myanmar itself, although their similarities with a set of cloth maps recently uncovered in the collection of the Thai royal family is striking. Some of the most impressive of these maps, in size and detail and artistry, may have served as elaborate deeds of ownership, demonstrating the extent and nature of lands granted under royal order. Other maps, many of them smaller sketches and rough drafts, emphasise direction and destination rather than area and land use. All of them are a pleasure to look at, for their finely executed and often witty details, but also for the thrilling way they jolt the viewer out of modern map making convention.

This talk will address the many questions raised by these intriguing maps. The first part will introduce what may be revealed about the provenance and purpose of the maps through a number of avenues: their British collectors and the sparse notes they left with their donations; the historical contexts out of which the maps were taken; the close study of the maps as material objects on cloth and paper; and the languages of space and representation that run through the collection as a whole. The second part considers specifically the genre of Burmese sketch maps and itineraries as material evidence of the changing relations of negotiation and power between western interlocutors and Burmese, Shan and other local actors in the 19th century; thus as maps that are neither fully indigenous nor as yet overtaken by western conventions of map making.

Refreshments will be available after the seminar. The seminars are kindly supported by Emmanuel College Cambridge.

Cost: free