Territorial Autonomy as Symbolic Homeland in the Kachin Conflict

This article explores how the Kachin ethnic movement constructs autonomy as a political vision through narratives of homeland and national belonging. The Kachin minority in northern Myanmar lacks what is typically understood as territorial autonomy, an institutional arrangement of self-rule granted by the central state. Although autonomy was once promised, it never materialised. Consequently, they began fighting for greater self-determination, first for independence, and since the 1980s for autonomy within a federalised Union of Myanmar. Yet, even in the absence of institutionally granted territorial autonomy, territory remains central to how autonomy is understood within the Kachin. Assuming that autonomy is a political idea constructed through language, I argue that territorial autonomy has a symbolic and affective meaning tied to aspirations of freedom from military repression and violence. Since the 2021 coup in Myanmar, ethnic minorities have expanded their territorial control through their armed organizations, including the Kachin Independence Organisation. Thus, understanding their political vision of autonomy is crucial to gain a deeper awareness of the conflict in Myanmar and the country’s political transformations. Drawing on published elite interviews, personal life-story narratives, and conducted interviews, I use interpretative content analysis guided by the sensitizing concepts autonomy as a political vision of self-rule and territory as symbolic homeland. Through inductive coding and intertextual reading, I trace the meaning of territorial autonomy by Kachin actors. This article offers context-sensitive insights into minority resistance and bottom-up visions of political self-rule in Myanmar. More broadly, it contributes to debates on self-determination and minority resistance by showing how symbolic homelands shape political meaning-making in conflict settings.