Center for East Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania

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The Wa have an unusual history. It's the story of a people of approximately one million, trying to maintain themselves while navigating a neighborhood of big, powerful, pushy states and empires, in the borderlands between China and Burma. Until the 1950s, the Wa successfully maintained their independence, deploying as a deterrent the spectacle of headhunting -- which was actually borrowed from Chinese military practice. Today, their land has been annexed and split by Burma and China, but pride in their past lingers, even among actors performing their exotic past selves at China's ethno-theme tourist parks. This talk highlights the daily lives of the Wa and their self-proclaimed role as caretakers of the original ground zero of humanity.