The Batek of Malaysia: Subsistence Lifestyle and Its Impact on Culture - Essay Example

?Running head: THE BATEK The Batek of Malaysia: Subsistence Lifestyle and Its Impact on Culture and Number The study of aboriginal or indigenous peoples has long fascinated anthropologists and ethnologists. The extent to which a subsistence lifestyle affects the workings of a culture, and how that lifestyle is affected by conditions outside of its control is interesting and relevant. Groups such as the Batek of Malaysia, viewed by the uneducated eye as “backward,” provide insights from an anthropological perspective into a people whose lives and culture, while frozen in time, have created their own organizational, social and economic structures. The Batek, as one of the original aboriginal groups studied, are a textbook example of this ethnographic phenomenon. Modern encroachment, however, is threatening this lifestyle, and it may only be a matter of time before their subsistence lifestyle along with their cultural organizations disappear forever. The Batek: Identification and Classification of Subsistence Mode For purposes of identification and classification of the Batek the ethnographic studies of Morrison and Junker (2002) “...carried out among Southeast Asian hunter-gatherers, including the Batek” (p.142) are of use. The study clearly places the tribe in the category of “’Negrito’ foragers” (p. 133). Further reinforcing the categorization, according to Morrison and Junker (2002) “...in the ethnographic present most hunter-gatherers [in fact] occupy the forested interiors of the islands of insular Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula” (p. 142). It can then be safely assumed that these groups included as foragers are pure examples of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. As such, analysis of and assumptions made regarding the impact of the lifestyle on Batek cultural institutions may be equally regarded as justified. Confirming their status as foragers and hunter-gatherers, Sponsel’s (2000) study on the configuration of the Batek provides the following description: ...the Batek live in temporary camps containing five to twenty lean-to shelters covered with palm-leaf thatch or, more recently, sheets of plastic. Each shelter houses a nuclear family, an unmarried adult, or a group of adolescents. The membership of the camp population changes almost daily as some families leave and others move in, and the entire group moves every few weeks or so. Because people can easily set up a new camp in hours, they do not hesitate to move when they want a change of company, have used up the resources in the immediate vicinity, or have heard of a new opportunity somewhere else. Making camp near the resources to be harvested minimizes the amount of time they must spend each day traveling back and forth between the camp and the work site. Batek enjoy moving, as it brings the excitement of exploring a new place and of meeting friends and relatives they may not have seen for a while. (p. 106) Batek Economy: Adaption and Survival The Batek today number about 800 people What is left of those which have not be resettled in villages by the government survive as a foraging-hunter gatherer society by adapting to commercial enterprises of the general Malay population. As Sponsel (2000) found, “The success of the Batek foraging and trading economy depends on two basic Batek practices: mobility and food sharing...[the latter of which] contributes to the efficiency of their economy by freeing people from the burden of finding food every day” (p. 106). The benefits of such a concept applied to global society can only be imagined. This practical economic system allows people to concentrate on foraging activities that inevitably contribute to their subsistence-based economy providing both sustenance and items for trade. As a social custom, this practice of food sharing, while freeing foragers to gather items to be traded, has ramafications both moral and practical. According to Sponsel (2000), “Batek view food sharing as a major moral obligation, knowing that it is crucial to the success of their foraging economy. Morality then is intrinsically tied to the economy and visa verse. As one man [Batek] said, ‘When we live in the forest. . . . We can dig tubers. If someone doesn't have food, others give it” (p. 106). Practicing what anthropologists call “generalized reciprocity” (Sponsel, 2000, p. 106), The Batek share their food because it is right and because they trust enough in their fellow tribesman to do the same for them if need be. Yet it would be misleading to view the Batek economy as a simple matter of food sharing, or the ability to move about and follow resources. Ingold , Riches & Woodburn (1988) summarize the workings of the Batek economy in the words of Endicott. “The economy of the... Batek is very complex, combining hunting, gathering, the collection and trade of forest products, and the occasional small-scale planting of crops” (p. 112). Though the Batek have been known to trade what they forage for a few modern manufactured necessities which in no way affect their foraging lifestyle. Their occasional planting of a few seed or crops does not place them in the category of farmers. Morrison and Junker (2002) found it is “difficult to characterize a “typical” Batek economy, since different...groups switch frequently between hunting, forest collecting for subsistence, planting swidden fields, managing concentrations of wild yams, and trading forest products...for rice from lowland Malay traders” (Morrison & Junker, 2002, p. 144 cites Endicott, 1988, p. 118). Social Organization In his 1974 unpublished thesis, ethnographer Kirk M. Endicott described in ethnographic detail a society with gender pecking orders--a patriarchal structure with long standing tradition of hierarchical leadership selection. Endicott (1974) found “...penghulu ('headmen')... have in their genealogy several generations of penghulu, menteri ('ministers' or 'chiefs'), panglima ('war captains'), and even a raja ('king')” (p. 239-246). The leadership penghulu positions are inherited by sons in birth sequence, first to last, reverting to immediate male relatives and their male children should the main leader not have sons to offer. While women generally accede to the wishes of their husbands when it comes to where they will live, or for how long, among the women themselves status is acknowledged based on the husband’s status or that of the closest male relative and his position within the community. (Endicott, 1988, p. 239-246) The interesting overall exception to this is detailed throughout Endicott’s and Karen M. Endicott’s 2008 ethnographic study, The Headman was a Woman, in which the Endicotts maintain throughout the relative and quite surprising egalitarian nature of gender life among the Batek despite the patriarchal traditions named. Batek social organization according to Sponsel (2000) emphasizes the nuclear family as its “building block,” placing high value on “personal autonomy” (p. 106-107). Living as families, the structure is much like western modern society in that each family has responsibility for its own affairs as an independent group aside from the recognition of the larger group and the importance of and dedication to its survival. Violence is unacceptable and, as uncovered in research throughout the Endicott’s The Headman...Sponsel (2000) confirms that “Males and females have the same rights and freedoms. Both men and women choose their own marriage partners and can initiate a divorce if they become dissatisfied. Husbands and wives have equal voices in family matters, and both genders can influence camp affairs” (p. 107). Parent relationships with children is permissive by modern standards. (Sponsel, 2000) The headmen, as previously discussed, have no formal authority within the tribe; group decision are generally made as a group, with everyone having a say and persons most naturally adept at certain activities accepted as leaders in those activities. As social custom it is interesting to note the Batek attitude toward what Endicott calls, “the rights of people over material things” (Ingold et al, 1988, p.110). Endicott spent a good deal of time studying this aspect of Batek society as it relates not only to the Batek lifestyle, but to their interaction with those outside of the tribe and their fate as a subsistence culture. The concept of rights is different for different aspects of what can or cannot be owned. “The idea of exclusive ownership of land is an absurdity...along with all unharvested naturally occurring resources” (Ingold et al, 1988, p. 113-114). This, considering their subsistence lifestyle, makes sense. Food belongs to the finder but under most circumstances is always shared, as well as the borrowing and lending of personal items with a relatively ‘casual attitude” (Ingold et al, 1988, p. 121). The concept of community property is practiced among married couples. According to Ingold et al (1988) regarding power based on Endicott’s ethnological interpretation, “Not surprisingly, the Batek system of ownership and sharing is associated with a political system in which individuals have very little power [by choice and custom], and the power of the group over the individual, while substantial, is clearly circumscribed” (p. 121). Spirituality and Religion The Batek, as a group, practice animism. Shamans turn into animals and spy on man. Some who have settled down in villages have converted to Islam, but these are generally shunned by the original foraging tribes. The worldview of the Batek is dedicated to animistic beliefs and as a tribe they follow this spiritual path. It is a complex set of beliefs and ritual practices which, as in most animist religions, have a strong connection to the environment, nature and a group of deities, all of whom are associated with forces of nature (i.e., the Thunder God). As foragers, these relationships are of paramount importance, since these forces are seen as controlling the very resources necessary to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. As with many traditional tribes, a story of creation closely follows that of other religions throughout the Malay Peninsula. While the [the Batek] view their own religion as different from others, especially dogmatic Islam, that they share a few similar creation story details is probably do to living in close proximity with the majority Islamic population. An interesting discussion by Endicott (1979) in his ethnography of funereal rituals is summarized by Boyer (2001) as reinforcing the traditional Batek attitudes regarding man’s relationship with nature consistent with their animist beliefs. Boyer (2001) summarizes Endicott as follows: The corpse is wrapped in the finest sarong available, bedecked with flowers and leaves, then placed on a comfortable sleeping mat. The mourners...carry the body on a stretcher to a distant place in the forest, preferably away from familiar paths. The men build a platform and cover it with sweet-smelling herbs, on which they lay out the corpse. The family members generally put a number of artifacts on the platform, such as a smoking-pipe, some tobacco, a blowpipe and darts, etc. They blow tobacco smoke onto the head of the deceased. After the stretcher has been lifted on top of the platform, people plant sticks around the tree and recite spells over them, to deter tigers from shaking the tree. The family members then come back periodically to check the corpse and observe the process of decomposition, as long as there are any remnants of the body. On such visits they generally burn incense next to the platform. This lasts until even the bones have disappeared, probably taken away by scavengers. Note how even seemingly simple practices of this kind are in fact ritualized You do not just take a corpse to the forest. You must do it as a group; people sing and recite particular spells; one must place particular objects next to the body. (Boyer, 2001, p. 208 from Endicott, 1979, p. 115-118) Conclusion Despite attempts by the government to force upon the Batek assimilation into the largely Muslim majority population, some have hung tenaciously to the traditional customs and basic subsistence lifestyle. Others have given in and either adapted completely to village life, or move in and out to pursue their traditional foraging lifestyle. Sponsel (2000) suggests the worst may be yet to come. “The JHEOA justifies its efforts to settle the Batek as necessary for efficiently providing social services, like health care, and economic improvements” (p.111). According to Sponsel (2000), a more likely reason is an effort to control the Batek’s wandering ways on land slowly being taken over for commercial purposes. How this pattern will ultimately affect ability of the Batek to pursue their thousand year old subsistence lifestyle can be well imagined. Fewer and fewer Batek continue to survive as foragers in Taman Negara National Park. Others, forced out by logging and oil palm plantation encroachment, have moved to settlements. (Hamilton, 2006, p. 1) How long it will be before the Batek no longer live in their civility and tradition as foragers and hunter-gatherers remains unknown. As modernity and commercial enterprises encroach on the land, the future for the Batek and their traditional lifestyle appears bleak indeed. References Boyer, P. (2001). And man creates God: Religion explained. New York: Basic Books. Retrieved February 15, 2011 from www.questia.com Endicott, K. M. (1974). Batek Negrito Economy and Social Organization. (Unpublished PhD. Thesis, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1974.) Endicott. K. M (1979) Batek Nigrito Religion: The world-view and rituals of a hunting and gathering people of Peninsular Malaysia. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press. Endicott, K.M. (1988). “Property, power and conflict among the Batek of Malaysia” in Hunters and Gatherers 2: Property, Power and Ideology. Ingold, T., Riches, D. & Woodburn, J. (Eds.). Oxford & New York. Retrieved February 15, 2011 from: Endicott, K.M. “Property, power and conflict among the Batek of Malaysia, (chapter 6) from Hunters and Gatherers 2, Reprinted online, Retrieved February 15, 2011 from Hamilton, A. (2006). Reflections on the 'Disappearing Sakai': A tribal minority in Southern Thailand. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 37 (2) 293+.Retrieved February 12, 2011 from www.questia.com Morrison, K.D. & Junker, L.L. (2002). Forager-traders in South and Southeast Asia: Long-term histories. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved February 13, 2011 from www.questia.com. Rawski, F, & Ngah, D.K. (1999). Kejadian Manusia: An "Histoire" of Malay/Semai culture contact. Asian Folklore Studies, 57 (2) 189+. Retrieved February 13, 2011 from www.questia.com. Sponsel, L.E. (2000). Endangered peoples of Southeast and East Asia: Struggles to survive and thrive. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Retrieved February 13, 2011 from www.questia.com. Notes (Morrison, 2002, p.133 &142): The distinct physical characteristics of “Negrito” foragers such as the Ata, Semang, Andaman Islanders, and Batek have garnered a longstanding view among anthropologists that these groups represent “aboriginal” inhabitants of insular Southeast Asia (Morrison, 2002, p. 143) Ethnographic research has been carried out among Southeast Asian huntergatherers for more than a century. While groups largely dependent on foraging were likely considerably more widespread in even the recent past (see discussion of history and archaeology below), in the ethnographic present most hunter-gatherers occupy the forested interiors of the islands of insular Southeast Asia and the Malay PeninsulaThe success of the Batek’s foraging and trading economy depends on two basic Batek practices: mobility and food sharing. Batek normally live in temporary camps containing five to twenty lean-to shelters covered with palm-leaf thatch or, more recently, sheets of plastic. Each shelter houses a nuclear family, an unmarried adult, or a group of adolescents. The membership of the camp population changes almost daily as some families leave and others move in, and the entire group moves every few weeks or so. Because people can easily set up a new camp in hours, they do not hesitate to move when they want a change of company, have used up the resources in the immediate vicinity, or have heard of a new opportunity somewhere else. Making camp near the resources to be harvested minimizes the amount of time they must spend each day traveling back and forth between the camp and the work site. Batek enjoy moving, as it brings the excitement of exploring a new place and of meeting friends and relatives they may not have seen for a while. (Sponsel, 2000, p. 106Food sharing also contributes to the efficiency of their economy by freeing people from the burden of finding food every day. In a normal-sized camp, successful hunters routinely distribute shares of meat to every family, and families without enough carbohydrates need only ask to be given some tubers or rice. They share food without calculation (what anthropologists call "generalized reciprocity"), assuming that over the long term they will get as much as they give. This allows people to concentrate on activities that do not immediately yield food, like collecting forest products, or that have a high risk of failure, like blowpipe hunting, without fear that they may go hungry. Batek view food sharing as a major moral obligation, knowing that it is crucial to the success of thei foragingr economy. As one man said, "When we live in the forest. . . . We can dig tubers. If someone doesn't have food, others give it." (Endicott, 1988, p. 112) The economy of the nomadic Batek is very complex, combining hunting, gathering, the collection and trade of forest products, and the occasional small-scale planting of crops (Endicott 1984). It is based on the exploitation of wild foods, most importantly wild yams (Dioscorea spp.), fruit, and small game, such as monkeys and gibbons, which they kill with blowpipes and poisoned darts. But the Batek also engage energetically in trading forest products, such as rattan and fragrant woods, with itinerant Malay traders, for rice, flour, tobacco, cloth, iron tools and other manufactured goods. Before the Malays were removed from the area, the Batek occasionally made small clearings and planted a few crops, using seeds and shoots obtained from the local Malay farmers, and in recent years they have participated from time to time in farmingprojects sponsored by the Malaysian Department of Aboriginal Affairs (Morrison, 2002, p. 144)Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, we see the same flexibility and diversity in forager subsistence strategies. Some ethnographically described Punan or Penan groups of Borneo rely heavily on pig-hunting and “management” of sago stands for carbohydrates and engage minimally in trade, while others have been described as functioning as specialized and almost wholly commercial hunters and collectors dependent on farmers for basic foodstuffs (Brosius 1991; Hoffman 1984; Needham 1954). Endicott (1988:118), in his ethnographic study of the Batek of Malaysia, emphasizes that is very difficult to characterize a “typical” Batek economy, since different Batek groups switch frequently between hunting, forest collecting for subsistence, planting swidden fields, managing concentrations of wild yams, and trading forest products (rattan, fragrant woods, hunted game) for rice from lowland Malay traders. Review: The Headman was a Woman: http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1777:the-headman-was-a-woman-the-gender-egalitarian-batek-of-malaysia&catid=50:southeastasiabooks&Itemid=67 Sponsel (2000) p. 106-108 Social Organization. Animists, shahmans who can turn into ani mals and spy on man. Boyer (2001) p. 208 from /Endicott 1979 p. 115-118: funerary ceremonies of the Batek a loose federation of hunting-gathering groups of Malaysia. The corpse is wrapped in the finest sarong available, bedecked with flowers and leaves, then placed on a comfortable sleeping mat. The mourners then carry the body on a stretcher to a distant place in the forest, preferably away from familiar paths. The men build a platform and cover it with sweet-smelling herbs, on which they lay out the corpse. The family members generally put a number of artifacts on the platform, such as a smoking-pipe, some tobacco, a blowpipe and darts, etc. They blow tobacco smoke onto the head of the deceased. After the stretcher has been lifted on top of the platform, people plant sticks around the tree and recite spells over them, to deter tigers from shaking the tree. The family members then come back periodically to check the corpse and observe the process of decomposition, as long as there are any remnants of the body. On such visits they generally burn incense next to the platform. This lasts until even the bones have disappeared, probably taken away by scavengers. Note how even seemingly simple practices of this kind are in fact ritualized You do not just take a corpse to the forest. You must do it as a group; people sing and recite particular spells; one must place particular objects next to the body. 6 Boyer p. 217): Batek of Malaysia there are slightly different concepts. A person is made up of lih (the body), nawa (life) and bayang (shadow). Only humans and other breathing animals have nawa. The bayang is not just the shadow, for plants do not have it. It is "a soft, transparent entity which inhabits the entire body" as K. Endi Sponsel, 106. Batek view food sharing as a major moral obligation, knowing that it is crucial to the success of their Foraging economy. As one man said, "When we live in the forest. . . . We can dig tubers. If someone doesn't have food, others give it." They share food without calculation (what anthropologists call "generalized reciprocity"), assuming that over the long term they will get as much as they give. Concllusion Sponsel (2000) p. 110 forced into smaller living and wandering space hinders subsistence lifestyle and attempts by the gov. to assimilate (p. 111) Sponsel (2000) P. 111: A crucial step in turning Batek into Malays is to get them to settle down in permanent villages. The JHEOA justifies its efforts to settle the Batek as necessary for efficiently providing social services, like health care, and economic improvements. However, the poor quality of the services provided to the Batek who have settled down casts doubt on this rationale. A more plausible reason is that confining the Batek to fixed locations would increase the ability of the JHEOA to control them and impose other changes Hamilton (2006) p. 1Today, in Malaysia there are some small groups of Batek De' who are continuing to attempt to survive in Taman Negara National Park, although most of the original group of 700 have moved into government settlements. Previously the Batek De' occupied the watershed of the Lebir River in Kelantan, land which was taken over for massive logging and development of oil palm plantations in the 1970s and 1980s. (19) There may be other similar small groups who move in and out of the settlement environment Read More