Background: History of Hate Speech in Myanmar Figure 1. List of national ethnic races and foreign races according to the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population. The box lists categories of citizens from Rakhine State, notably excluding the Rohingya (obtained from interviewee in January 2020). Colonial Legacy The legacy of British colonialism has played an important role in defining and reinforcing the di- visions of ethnic and religious identity in Myanmar. British rule lasted from 1824 to 1948, and the colonial project included “ethnicizing” differences.16 The British classified their subjects along ethnic lines in an effort to make an alien population “knowable and therefore governable.”17 Colonial officials performed studies that made broad taxonomic conclusions on entire groups of people.18 For example, a 1906 study of the Palaung Palaung, who also self-identify as Ta’ang, people states: The Palaung is peaceful and law-abiding. More reserved and suspicious than the Bur- man and the Shan, he is capable nevertheless on occasions of expanding. Industrious up to a certain point, he becomes, when the limit is passed, hopelessly supine and 16 17 18 19 inert. He has the reputation of being niggardly and extortionate.19 Ibid., 44. Ibid. Ibid., 45. Ibid. 17