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Myth, History and Modern Cultural Identity Among Hunter-Gatherers: A Borneo Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Bernard Sellato
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Extract

The island of Borneo has maintained until fairly recently a number of tropical rainforest hunting-gathering groups, generally referred to as Punan or Penan (though other local ethnonyms are found). Today, a large proportion of them have switched to a partly settled way of life and some form of agriculture, but even these groups still rely heavily on the forest, collecting jungle products for trade and, often, processing the wild sago palms for their subsistence while collecting. The Bukat, one of these partly settled groups, are found (see Map 1) in Indonesia's West Kalimantan (three hamlets, totalling 300 persons) and East Kalimantan (one hamlet of 150), and in Malaysia's Sarawak (one hamlet of 150).

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Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 18 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1993

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References

1 On the history of the Bukat, see Sellato, B., Nomades et sédentarisation à Bornéo — Histoire économique et sociale (Paris: Editions de l'EHESS, Etudes Insulindiennes/Archipel, no. 9, 1989), pp. 35–108Google Scholar. Michael Heppell has also carried out a study of the Bukat of Sarawak.

2 A copy of this manuscript of five pages (including one page bearing a sketchmap of the location of Nanga Balang) was lent to me by Dr. Mudiyono Diposiswoyo, Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIPOL) of Tanjungpura University (UNTAN) in Pontianak, in April 1990.

3 The text refers to the history of the Bukat nomads of West Kalimantan, the subject of lengthy sections of my dissertation and subsequent book. See Sellato, B., “Les nomades forestiers de Bornéo et la sédentarisation: essai d'histoire économique et sociale” (Ph.D. thesis, EHESS, Paris, 1986, 570 pp.)Google Scholar and Sellato, , Nomades et sédentarisationGoogle Scholar.

4 Baling Avun (A manuscript map of villages of the upper Kapuas), 1961 (my grateful thanks to Jérôme Rousseau for making this document available to me).

5 Wariso, R.A.M., Suku Daya Punan (Pontianak: Universitas Tanjung Pura, Fakultas Sosial dan Politik), 1971Google Scholar.

6 King, V.T., “Notes on Punan and Bukat in West Kalimantan”, Borneo Research Bulletin 6, no. 2 (1974): 39–42Google Scholar.

7 A.J. Ding Ngo, “Mengunjungi Mahakam”, ms, 1977, 156 pp.

8 See Sellato, , Nomades et sédentarisationGoogle Scholar; I had a few interviews with Sawing there.

9 Anonymous, Monografi Daerah Kalimantan Barat (Jakarta: Dep. P & K, Proyek Pengembangan Media Kebudayaan, 1976), p. 1Google Scholar.

10 Nitihaminoto, Goenadi et al. , Laporan Hasil Survai Kepurbakalaan di Propinsi Kalimantan Barat (Jakarta: Departemen P & K, Proyek Pengembangan Media Kebudayaan, Berita Penelitian Arkeologi series, no. 6, 1977, 51 pp.)Google Scholar; there is no mention in this work of the gold jewellery and nuggets listed in Sawing's manuscript.

11 The Bukat, in contrast with a number of other nomadic forest groups of Borneo, claim to have maintained through time their autonym (really Buket, where e stands for a nasalized /ɸ/), derived from the Bukat name of the Mendalam River, their centre of origin. Though their nomadic bands separately ranged around widely, the Bukat have always defined their ethnic identity quite sharply in contrast with the other three groups of forest nomads of the upper Kapuas area, with whom there was permanent hostility. See also a series of 14 articles by Bücher, A. in The Djakarta Times (1970)Google Scholar.

12 See Sellato, , Nomades et sédentarisationGoogle Scholar.

13 Ibid., pp. 45–46.

14 Goenadi, , LaporanGoogle Scholar.

15 See Bosch, F.D.K., “Oudheidkundig Verslag over het derde en vierde Kwartaal 1925”, Oudheidkundig Verslag (1925), pp. 69–104, particularly p. 89Google Scholar; Krom, N.J., “Voorloopige Lijst van Oudheden in de Buitenbezittingen”, Oudheidkundig Verslag, Bijlage T. (1914), pp. 101–177Google Scholar; Krom, N.J., Hindoe-Javaansche Geschiedenis ('s-Gravenhage: Nijhoff, 1926), p. 72Google Scholar; Lombard, D., “Guide Archipel IV: Pontianak et son arrière-pays”, Archipel 28 (1984): 77–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar; particularly pp. 78, 80; also Anonymous, Monofrafi, p. 1Google Scholar; and Anonymous, Peta Sejarah Kalimantan Barat (Jakarta: Dep. P & K, Proyek Inventarisasi dan Dokumentasi Sejarah Nasional, 1985–1986)Google Scholar.

16 Harrisson, T. and O'Connor, S.J., Excavations of the Prehistoric Iron Industry in West Borneo (Ithaca: Cornell University, Southeast Asia Program, Data Paper no. 72, 1969, 2 vols.)Google Scholar; and Harrisson, T., “The Prehistory of Borneo”, in Prehistoric Indonesia, ed. van de Velde, P. (Dordrecht: Foris, 1984), pp. 297–326 (this article first published in 1970)Google Scholar.

17 Kühr, E.L.M., “Schetsen uit Borneo's Westerafdeeling”, BKI 46 (6, 2 1896): 63–88, 214–39Google Scholar; 47 (6, 3 1897): 57–82; Agerbeek, A.H.B., “Batoe Darah Moening. Eene Kalang-legende van West-Borneo”, Tijdschrift v. Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Bataviaasch Genootschap) (1910): 153–57Google Scholar.

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19 See de Casparis, , “Some Notes”Google Scholar.

20 See Anonymous, Peta SejarahGoogle Scholar.

21 See Harrisson, T. and O'Connor, S.J., ExcavationsGoogle Scholar; Christie, J.W., “Ironworking in Sarawak”, in Metal-working in Borneo: Essays on iron- and silver-working in Sarawak, ed. Christie, J.W. and King, V.T. (Hull: The University of Hull, Centre for South-East Asian Studies, 1988)Google Scholar.

22 For example, Harrisson, , “Prehistory”Google Scholar.

23 See Nieuwenhuis, A.W., Quer durch Borneo (Leiden: Brill, 1904–1907, 2 vols.), I: 57–58Google Scholar; Bouman, M.A., “Ethnografische aanteekeningen omtrent de Gouvernementslanden in de boven-Kapoeas, Westerafdeeling van Borneo”, Tijdschrift v. Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Bataviaasch Genootschap) 64 (1924): 173–95, particularly p. 182Google Scholar; Bouman, M.A., “Gegevens uit Smitau en Boven-Kapoeas”, Adatrechtsbundels 44 (1952): 47–86, particularly p. 50Google Scholar; see also a discussion in Sellato, , and “Les nomades forestiers”, Nomades et sédentarisation, pp. 41–42Google Scholar.

24 See also Bouman, , “Ethnografische aanteekeningen”, p. 182Google Scholar.

25 von Kessel, O., “Statistieke aanteekeningen omtrent het stroomgebied der rivier Kapoeas (Westerafdeeling van Borneo)”, Indisch Archief 1, 2 (1849): 165–204, particularly p. 187Google Scholar; Veth, P.J., Borneo's Westerafdeeling, Geographisch, Statistisch…, (Zaltbommel: Joh. Noman en Zoon, 1854–1856, 2 vols.), I: 57Google Scholar; Molengraaff, G.A.F., Borneo-Expeditie — Geologische Verkennings-tochten in Centraal Borneo (1893–94) (Leiden: Brill, Amsterdam: Gerlings, 1900), p. 177Google Scholar; also Molengraaff, G.A.F., Borneo Expedition — Geological Explorations in Central Borneo (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1902)Google Scholar; and Brooke, C., Ten Years in Sarawak (London: Tinsley, 1866, 2 vols.), II: 250Google Scholar.

26 Sellato, , Nomades et sédentarisation, p. 43Google Scholar.

27 Ibid., pp. 64, 106.

28 See for example, Rousseau, J., Central Borneo: Ethnic Identity and Social Life in a Stratified Society (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990)Google Scholar.

29 Tromp, S.W., “Uit de salasila van Koetei”, BKI 37 (1888): 1–108, particularly pp. 62–63Google Scholar.

30 Sellato, , Nomades et sédentarisation, p. 40Google Scholar; details are found in Sellato, , “Les nomades forestiers”, p. 416Google Scholar.

31 Knappert, S.C., “Beschrijving van de onderafdeeling Koetei”, BKI 58 (1905): 575–654, particularly pp. 592–93Google Scholar.

32 Enthoven, J.J.K., Bijdragen tot de Geographie van Borneo's Westerafdeeling (Leiden: Brill, 1903, 2 vols.), p. 418Google Scholar.

33 Sellato, B., Hornbill and Dragon — Arts and Culture of Borneo (Singapore: Sun Tree, 1992)Google Scholar.

34 See Sellato, B., “The Punan Question and the Reconstruction of Borneo's Culture History”, in Change and Development in Borneo, ed. Sutlive, V.H. Jr (Williamsburg, VA: Studies in Third World Societies, in press)Google Scholar.

35 See Ivanoff, J., “L'épopée de Gaman: Histoire et conséquences des relations Moken/Malais et Moken/Birmans”, ASEMI 16, 1–4 (1985): 173–94Google Scholar.

36 Sellato, B., “Mémoire collective et nomadisme”, Archipel 27 (1984): 85–108CrossRefGoogle Scholar; this paper is forthcoming in English translation: “Collective Memory and Nomadism: Ethno-historical Investigations in Borneo”, in Selected Articles from Archipel (provisional title) (Ithaca: Cornell University, Southeast Asia Program, Translation Series)Google Scholar.

37 Botanical Notes: kensurai is probably Dipterocarpus oblongifolius Bl. (Dipterocarpaceae); sengkuang is probably Shorea seminis (De Vriese) V. Sl. (Dipterocarpaceae); biyu might be Pterospermum stapfianum Ridl. (Tiliaceae).

38 See Molengraaff, , Borneo Expedition, pp. 171, 178Google Scholar.

39 Sellato, , “Les nomades forestiers”, Nomades et sédentarisationGoogle Scholar, and “Punan Question”, and Sellato, B., “The Nomads of Borneo: Hoffman and ‘Devolution’”, Borneo Research Bulletin 20, 2 (1988): 106–120Google Scholar [a review article on The Punan: Hunters and Gatherers of Borneo, by Hoffman, Carl L. (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986)Google Scholar].