Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I will give an overview of hta (poetic oral communication) as central to pwa k'nyaw (Karen) ways of being, effects of colonialism on hta practice and discuss the potential of hta for decolonisation. I will illustrate this by performing hta.

Paper long abstract:

Pwa k'nyaw (Karen) are a hta making people. Hta is a poetic form of oral communication. Hta is part of our contingent, diasporic, hybridised identities as pwa k'nyaw. To be pwa k'nyaw is to know hta, to speak and to sing hta. Our ancestors in the past did not learn from text, they spoke in hta language. Hta is the authentic speech of our ancestors, linking our present with our history and our future. Hta is central to our epistemology, ontology and axiology. Hta contains important knowledge on all aspects of life such as cultivation, the meaning and rituals of birth and death, love, humour, health, illness and ethical forms of behaviours.

The colonisation of pwa k'nyaw is the colonisation of hta. Interventions of literacy through the colonial state disrupted the rhythmic flow of hta, and consequently, pwa k'nyaw indigenous knowledge. The resurgence of pwa k'nyaw knowledge through hta is, therefore, a crucial practice of decolonization. Hta as resurgence involves projects of rediscovering, creating, writing and singing. By doing this, the hegemony of colonial ways of understanding our social world can be challenged.

I will illustrate this paper by performing hta.