Opium and empire in Southeast Asia : regulating consumption in British Burma / Ashley Wright.

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

vi, 214 pages 23 cm

"This study investigates the connection between the regulation of opium and the exercise of imperial power in colonial Burma. It traces the opium industry from the British annexation of the Burmese territories of Arakan and Tenasserim in 1826 to the end of the colonial era, arguing that this connection was multi-dimensional. The British regime regulated opium to facilitate labour extraction, and the articulation of a rationale for opium policy was inextricable from the articulation of a rationale for colonial rule more generally. Evolving discourses about race invoked opium consumption. Finally, Burma's position in multiple transnational and imperial networks informed its colonial opium policy"-- Provided by publisher.

English

January 02, 2014

Includes bibliographical references.