gumlao - gumsa

is, in Burmese culture, the set of two interacting social models, one democratic and egalitarian, and the other autocratic and hierarchical.

the gumlao model (1) egalitarian and democratic (2) gumsa model, in which lineages are classed in a hierarchy. gumlao, gumsa Among the Kachin of Burma, the two social formations, gumlao being egalitarian and gumsa being hierarchical. (Barnard) . . . . . Leach describes the Kachin highlands as politically and socially always in flux, floating between two 'ideal social models', Gumlao and Gumsa. The greater part of this book is consumed in the articulation and analysis of these two social models. For the moment they can be encapsulated as follows:

gumlao gumsa, n.All

gumlao gumsa