16 research outputs found
Senoi Dream Praxis
Anthropologists who work with the people Kilton Stewart called âsenoiâ agree that his account of how those people talk about and use dreams is rather idealized. The inaccuracies seem to stem from unconscious but systematic methodological biases which Domhoff and I have discussed at length elsewhere (Ed. Note: See note at end of article). The following account of Senoi dream praxis draws on discussions I have had with other anthropologists, notably Geoffrey Benjamin of the University of Singapore and Clay Robarchek of the University of California. Senoi themselves, however, supplied most of the information, during conversations with me while I was Living with them in 1961â1963 and 1975. This article is therefore a critique neither of Stewartâs work nor of the therapy he pro-moted, merely a presentation of dream theory in Malaya
Techniques and Antecedents: A Response to Giesler
In this validation of Faraday and Wren-Lewis by an anthropologist and ethnographer, Dentan refers to "Comments on âThe Selling of the Senoiâ" by Patric V. Giesler. Giesler wanted to know if Faraday and Wren-Lewis were cognizant of certain fieldwork pitfalls, since they were not ethnographers. He gives as an example a difficulty he himself had when studying Jurema shamansâ beliefs about psychokinesis. When interviewing them about tales he had heard on a previous trip, he kept getting nothing but "No" answers to the question, "Have you ever seen an object move by itself?"âuntil he realized he had to reframe the question because of conflicting cultural assumptions. His informants didnât believe objects moved "by themselves"âspirits moved them
Techniques and Antecedents: A Response to Giesler
The editor of the Lucidity Letter has asked me to respond to Gieslerâs insightful comment on Ann Faradayâs and John WrenâLewisâs (henceforward F&WL) âThe Selling of the Senoiâ
This is Passion, and Where it Goes: Despair and Suicide among Semai, A Nonviolent People of West Malaysia
This paper, the only one about despair and suicide among Orang Asli (indigenous) groups of peninsular Malaysia, focuses on Sen(g)oi Semai, a Mon-Khmer-speaking group of about 30,000, famous for avoiding violence. The paper examines two empirical correlations, firstly, between suicide and âlearned helplessnessâ and, secondly, between suicide and âmodernization,â especially in terms of increasing gender disjunction and familial patriarchy. Issues Âaddressed include nonviolence, gender relations, learned helplessness, the case study method, the long-term effects of violence, the effects of modernization and development, the increase in morbidity of depression in the Western world and its supposed absence among âsimplerâ peoples.Cette Ă©tude, unique en son genre pour les Orang Asli (indigĂšnes de Malaysia pĂ©ninsulaire), concerne le dĂ©sespoir et le suicide chez les Sen(g)oi Semai, un groupe de langue mĂŽn-khmer dâenviron 30 000 personnes, fameux pour son aversion de la violence. La corrĂ©lation empirique du suicide avec, dâune part, la « dĂ©bilitĂ© acquise » et, dâautre part, la « modernisation » est examinĂ©e, particuliĂšrement au vu dâune montĂ©e de la disjonction entre les sexes et du systĂšme patriarcal. Elle sâintĂ©resse aux questions de la non-violence, des relations de genre, de la dĂ©bilitĂ© acquise, de la mĂ©thode de lâĂ©tude de cas, des effets Ă long terme de la violence, de ceux de la modernisation et du dĂ©veloppement, et de lâaugmentation de morbiditĂ© de la dĂ©pression en Occident et de son absence supposĂ©e chez les peuples plus « simples »
Ambiguity, synecdoche and affect in semai medicine
Semai descriptions of their beliefs about health and disease vary from person to person. Moreover, at different times the same person expresses mutually incongruent beliefs. This amorphousness and fluidity merit analysis rather than neatening. This paper details Semai beliefs, loose ends and all, and suggests that their formal peculiarities are due to the prevalence of synecdoche in conceptual organization. Their inconsistency and fluidity may stem from individualistic egalitarianism within Semai society and powerlessness in the face of nonSemai attack. Finally, it is suggested that construing indigenous medicine as a crude form of Western medicine leads to overtidiness and consequent error.egalitarian society cognition Semai Senoi medical beliefs
Schooling vs. Education, Hidden vs. Overt Curricula
In advanced capitalist countries education prepares children to live in a complex world. Schooling teaches them subordination and the skills they will need for menial jobs. Education is for the children of the rich, schooling for the children of the poor. Malaysian schooling has other âcovert curricula,â e.g., Islamicization. Semai children, despite their love of education, have difficulty with schooling because their home experience involves freedom and mutual respect, qualities not salient in schooling. This paper attempts to document these processes and their results, with some suggestions for alternative forms of education.LâĂ©ducation dans les pays capitalistes avancĂ©s prĂ©pare les enfants Ă leur vie dans un monde complexe. Lâinstruction leur enseigne la soumission et les compĂ©tences nĂ©cessaires Ă lâaccomplissement de tĂąches subalternes. LâĂ©ducation est pour les enfants des riches, lâinstruction pour ceux des pauvres. Lâinstruction en Malaysia dissimule dâautres intentions, par exemple, lâislamisation. MalgrĂ© leur dĂ©sir dâapprendre, les enfants semai Ă©prouvent des difficultĂ©s Ă lâĂ©cole parce quâils ont fait lâexpĂ©rience, Ă la maison, de la libertĂ© et du respect mutuel, deux vertus peu mises en valeur Ă lâĂ©cole. Cet article dĂ©crit ces processus et leurs rĂ©sultats et suggĂšre des formes alternatives dâĂ©ducation