When I was a girl in the 1960's the world was large and only knowable through books, stories from adult's travel, dusty globes that spun with different countries, dependent on the year they were printed (before or after a war, usually), National Geographic, and the occasional circus. When the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to Boston during it's 100th Anniversary in 1970, I was a few months shy of 8. I was mesmerized by the exotic African and Indian animals, gravity defying human acts, and the music driving the action in the three rings. However, with all the images still swirling in my brain, and the circus program in my lap the entire hour ride back to our rural home, I'd yet to discover the above mind blowing poster in the program.
"Beginning with the 100th Anniversary Program in 1970, some of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey programs had poster reproductions inserted in the program book. These varied in size but were about 16 inches by 20 inches. It’s easy to identify them because they were folded in quarters and have staple holes where they were inserted into the program. They continued this for several years.
In 1970 the 100th Edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey souvenir program advertised a set of four posters measuring 26 inches x 17 inches for $3.98 per set.
Those posters were:
Barnum & Bailey – Tiger Head – Blue Background
Barnum & Bailey – 1000 Skits by 50 Original Clowns
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey – Giraffe Neck Women from Burma
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey – Dainty Miss Leitzel" (https://www.worthpoint.com/articles/collectibles/circus-posters-authentic-or-reproduction)
I tacked the poster of the Burmese women on my bedroom wall for the next 2.5 years. I made up stories about the women and nursed occasional fears. The women's necks, the long heavy earrings, their smiling lips, but stern eyes confused my young mind. The gold rings on their arms and legs with their bare feet below (except for one who wore what looked like leather boots), made me feel sorry for the women. It was hot where they lived, I was told, and my child mind could feel the weight and heat of these bangles as burdens, not items of beauty or status. Their image has informed the lens in which I, from a young age, question cultural values and identities. This was aided by my Aunt Ama, who is Ghanaian, and what she taught me about her culture and it's values. Children's stories, for example, weren't about rugged individuals or quests, they were more inline with how each persons choice affects the whole family or village. I figured that these rings must be apart of narrative I hadn't yet learned about and would later in school or by traveling.
I would later learn that the original Giraffe-Neck Woman poster was from the 1930's or between the World Wars, during the end of the Colonization of Burma by the British. Last month, I read Theroux's novel set at the end of the 116 year rule of Britain in Burma. The novel's is mostly set in Burma between 1922-27. Burma Sahib is a fictional account of Eric Blair's life as a probationary police officer, as when he sets sail for Burma upon graduation from Eton at 19. Upon arrival he experiences trials and tribulations in seven different Burmese police districts, he heads back for England just before his 24th Birthday. By then, the reader witnesses how he's begun to manifest his "secret self," the contrarian, and this self will later emerge as George Orwell when he begins to write his political novels. The young Eric, is uncomfortable being a "sahib" or a colonizer who enforces non-native laws. If you love Theroux's travel writing and story telling, this historical novel will keep you reading, and learning, page after page. It's like reading Conrad's Secret Sharer, only not as dark, yet with a modern cynicism. Both protagonists have a transformational and defining journey that starts and ends on boats in their young lives. Much like I did on a boat between the ages of 17-20.
Similar to the sensational Apocalypse Now, during the cultural revolution and end of the Vietnam War of the 1970's hit a nerve, the setting was inspired by using another Conrad story, The Heart of Darkness, and Col. David Hackworth's dossier (I worked with Hack on his seminal book, About Face, in which he details how the military failed in Vietnam, and while being the most decorated living soldier at the same time). Only instead of it being a disillusionment with "unwinnable wars", in Theroux's fictional account of the budding George Orwell, it's the disillusionment of "failing as a foreign enforcer in a colonized country."
In both Apocalypse Now and Burma Sahib, the role of the native women and men are explored by the protagonists. In both stories "going native" is frowned upon or a reason for treason or demotion. In Burma Sahib, the roles of women, of varying classes, is examined in granular and insightful detail. There is even a brief moment where the young Eric, just starting to writing poetry, describes the "ring-necked women" he sees and wonders at them, while realizing they are from a sub-group of the Karen religion (Kayan, of Red Karen's, a Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority). I'd learned about Jainism from many Indian friends, but this was my introduction to "Karen's" and the fact that the Burmese Giraffe-Neck Woman were from region.
Karen. My name. A meme. A slur. An entitled middle class white woman. The Karen. The Karen are an internally diverse group of ethnic minorities who live primarily in southern and southeastern Burma. They are the second-largest non-Burman ethnic group in Myanmar comprising some 6% of the population, and are mostly Christian. During WWII, roughly 28% of Karen served in the Burmese army, which by British policy deliberately excluded ethnic Burmans. During the war, the Karen continued to support the British even as Burmans, led by Aung San, sided with the Japanese.
Representatives for the Karen attended the 1947 Panglong Conference (two years after the end of WWII) as observers but did not formally participate in the negotiations. Beginning in 1949, a rebellion broke out among the Karen people and was quickly followed by the wholesale defection of Karen units in the newly-formed Burmese army. The Karen National Union (KNU) has been at war with the central Burmese government since this time, making this rebellion the longest in contemporary world history. They seek greater autonomy, political rights (including the right to bear arms), and social autonomy in the realms of religion, culture, education and language. (For more on the Karen people and their plight look here: https://kcssf.org.au/about-us/the-karen-people/)
Needless to say, the fact that I learned, in my 62nd year, that these women were from an ethnic group, The Karen, after reading a novel by Paul Theroux about the foundational period in George Orwell's life, was thrilling. I last month I discovered my bizare & beloved poster in file folder with my name on it while going through my mother's papers. The file was titled "Karen's Favorites." I guess Mom took it down when we moved to Lincoln, when I turned 10, and it never was seen again, until now.
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