This paper examines recent transnational engagements between the Tai Ahom of Assam, India, and the Shan of Myanmar, focusing on efforts to build new affinities between these groups. Drawing on ethnographic research from the First International Tai Youth Festival in January 2025, it traces how Shan participants sought to revive Tai Ahom culture through language instruction, ritual knowledge and performance, positioning themselves as the cultural origin point of the Tai world. This ‘civilizing mission’ expresses both a desire to restore what they see as lost Tai‐ness and to elevate Shan cultural authority within a broader imagined Tai alliance. For the Tai Ahom, such exchanges are part of an ‘Ahom looks East’ movement, a cultural revival that also challenges Hindu nationalist pressures. By asserting Tai identity over Hinduized assimilation, they construct an alternative belonging based on transnational kinship. These interactions reflect a wider contemporary trend of alliances rooted in affinity ─ relationships often described as ‘renewed’, though more accurately imagined or invented.
Amporn Jirattikorn (Mon,) studied this question.