Salience of Ethnicity among Burman Muslims: A Study in Identity Formation

Abstract

Abstract: Muslims, constituting about thirteen percent of the total population of Myanmar or Burma are not a monolithic group and are unable to provide a united front in their struggle to realize their just demands. They are divided into many groups and their relationship with each other is conflictual. As the cases of Indian and Bamar (Burman) Muslims show, they rely upon ethnicity, rather than religion, for identity formation and self-expression.