The mediated production of ethnicity and nationalism among the Iban of Sarawak, 1954-1976 (1). (Research Notes).

The mediated production of ethnicity and nationalism among the Iban of Sarawak, 1954-1976 (1). (Research Notes). Introduction Among the recent deluge Deluge(dĕl`yj), in the Bible, the overwhelming flood that covered the earth and destroyed every living thing except the family of Noah and the creatures in his ark. of anthropological writings on ethnicity(see Levine 1999), J. Comaroff's (1996) essay Ethnicity,Nationalism, and the Politics of Difference in an Age of Revolutionstands as a model of clarity and eloquence EloquenceAmbrose, St.bees, prophetic of fluency, landed in his mouth. [Christian Hagiog: Brewster, 177]Antony, Markgives famous speech against Caesar’s assassins. [Br. Lit. . Comaroff sets out toinvestigate the contemporary upsurge in the world's "politicsof identity." Why are the politics of cultural identity back with avengeance when modernity was supposed to erase all differences oforigin? he asks. His answer is twofold. First, the theoreticaldiscussions of the past two decades are no reliable guide to a properinquiry. Ethnicity theorists are still caught up in a fruitless fruit��less?adj.1. Producing no fruit.2. Unproductive of success: a fruitless search.See Synonyms at futile. dichotomy: primordialism versus constructionism constructionismthe use of or reliance on construction or constructive methods. — constructionist, n.See also: Attitudes . Primordialists assertthat all peoples have a "primordial primordial/pri��mor��di��al/ (pri-mor��de-al) primitive. pri��mor��di��aladj.1. Being or happening first in sequence of time; primary; original.2. " attachment to place, kinand/or language (see Karlsson 1998: 186). "How many moretimes," asks Comaroff (1996: 164), "is it necessary to provethat all ethnic identities are historical creations before primordialismis consigned, finally, to the trash heap of ideas p ast?" Mostsocial anthropologists Noun 1. social anthropologist - an anthropologist who studies such cultural phenomena as kinship systemscultural anthropologistanthropologist - a social scientist who specializes in anthropology today reject this approach and opt forconstructivism constructivism,Russian art movement founded c.1913 by Vladimir Tatlin, related to the movement known as suprematism. After 1916 the brothers Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner gave new impetus to Tatlin's art of purely abstract (although politically intended) , yet, to Comaroff (1996: 165), constructivism is not atheory but "merely a broad assertion to the effect that socialidentities are products of human agency." He argues that"ethnic - indeed, all - identities are not things but relations;that their content is wrought in the particularities of their ongoinghistorical construction." What we need, he concludes, are studieswhich situate sit��u��ate?tr.v. sit��u��at��ed, sit��u��at��ing, sit��u��ates1. To place in a certain spot or position; locate.2. To place under particular circumstances or in a given condition.adj. ethnicity and nationalism "in the broader context ofclaims of class, race, gender, and generation." There can be notheory of ethnicity and nationalism, "only a theory of historycapable of elucidating the empowered production of difference andidentity" (1996: 166). Second, Comaroff (1996: 168) believes we live in a new "Age ofRevolution." Global communications have eroded nation-states'control over their own economies and information, giving rise to whatKurtzman calls a global "electronics common." FollowingHannerz, Comaroff (1996: 168-172) maintains that today's nationshave very little say in the global cultural flow. Globalization globalizationProcess by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation producestwo major local reactions: (a) states try to reassert reassertVerb1. to state or declare again2. reassert oneself to become significant or noticeable again: reality had reasserted itselfVerb 1. their sovereigntywhile (b) within their borders a "dramatic assertion ofdifference" takes place in the form of an "explosion ofidentity politics" (1996: 173). In the postcolonial post��co��lo��ni��al?adj.Of, relating to, or being the time following the establishment of independence in a colony: postcolonial economics.world, heconcludes, we have witnessed an "increasing convergence of ethnicconsciousness and nationalist assertion" leading to a spread of"ethnonationalism." While concurring with much of Comaroff's argument, I have anumber of objections to make. First, although it is necessary to studyethnicity in relation to other forms of identity formation from anhistorical perspective, we should not forget that ethnicity is"that method of classifying people (both self and other) that usesorigin (socially constructed) as its primary reference" (Levine1999: 166). When gender, generation, sexual orientation sexual orientationn.The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. , class, etc.,take priority, then we are not dealing primarily with ethnicity. Second, even though it may be obvious to Comaroff thatprimordialism should be discarded as an "idea past," peoplearound the world still make use of primordialist notions to advancepolitical and economic causes. As anthropologists, we still need to tryto understand "collective identities deeply and sincerelyfelt" (Hann 1994:22). This does not mean that historical andethnographic eth��nog��ra��phy?n.The branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures.eth��nog findings ought to be bent to promote"non-Western" historical agendas. Indeed, granted that allethnic identities are "historical creations," it is stillimperative to determine to what extent historical evidence was falsifiedor discarded in order to pursue specific political objectives. Forexample, Peel (1989) maintains that the contemporary Yoruba identity isto a large extent a creation of the modern Nigerian state. Nevertheless,he argues, cultural distinctiveness was also crucial to thatidentity's consolidation, in particular the Yoruba language Yoruba (native name ��d�� Yor��b��, 'the Yoruba language') is a dialect continuum of West Africa with over 22 million speakers.[1] The native tongue of the Yoruba people, it is spoken, among other languages, in Nigeria, Benin, and Togo and traces of it are found , whichthe foreign missionaries turned into a written language (in Eriksen 1993: 92-94). In Sarawak, the ethnic categories "Iban" and"Bidayuh" only replaced "Sea Dayak" and "LandDayak" respectively in the 1950s. Yet the Iban (or Sea Dayaks),despite being far more numerous and widely scattered than the Bidayuh,share a common language with minor dialectal variations and, untilrecently, a fairly homogenous homogenous - homogeneous lifestyle. By contrast, the heterogeneousBidayuh, who speak at least four distinct languages, were "lumpedtogether under the colonial rubric RUBRIC, civil law. The title or inscription of any law or statute, because the copyists formerly drew and painted the title of laws and statutes rubro colore, in red letters. Ayl. Pand. B. 1, t. 8; Diet. do Juris. h.t. of Land Dayak" (Winzeler 1997:222). One would therefore expect the Bidayuh leaders to face more of anuphill struggle to fill in a "hollow category" (cf. Levine1999 on Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea(păp`ə, –y ) with convincing cultural materials. At leastone author claims that this has indeed been the case since independence(Winzeler 1997). (2) An even more problematic ethnic category,"Dayak," has gained increasing recognition in recent decadesacross Sarawak based on claims of a common Dayak origin (asal) and"cultural heritage" (adat). Third, Comaroff's view that nation-states today have littlecontrol over the flows of information may apply to the internet andother interpersonal media, but certainly not to radio, television, orthe print media, including school textbooks. This is particularly trueof authoritarian regimes Noun 1. authoritarian regime - a government that concentrates political power in an authority not responsible to the peopleauthoritarian stateauthorities, government, regime - the organization that is the governing authority of a political unit; "the in Southeast Asia Southeast Asia,region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. such as Malaysia and Bruneiwith servile ser��vile?adj.1. Abjectly submissive; slavish.2. a. Of or suitable to a slave or servant.b. Of or relating to servitude or forced labor. media organizations. In these countries, the ruralpopulations rely to a large extent on self-censored media productssupplied by urban elites. (3) It is important, therefore, not to fallfor attractive metaphors of the "electronic commons" kind,Instead we should strive to discern similarities and differences amongthe various media uses in specific national settings. A second exampleof the spread of globalist metaphors is provided by Ginsburg (1993) whohas adopted Appadurai's (1990) concept of "mediascapes"to analyze the burgeoning of Aboriginal media productions in Australia.Below I take issue with her view that indigenous media producerseverywhere "ente r transnational mediascapes in complex andmultidirectional mul��ti��di��rec��tion��al?adj.1. Reaching out in several directions: a multidirectional campaign.2. ways" (1993: 562). In the case of rural Sarawak,the flows of media products are often more "unidirectional The transfer or transmission of data in a channel in one direction only. "than "multidirectional." The challenge here is not so much tounderstand countless intersecting in��ter��sect?v. in��ter��sect��ed, in��ter��sect��ing, in��ter��sectsv.tr.1. To cut across or through: The path intersects the park.2. pathways, but to explain theprevalence of a top-down, two-step flow of media items from the West,especially the US today, to rural Borneo via powerful cultural brokersin West Malaysia-a massive process I have termed "dualwesternization west��ern��ize?tr.v. west��ern��ized, west��ern��iz��ing, west��ern��iz��esTo convert to the customs of Western civilization.west " (Postill 2000: 111). Finally, I wish to address Comaroffs point that in the postcolonialworld there is an "increasing convergence of ethnic consciousnessand nationalist assertion" leading to a spread of"ethnonationalism." This statement distracts us fromGellner's (1983: 140-143) robust thesis that states seek tomonopolize mo��nop��o��lize?tr.v. mo��nop��o��lized, mo��nop��o��liz��ing, mo��nop��o��liz��es1. To acquire or maintain a monopoly of.2. To dominate by excluding others: monopolized the conversation. legitimate culture through mass education and a nationallanguage. The driving principle of nationalism is "one state, oneculture." A key neglected area of research is exactly how, throughwhich media, postcolonial states seek to transcend their culturaldiversity and assumed backwardness and achieve a "literatesophisticated high culture" (1983: 141). Below, I argue that onechief site of struggles between central and peripheral ethnic groups inMalaysia is language, and that the Iban and other Dayaks, who lack the"political shell" of the state (1983: 140), are losing out tothe politically stronger Peninsular Malays and their Sarawak allies. Wecan distinguish two periods of media production impinging upon ruralIban society. First, an early period (1954-1976) dominated not by"global" media but rather by Iban-language radio and bookscontrolled by the Sarawak government and aimed at consolidating its holdacross the territory. In this article I dwell on some of the ambiguitiesinvolved in the task, for the early Iban producers were striving both tomodernize their society and to protect it from the ravages rav��age?v. rav��aged, rav��ag��ing, rav��agesv.tr.1. To bring heavy destruction on; devastate: A tornado ravaged the town.2. of modernity.In a future article I will analyze a second period (1977-1999) dominatedby audiovisual and print media agents from three urban centers (KualaLumpur Kuala Lumpur(kwä`lə lm`pr), city (1990 est. pop. , Kuching, and Sibu). This period was characterized by powerfulefforts to exclude the Iban language The Iban language is spoken in Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of Borneo) and the Sarawak state region of Malaysia by the Iban, a branch of the Dayak ethnic group (formerly known as "Sea Dayak"). and culture from the mass media,while all along promoting a colorful, vague Dayak identity in its stead(Postill 2000: 79-112)--a creative process familiar to students of otherAsia-Pacific nations (e.g. Sullivan 1993 on Papua New Guinea). The rise of Iban radio, 1954-1976 Radio Sarawak was officially inaugurated on 8 June 1954. Sarawakwas then a British Crown Colony crown colonyn.A British colony in which the government in London has some control of legislation, usually administered by an appointed governor. . The Sarawak Legislative Council (orCouncil Negeri) had finally decided to go ahead with hotly debated plansto create a broadcasting service (Morrison 1954:391). Set up with thetechnical assistance of the BBC BBCin full British Broadcasting Corp.Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. , the service had four sections: Malay,Iban, Chinese and English. The Iban Section broadcast one hour dailyfrom 7 till 8 pm. In the early days the variety of programs was limitedto news, information on farming and animal husbandry animal husbandry,aspect of agriculture concerned with the care and breeding of domestic animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, hogs, and horses. Domestication of wild animal species was a crucial achievement in the prehistoric transition of human civilization from (betanam betupi),and some Iban folklore, especially sung poems (pantun The Pantun is a Malay poetic form. The pantun originated as an oral literary form of expression traditionally used among the Malays. Pantun had been in its current form since 15th century at the latest, based on Malay manuscripts written within this period. , renong) and epics(ensera). It was also used in the case of medical and other emergenciesin certain upriver areas (Dickson 1995: 137). (4) The late Gerunsin Lembat (1924-95) from Malong, Saratok, was thefirst Iban broadcaster. In January 1956 he was promoted to Head of theIban Service (Langub 1995: 56). He is still remembered by rural andurban audiences alike for his extraordinary voice, command of the Ibanlanguage, and knowledge of adat (customary law). Other earlybroadcasters included Pancras Eddy, Andria Ejau, George Jimbai, andEdward Kechendai. In those days Radio Sarawak was jokingly called"Radio Saribas" owing to owing toprep.Because of; on account of: I couldn't attend, owing to illness.owing toprep → debido a, por causa dethe prevalence of broadcasters bornor educated in that region. Even today, a strong influence of theSaribas dialect can be detected in standard RTM (1) (RealTime Model) Refers to a system or architecture that performs operations in real time. See real time.(2) (Release/Released To M Iban. The Iban were the first Dayaks to have their own radio programs. In1957 the Iban example led influential members of another major group,the Land Dayaks (today, Bidayuh), to express their "greatdesire" to have their own radio section (Sarawak Tribune The Sarawak Tribune is a Malaysian newspaper that was published in Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu, in Sarawak, Malaysia. It was established in 1945. It was last owned by Sarawak Press Sdn. Bhd. Its sister paper was the state Malay-language daily, Utusan Sarawak. 21/10/1957). Others, like the Kenyah and Kayan, would follow suit insubsequent years. In the intervening years they were avid listeners tothe Iban programs. (5) Let us now consider the second organization ever to broadcast inIban. In 1958, the School Broadcasting Service (Ib. Sekula Penabur (6))was set up in Kuching by a New Zealander, Ian Prentice, under theColombo Plan Colombo Plan,international economic organization created in a cooperative attempt to strengthen the economic and social development of the nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. . Most radio sets were donated by the Asia Foundation andthe Government of Australia This article describes the federal government of Australia. See Australian governments for other jurisdictions. For a description of politics and political institutions, see Politics of Australia. . A regular schedule of broadcast Englishlessons began in 1959, designed for native primary schools in ruralareas, where most teachers had only a basic education. It was hopedradio would help overcome pupils' reliance on the English spoken bynative teachers hampered by a "limited range of knowledge, ideas,stories and vocabulary." (7) By the end of 1960 there were 467participating schools across Sarawak, and 850 teachers had attended 11training courses. (8) Sarawak was a regional pioneer in radio-mediatedteaching and learning. Indeed, Malayan educationalists were to learnfrom their Sarawak colleagues at a later stage. The response from thetarget audience was very encouraging. In 1960 the Service received 7 00letters from Primary 5 and 6 pupils around Sarawak in response toquestions set to them. (9) The service initially broadcast in English only, but difficultieswith this language led to the introduction of Malay and Iban programsand reading materials--an interesting example of how the introduction ofa mediated oral genre (Iban radio lessons) created the need for a newwritten genre (Iban textbooks). Michael Buma, another Saribas man andrenowned educationalist, was the first Iban officer. He produced threeprograms: "English Ka Kita" (English For You), "Dictationand Spelling," and "Ensera" (tales, stories). Meanwhile, Radio Sarawak was preparing for the country'sindependence. From 1961 to 1963 Peter Ratcliffe, an alleged intelligenceofficer with Britain's MI5, (10) and John Cordoux were in charge ofRadio Sarawak. They were replaced by Charles McKenna, the lastexpatriate Director, soon before the formation of Malaysia in 1963. With"independence through Malaysia," Radio Sarawak became RadioMalaysia Sarawak. The inclusion of the term Malaysia signals a shift inpriorities for the Iban Section and all the other sections. The firsttask was to help the new country from the perceived threat posed byIndonesia whose leader, Soekarno, claimed Malaysia was a new form ofBritish imperialism designed to maintain the Malay world The Malay World refers to the Malay cultural and linguistic sphere of influence, covering the archipelago of modern-day Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southernmost part of Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, East Timor and occasionally New Guinea. divided. (11)In response to Soekarno, a Psychological Warfare psychological warfareUse of propaganda against an enemy, supported by whatever military, economic, or political measures are required, and usually intended to demoralize an enemy or to win it over to a different point of view. It has been carried on since ancient times. Unit (or Psy-war) wasset up under British guidance. It deployed tactics already successfullyused by Radio Malaya against communist guerrillas in the 1948-1960period. One weapon deployed was the cherita kelulu (radio drama) whichadapted traditional Iban storytelling StorytellingAesopsemi-legendary fabulist of ancient Greece. [Gk. Lit.: Harvey, 10]MünchäusenBaron traveler grossly embellishes his experiences. [Ger. Lit. genres, themes, and characterssuch as the Keling and Kumang epics (ensera). Other dramas were set incontemporary rural Sarawak and promoted the need for development,religious and racial harmony and loyalty to the new country. The firstproducer of these dramas (cherita kelulu) was Andria Ejau, who alsopublished a number of them through the Borneo Literature Bureau (seebelow). Vivid jungle and longhouse longhouseTraditional communal dwelling of the Iroquois Indians until the 19th century. The longhouse was a rectangular box built out of poles, with doors at each end and saplings stretched over the top to form the roof, the whole structure being covered with bark. sound effects sound effectsNoun, plsounds artificially produced to make a play, esp. a radio play, more realisticsound effectsnpl → efectos mpl sonoros were fundamental to thetask of producing compelling drama. Some were borrowed from the BBC,while others were home-made. Other time-honored tactics included interviews with war victims andpatriotic songs. An Iban singer, Connie Francis, sang Tanah ai menoa aku(lit, my country's land and water, i.e. my Fatherland fa��ther��land?n.1. One's native land.2. The land of one's ancestors.fatherlandNouna person's native countryNoun 1. ), theIban/Malaysian answer to Indonesia's national anthem, while HillaryTawan sang Oh Malaysia! This was a time of growth for Iban pop. The I950s influence of the Indonesian and Indian music Indian music,of India: see Hindu music. industry gave way inthe I 960s and 1970s to British and American influences. Pauline Linanwas now joined by her sister, Senorita's Linan, on frequent toursaround Sarawak and recorded broadcasts. They were both brought uplistening to Western songs. Senorita's personal favorites were, notunusually, Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. In her varied repertoireshe sang in Iban, but the rhythms and tunes were borrowed from the West.She knew her twist, rock'n'roll, country and sentimental. Inthose days Iban audiences lagged behind the more urbanized ethnicgroups, says Senorita: "for instance, the Chinese were into TheBeatle s but back in the I 960s few Iban were exposed to worldmusic." (12) There were other popular Iban singers, including the policeconstable Eddie Jemat, as well as Esther Bayang, Antonio Jawie, RobertLingga and Reynolds Gregory--also known as "the Elvis Presley ofSarawak." Ironically, the fruits of their pioneering efforts tocreate a "modem" Iban pop scene are now collectively known aslagu lama lama:see Tibetan Buddhism. lamaIn Tibetan Buddhism, a spiritual leader. Some lamas are considered to be reincarnations of their predecessors; others have won respect for their high level of spiritual development. (lit. "old songs"), as middle-aged Iban look back atthose golden days and praise the depth (dalam) and subtlety of thelyrics, to them worlds apart from today's "superficial"(mabu) Iban pop. Despite the foreign provenance prov��e��nance?n.1. Place of origin; derivation.2. Proof of authenticity or of past ownership. Used of art works and antiques. of the tunes, the lagulama are now regarded as legitimate heirs to the best Iban musicaltradition. Why would this be so? According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. the media theorist Debray(1996: 177), nostalgia is "the first phase of mediologicalconsciousness." As a first generation of media producers andconsumers reach their middle and late years, their discovery of "aclear deviation from the old norm grasps the new order as adisordering." In the early stages of Iban pop, some songwriters and performersstraddled both genres. For instance, Lawrence S Lawrence.1 City (1990 pop. 26,763), Marion co., central Ind., a residential suburb of Indianapolis, on the West Fork of the White River. It has light manufacturing.2 City (1990 pop. 65,608), seat of Douglas co., NE Kans. . Ijau (13) (1966), ateacher and folklorist, wrote a number of pop songs that were broadcastby Radio Sarawak. Another case in point is Senorita Linan herself, whoapart from being a pop singer was a traditional dance (ngajat) performerin the I 1960s and I 1970s and currently teaches this art form inKuching. With the end of the Indonesian konfrontasi in 1965, prioritiesshifted from war propaganda to what a veteran Iban broadcaster hasdefined as the "mental revolution of the people," that is toeducation, health and economic development. Or, as a Malay broadcasterput it: "After independence changes were gradual: we broadcast morehours, there was more emphasis on the local dialects, development andracial harmony." In 1970, Iban air time was expanded to five hours: one hour in themorning, another in the afternoon, and three hours in the evening.Meanwhile, School Broadcasting began to produce Iban-language programsaimed at lower secondary Iban pupils (Untie 1998: 3), although Englishremained the medium of instruction and pupils were discouraged fromusing their mother tongues in school. From mid-1971 a slump in the international timber market caused theeconomic situation in Sarawak to worsen, especially in the Sibu area.The combination of a rapid Malaysianization, abject poverty, and chronicunemployment led many Chinese to join the communist guerrillas (Leigh1974:156). Their Iban support was considerable. The communists usedterror effectively by publicly executing informers. They also targetedvirtually every school in Sibu with moralistic mor��al��is��tic?adj.1. Characterized by or displaying a concern with morality.2. Marked by a narrow-minded morality.mor pamphlets and lectures.Students were urged to "win the victory" and "oppose andstop to wear Mini-skirt and funny dresses." Teachers were oftenblamed for the pupils' decadent dec��a��dent?adj.1. Being in a state of decline or decay.2. Marked by or providing unrestrained gratification; self-indulgent.3. often Decadent Of or relating to literary Decadence.n. ways: "some of them even teachthe students how to twist, and thus really lead the students intodarkness" (Leigh 1974: 158). The Iban Section was again enlisted to deploy psy-war tacticsagainst the insurgents Insurgents,in U.S. history, the Republican Senators and Representatives who in 1909–10 rose against the Republican standpatters controlling Congress, to oppose the Payne-Aldrich tariff and the dictatorial power of House speaker Joseph G. Cannon. . Two 15-minute programs were broadcast daily:"Topic of the day" (thinly veiled propaganda) and an appeal tothe insurgents to surrender. In addition, special soap operas This is a list of Soap operas by country of origin. ArgentinaAmandote Padre Coraje Pinina Resistir�� Floricienta (2004-2006) Chiquititas (1995-2003) Australia (cheritakelulu) were produced by Andria Ejau in order to, in the words of acolleague, alter the listeners' "mental perspective" and"get the people to report the terrorists" (ngasoh rayat ripottiroris). In 1975 the gifted Iban storyteller and broadcaster Thomas T.Laka, who is still active today, was trained in drama techniques by aBritish psy-war instructor based in Kuala Lumpur. That same yeartelevision arrived in Sarawak--12 years after it had done so in WestMalaysia--and some of the radio staff were "headhunted" intothe new medium. At this point it is pertinent to ask to what extent we can considerthe Iban Section part of the growing number of "indigenousmedia" around the world that have attracted the attention of mediaresearchers (Spitulnik 1993: 303). The anthropologist Faye Ginsburg(1993: 560-2) is one of the better known practitioners in this newsubfield sub��field?n.1. A subdivision of a field of study; a subdiscipline.2. Mathematics A field that is a subset of another field. (see Abu-Lughod 1997). She argues that two resilient tropesdominate the study of indigenous media. First, there is the"Faustian contract" approach derived from the FrankfurtSchool Frankfurt School,a group of researchers associated with the Institut für Sozialforschung (Institute of Social Research), founded in 1923 as an autonomous division of the Univ. of Frankfurt. . This approach is pessimistic about the possibilities ofindigenous cultures to withstand the onslaught of Western media andtheir repressive ideologies. Second, there is McLuhan's (1964)"global village" optimism with its utopian dream of aworldwide electronic democracy. Ginsburg (1993: 561-2), as I mentionedearlier, opts for a third trope trope?n.1. A figure of speech using words in nonliteral ways, such as a metaphor.2. A word or phrase interpolated as an embellishment in the sung parts of certain medieval liturgies. : Appadurai's (1990)"mediascape," a call for "situated analyses that takeaccount of the interdependence of media practices and the local,national, and trans national circumstances that surround them." Insettler nations such as Canada and Australia which practice"welfare colonialism," she notes, it is ironically the statethat has to support these media given the lack of financial andtechnical resources available to the native populations. Another factorof growing importance is the globalization of indigenous media, arts andactivism. Thus, although Aboriginal culture has been continuallyexploited by the white majority for tourist and political gains,Aboriginal media producers have become more and more active atinternational film and video festivals and other forms of networking. Inorder to grasp the significance of these developments, says Ginsburg, weneed to study how indigenous media producers "enter transnationalmediascapes in complex and multidirectional ways" (1993: 562). While it may be useful in Australia, this approach would be oflittle use in the case of Iban radio. Here it is not so much"multidirectional ways" we should analyze but rather theunidirectional, collective endeavor of Iban radio producers to spreadthe dominant modernist ideology. Many Aboriginal producers have shown anactive commitment to the romantic, post-industrial ideology of a globalbrotherhood of "First Nations" or "Fourth WorldPeoples" defined in opposition to white settler nations (Ginsburg1993: 558). In contrast, Iban producers have remained committed toredefining, refining, and modernizing "the Iban people The Ibans are a branch of the Dayak peoples of Borneo. They were formerly known during the colonial period by the British as Sea Dayaks. Ibans were renowned for practising headhunting and tribal/territorial expansion. " (bansaIban) within the bounds of an avowedly indigenist, post-colonial state.This trend was reinforced with the advent of print media in the Ibanlanguage. The rise and fall of the Borneo Literature Bureau, 1960-1976 In 1949, John Kennedy Wilson arrived in Sarawak from Scotland tobecome the Principal of Batu Lintang Training College. The chief aim ofthe College was to train young Sarawakian teachers and send them tofar-flung corners of the new Crown Colony to set up and run primaryschools, often under very harsh conditions. Its ethos followed in theBrooke tradition of symbolic respect towards the country's"native cultures." Batu Lintang, with its whitewashed walls decorated with splendidnative designs, its encouragement of local handicrafts and interest inthe tribal dances, had already set a pattern of pride in indigenousculture and artistic achievement (Dickson 1995: 27). In November 1952 Wilson attended his last school-leaving ceremony.All students arrived in "traditional dress, bright with hornbill hornbill,common name for members of the family Bucerotidae, Old World birds of tropical and subtropical forests, named for their enormous down-curved bills surmounted by grotesque horny casques. From 2 to 5 ft (61–152. feathers, silver woven sarongs and ivory earrings" (Dickson 1995:27). Wilson was to go on to found a remarkably successful experiment inwhat today is known as "sustainable development Sustainable development is a socio-ecological process characterized by the fulfilment of human needs while maintaining the quality of the natural environment indefinitely. The linkage between environment and development was globally recognized in 1980, when the International Union ." For fouryears he lived in the remote Budu area to set up a community developmentscheme from the bottom up, that is building on local Iban skills andcultural resources rather than importing them from the urban areas.Wilson saw this as the creation of new Budu "elites" (Jawan Noun 1. jawan - (India) a private soldier or male constableBharat, India, Republic of India - a republic in the Asian subcontinent in southern Asia; second most populous country in the world; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947 1994: 82). Alas, when Malaysia was born in 1963, his success wasperceived as a threat by the new Kuala Lumpur rulers and he was eventually "asked to leaveSarawak" (Jawan 1994:121). (14) The indigenist nature of Batu Lintang's ethos, or rather itsblending of British education and native arts and ceremony, was to havea decisive influence on a core of motivated pioneering Iban teachers whowould set out to modernize Iban culture while preserving what theyconsidered to be the best of its heritage. On 15 September 1958 thecolonial government inaugurated the Borneo Literature Bureau (Tawai1997: 6). Like Batu Lintang and Radio Sarawak, the Bureau aimed atreconciling social and economic development with cultural preservation.The three official aims of the Bureau's publications in English,Chinese, Malay, Iban and other indigenous languages were: (a) to support the various government departments in theirproductionof technical, semi-technical and instructional printed materials forthe peoples of Sabah and Sarawak (15) (b) to encourage local authorship and meet local needs. (c) to help in building up a local book trade (Borneo LiteratureBureau Annual Report 1960). Production started in 1960. The following year, the book of Ibanfolk stories Rita Tujoh Malam by Anthony Richards (1961) sold thepromising figure of 1,765 copies within six months. In the same year theBureau also published the religious text Jerita pasal Daniel and tookover the distribution of Radio Times from Radio Sarawak. The 1962 salesof English and Iban books were described by the Bureau as"encouraging." (16) Several booksellers reported selling booksto illiterate Iban adults who would have their children read them aloudto them. Of the 9 Iban books published, 2 were educational (geographyand English), 3 were on Iban custom (adat), and 4 were oral narratives(ensera and mimpi [dreams]). The latter was Benedict Sandin'simportant Duabelas Bengkah Mimpi Tuai Dayak-Iban, a collection of dreamsby Iban chiefs that had special historical significance. (17) Anotherprolific author who started publishing this year was Sandin'skinsman kins��man?n.1. A male relative.2. A man sharing the same racial, cultural, or national background as another.kinsmanNounpl -men Henry Gerijih (1962) with Raja Lan git, an ensera (18) on Kelingand other heroes and heroines from the mythical world of PanggauLibau-Gelong. Finally, A.A. Majang (1962), a former student ofWilson's at Batu Lintang, published a study on Iban marriagecustoms entitled Melah Pinang. In 1963, the year in which Malaysia was created, "[t]hepublication of books in Iban continued to play a large part in theBureau's activities." (19) A grant was received from the AsiaFoundation and a full-time Iban officer, Edward Enggu, was appointed.Kumang Betelu, a second saga (ensera) by H. Gerijih, and Pelandok seduaiTekura, an animal fable by D. Entingi, were published. The following year the Bureau celebrated its seventh annualliterary competition. Seven Iban manuscripts were sent in, out of whichthree were accepted. Sandin published Raja Durong, an ensera about thegreat Sumatran ancestor of Pulang Gana, (20) the Iban "deity of theearth" (Richards 1981: 288) or "god of agriculture"(Sutlive 1994:214). Another previous winner, Andria Ejau's DilahTanah, was published this year. Arguably ar��gu��a��ble?adj.1. Open to argument: an arguable question, still unresolved.2. That can be argued plausibly; defensible in argument: three arguable points of law. the first ever Iban novel, (21)the author describes it as an Ensera Kelulu, that is, a"pedagogical ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. story" (tau pulai ka pelajar), which hedistinguishes from the traditional genre Ensera Tuai (or Cherita Asal).A more accurate translation might be "morality novella novella:see novel. novellaStory with a compact and pointed plot, often realistic and satiric in tone. Originating in Italy during the Middle Ages, it was often based on local events; individual tales often were gathered into collections. ," fromthe morality plays staged in England between the 14th and 16th centuriesin which personified virtues and vices were set into conflict. (22)Ejau's characters live in a longhouse situated in the imaginaryland (menoa kelulu) of Dilah Tanah. They mean well, but keep runninginto trouble with the authorities for their re luctance to fully embracethe new adat, the so-called adat perintah (lit. government law), inparticular, the new laws New Laws:see Las Casas, Bartolomé de. aimed at curtailing slash-and-burn hill ricefarming. It all ends well after the local councilor coun��cil��oralso coun��cil��lor ?n.A member of a council, as one convened to advise a governor. See Usage Note at council.coun makes the locals seethe need to follow the learned ways of the government regarding modernagriculture. There are obvious autobiographical elements in the story,for Ejau was a councilor from 1947 to 1956, frequently traveling toremote Iban areas, before he joined Radio Sarawak where he first startedwriting radio dramas. During his official trips to the backwoods heenjoyed talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to"lecture, speechrebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to the elders, as he was "seeking knowledge thatcould benefit my people" (ngiga penemu ke tau diguna bansa diri). Previously he had been a security guard at an oil refinery in Seria(Ejau 1964). He was therefore well acquainted both with Iban customarylaw and with the state's own understanding of law and order. Bymeans of his novellas This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by [ expanding it].This is a selected list of novellas that have gained fame and/or critical and public acclaim. and broadcasts he sought to bridge the two. Ejau and Sandin represent two poles of the modernist-traditionalistcontinuum running through the entire field of Iban media production.Ejau specialized in transforming oral accounts, metaphors, and imageryinto contemporary, power-laden narratives that would "benefit [his]people." He was using old linguistic materials through new mediatechnologies in order to promote "modern" practices. Sandintook the opposite route as he sought to salvage as much of the Iban oraltradition as he could for the benefit of future generations. In otherwords Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , he was employing a new media technology to save (selected)"old knowledge" (penemu lama). Their respective 1964publications exemplify this marked contrast. While Ejau concentrated onmodern agriculture, Sandin wrote about the Iban god of farming. Althoughboth authors were undoubtedly the products and producers of a modernSarawak, the generic divide they bolstered has indigenous, pre-stateroots. Jensen (1974: 64) has divided Iban oral tradition into (1)stories abou t "the origins of Iban custom, the rice cult, augury au��gu��ry?n. pl. au��gu��ries1. The art, ability, or practice of auguring; divination.2. A sign of something coming; an omen: and social organisation Noun 1. social organisation - the people in a society considered as a system organized by a characteristic pattern of relationships; "the social organization of England and America is very different"; "sociologists have studied the changing structure of the family" " and (2) "legends from the heroicpast" whose purpose is to explain Iban behavior and the potentialconsequences of wrongdoing wrong��do��er?n.One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically.wrongdo . Ejau's contribution was to shift fromthis "heroic past" to the contemporary Iban world he knewwell, but his aim was equally to explain "the potentialconsequences of wrongdoing." In 1965 most books produced by the Bureau sold well, and it wasexpected that all the English and Iban books would eventually be soldout. The sale of English books increased by 63% and that of Iban by 64%,from 10,233 in 1964 to 16,747 in 1965. The number of entries fromwould-be Iban authors was twice that of Malay authors and many timeslarger than that of all other Dayak groups as a whole, as Table 1 shows.That year saw the publication of another book by Henry Gerijih, AurKira, a lengthy prose narrative with some poetic interludes on theadventures of Aur Kira, the younger brother Wiki is aware of the following uses of "'Younger Brother": Younger Brother (music group) Younger Brother (Trinity House) - a title within the British organisation, Trinity House of culture hero Keling. Thiswork is a cross between an ensera (epic or saga) and a jerita tuai, thatis, a "simple prose tale" (Richards 1981). Another 1965 bookwas William Duncan's Anak Bujang Sugi, an adaptation of the bardic(lemambang) epic genre known as ensera sugi. In the first part wewitness the life and deeds of Bujang Sugi whom the bard's tutelaryspirit (yang) calls upon to visit the sick. In the second part we l earnabout Bujang Sugi's descendants DESCENDANTS. Those who have issued from an individual, and include his children, grandchildren, and their children to the remotest degree. Ambl. 327 2 Bro. C. C. 30; Id. 230 3 Bro. C. C. 367; 1 Rop. Leg. 115; 2 Bouv. n. 1956. 2. . (23) The deluge of Iban manuscripts received in 1965 caused a backlog ofeditorial work the following year. Six new Iban books were published,and many more were planned for 1967. Three of the six were by teacherswho had trained at Wilson's Batu Lintang in the 1950s: Ijau Berani,an ethnohistorical account set in 19th century Sarawak by Jacob anakImang, and one ensera each by Norman Pitok and Lawrence Ijau. However,the number of Iban manuscripts sent in declined dramatically from theprevious year's 28 to a mere 10 in 1966 (24):Table 2Number of manuscripts by language sent in for the 9th Borneo LiteratureBureau annual competition, 1966.20 English 2 Kadazan17 Malay 1 Bau-Jagoi15 Chinese 1 Bukar-Sadong10 IbanSource: Borneo Literature Bureau Annual Report (1966). Another important change, this time qualitative, was therecognition by the Bureau that whereas most previous entries had beenfirst records of "stories handed down orally for manygenerations," henceforth, original writing A document formerly used to commence a lawsuit in English courts.Historically, the writ needed to start a personal action was a mandatory letter from the king, issued by the Chancery and sealed with the Great Seal. would be encouraged (BLB BLB Blue Letter BibleBLB Bayerische Landesbank (German)BLB Black Light Blue (lamp)BLB Bacterial Leaf BlightBLB Black Light Bulb (UV lamp)Annual Report 1966). The scales were therefore tipped in favor ofEjau's line of work. George Jenang, aged 19, took up the challenge and published KelingNyumpit, an original (25) ensera, in 1967. Meanwhile, A.A. Majang choseto publish in a new, para-journalistic genre: Iban reportage. His PadiRibai deals with the rumors that spread across the Rejang in the 1950sthat Pulang Gana, the god of farming, had passed away and his son,Ribai, was sending padi from overseas to grow in river shallows(Richards 1981:289). Also in 1967, Andria Ejau himself published asequel to Dilah Tanah, his morality novella mentioned earlier. In thisnew book, Madu Midang, Ejau resumes his preoccupation with social changeand its effects on Iban culture. Two of his early themes re-emerge here:(a) the peasants' need to understand the new laws regulatingmigratory migratory/mi��gra��to��ry/ (mi��grah-tor?e)1. roving or wandering.2. of, pertaining to, or characterized by migration; undergoing periodic migration.migratoryemanating from or pertaining to migration. farming, and (b) their need to modify their customary law(adat) to allow for new developmental tools--in this case the wirelessradio. He exemplifies the latter with an episode in which the longhouseelders ban the use of radio for a month in accordance wi th the adatregulating mourning (ulit). (26) Thus, the community fails to learnabout a dangerous fugitive presently roaming their land. One day thene'er-do-well arrives and, posing as a government official, cheatsthe community out of their meagre mea��geralso mea��gre ?adj.1. Deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty.2. Deficient in richness, fertility, or vigor; feeble: the meager soil of an eroded plain.3. savings. A number of traditional stories were also published in 1967,including H. Gerijih's Raja Berani, B. Inin's Bujang Linggangand P. Gani's Bujang Abang Bunsu. The main event of the year at theBureau, as far as Iban publishing was concerned, was the launching ofNendak, a magazine intended "for Ibans who are unable to read withfacility in any language other than their own." The target readerswere adolescents and young adults, both male and female. In order toattract them, a "[w]ide variety of material" was designed (BLBAnnual Report 1967:3-6). Appendix 1 captures some of that diversity. Inits 10-year long history, a total of 125 issues of Nendak werepublished. Besides being a rich repository of Iban lore, Nendak providesus with a privileged insight into the role of Iban intellectuals instate-sponsored efforts to modernize Iban culture and society on a widefront, from customary law through political organization, and fromagriculture and health to home economics. In 1968 Andria Ejau put out Batu Besundang, a morality novella(ensera kelulu) that opens with a government-appointed native chief(Pengulu) instructing the residents of a remote longhouse on the properway of celebrating Gawai Dayak Gawai Day or Gawai Dayak, a festival celebrated in Sarawak on 1 June every year is both a religious and social occasion. The word Gawai means a ritual or festival whereas Dayak , the annual pan-Dayak Festival inventedby the Iban-led government in 1965 to match the Malay and Chinesefestivities fes��tiv��i��ty?n. pl. fes��tiv��i��ties1. A joyous feast, holiday, or celebration; a festival.2. The pleasure, joy, and gaiety of a festival or celebration.3. . The chief explains to his puzzled followers followerssee dairy herd. the meaning ofthe term "Dayak" by listing 18 groups and comparing theirbewildering be��wil��der?tr.v. be��wil��dered, be��wil��der��ing, be��wil��ders1. To confuse or befuddle, especially with numerous conflicting situations, objects, or statements. See Synonyms at puzzle.2. language diversity to that of the Chinese. The Dayaks neededa longer period of time to recognize themselves as one people (bansa),he explains, because "schooling arrived late to us" (labanpelajar sekula laun datai ha kitai). As this example shows, the earlyIban media products served to crystallize crys��tal��lizealso crys��tal��ize ?v. crys��tal��lized also crys��tal��ized, crys��tal��liz��ing also crys��tal��iz��ing, crys��tal��liz��es also crys��tal��iz��esv.tr.1. and reify reify - To regard (something abstract) as a material thing. what until then hadbeen much more flexible and amorphous identities. In 1968 a second "original work" was born, JanangEnsiring's Ngelar Menoa Sarawak, a passionate ode to Sarawakwritten in the pantun genre, i.e. "a song sung in rhymingpattern" (Sather 1994:60). Ensiring, who was 19 at the time, showsgreat love for both Sarawak and the 5-year old Malaysia. His pantuntraces the history of Sarawak, from the cave-ridden, bloody chaos ofprehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to through several stages of increased adat law and order to theglorious cry of Malaysian freedom from British colonialism in 1963:MERDEKA! (Ensiring 1968:32). To the young poet, life before the BrookeRaj Brooke Raj(1841–1946) Dynasty of British rajas that ruled Sarawak (now a state in Malaysia) for a century. Sir James Brooke (1803–68) served with the British East India Company and fought in the first Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26) before using his family was hardly worth living:Bekereja samoa nadai meruan Their travails saw no profitable endsLaban rindang bebunoh ba pangan For they were busy murdering their friends[...] [...]Sida nadai Raja megai They had no Rajah to rule themAdat nadai dipejalai Had no adat to guide them (Ensiring 1968:2, my translation) There is no trace in Ensiring of Rousseau's "noblesavage Noble SavageChactasthe “noble savage” of the Natchez Indians; beloved of Atala. [Fr. Lit.: Atala]Chingachgookidealized noble Indian. [Am. Lit. " who lives in harmony with nature, and a great deal ofHobbes' famous dictum [Latin, A remark.] A statement, comment, or opinion. An abbreviated version of obiter dictum, "a remark by the way," which is a collateral opinion stated by a judge in the decision of a case concerning legal matters that do not directly involve the facts or affect the on primitive man's life being"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish brut��ish?adj.1. Of or characteristic of a brute.2. Crude in feeling or manner.3. Sensual; carnal.4. and short." For Hobbes (1651),the emergence of the state's monopoly of violence is a fundamentalstep towards peace, social evolution, and prosperity--a view all Ibanmedia producers would readily agree with. The teleological tel��e��ol��o��gy?n. pl. tel��e��ol��o��gies1. The study of design or purpose in natural phenomena.2. The use of ultimate purpose or design as a means of explaining phenomena.3. nature ofmodern Iban ethnohistory eth��no��his��to��ry?n.The study of especially native or non-Western peoples from a combined historical and anthropological viewpoint, using written documents, oral literature, material culture, and ethnographic data. is a synthesis of foreign (British and Malayan)and indigenous elements. The foreign component supplies a view ofnations as steadily marching along history towards greater unity andprosperity (Anderson 1983:23), whereas the Iban tradition has adatregulating all spheres of life and severely punishing those who threatenthe collective harmony. Another case in point is Sandin's 1970 ethnohistoricalaccount, entitled Peturun Iban ("Iban Descent"). It recountsthe history of the Iban people from their origins in the Kapuas, inpresent-day Indonesian Borneo, through their migrations into Sarawak, tothe long pacification PacificationPain (See SUFFERING.)Aegirsea god, stiller of storms on the ocean. [Norse Myth. process under the White Rajahs The White Rajahs refer to a dynasty that founded and ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946. A Rajah (or Raja) is a king or princely ruler in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The coaling station of Brooketon in Brunei was named after the Brooke family. culminating in thesurrender of the last Upper Engkari "troublemakers" in 1932: Nya pengabis pengachau Iban dalam Sarawak. Udah bekau tu nadaf agiorang deka ngaga pengachau ke nusah orang maioh. Ati berani agidikembuan bansa Iban tang sida enda ngemeran ka nya agi. Sida berumahmanah lalu besekula nunda pengawa enggau pemansang bansa bukai ke samadiau begulai enggau sida dalam menoa Sarawak tu. This was the end of the Iban troubles in Sarawak. Henceforth nobodywould cause suffering to the general population. The Iban are stillendowed en��dow?tr.v. en��dowed, en��dow��ing, en��dows1. To provide with property, income, or a source of income.2. a. with brave hearts yet they pay little heed to them. They nowbuild good solid houses and send their children to school following theexample set by the other (27) races with whom they share Sarawak (Sandin1970: 123, my translation). Iban readers are here again given a teleological framework,employed this time by Sarawak's foremost ethnohistorian whocombines oral and written materials in order to prove that the statesaved the Iban from themselves. Other works published in 1968 included Sandin's Leka Sabak, acomplex ritual dirge dirge?n.1. Musica. A funeral hymn or lament.b. A slow, mournful musical composition.2. A mournful or elegiac poem or other literary work.3. , various ensera by Andria Ejau and S. Pelima, and acollection of riddles (entelah) by Boniface Boniface(bŏn`əfās), d. 432, Roman general. He defended (413) Marseilles against the Visigoths under Ataulf. Having supported Galla Placidia in her struggle with her brother, Emperor Honorius, Boniface fled to Africa in 422. Jarraw, a BBC-trainedbroadcaster and ngajat dancer. At the end of the year, officially owingto poor sales results (but see below), the Bureau decided to concentrateon less Iban titles. The 11th competition yielded the following harvest:Table 3Number of manuscripts by language sent in for the 11th Borneo LiteratureBureau annual competition, 1968.22 English19 Malay15 Iban 8 Chinese 1 Kadazan Of those 15 Iban books received, only 2 saw the light in 1969: anensera by Andria Ejau entitled Aji Bulan and a ritual dirge by Rev. Fr.Frederick Rajit entitled Sabak Kenang. This Anglican priest from Betong,in the Saribas, learnt the pagan dirge from his mother--a characteristicexample of that region's fertile syncretism syn��cre��tism?n.1. Reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, especially when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous.2. . The year 1970 was more productive. A set of Iban language textbookswas published, namely Michael Buma's memorable (28) Pelajar Iban 1,2, 3, 4, and 6 series, based on traditional folk tales--which the Ibanleader Sidi Munan (1985:ii) saw at the time as an encouragingcontribution to the survival of the Iban language. In addition toSandin's aforementioned ethnohistory, E. Kechendai, a broadcasterand regular contributor to Nendak, published a book of animal fables(ensera jelu) aimed at the 10-15 age group, and Ong Kee Bian, a guide tomodem pisciculture pi��sci��cul��ture?n.The breeding, hatching, and rearing of fish under controlled conditions.pi in Iban translation. In 1971 Sandin put out a bardic invocation invocation,n a prayer requesting and inviting the presence of God. to the gods, entitledPengap Gawai Burong, J.J. Awell a collection of mostly animal fableswith a moral intent (cherita kelulu), and C.M. Liaw an ensera. Thefollowing year Andria Ejau brought out his third morality novella,Pelangka Gantong. Again a longhouse community has difficulties copingwith modernity, and again the wise local councilor comes to the rescue.The problems are by now familiar to Ejau's readers: land ownership,new political structures, and literacy. This year a new author, Joshua Jalie, put out Pemansang mai Pengerusak, also a morality novella on rural development. Jalie'speasants have been blessed with a school, a road, and a rubber scheme.Alas, they soon squander squan��der?tr.v. squan��dered, squan��der��ing, squan��ders1. To spend wastefully or extravagantly; dissipate. See Synonyms at waste.2. their profits gambling at the cockfights. Tocompound matters, most of them still believe in ghosts (antu)."Since when have the rats run away from our spells?" says anunusually enlightened villager. "The government has already givenus poison to kill the rats but the others insist on following the oldways." (29) In the preface, the author had made a clear distinctionbetween rural Iban "who know better" (sida ti mereti agi) andthose who "are still blind, who are not aware of the means and aimsof development" (sida ti agi buta, ti apin nemu julok enggau tujuator pemansang). Finally, also in 1972, W. Gieri had an ensera publishedon the adventures of a jungle ogre (antu gerasi). Here we have again acontrast of the Ejau-Sandin kind identified earlier. While one authorridicules his rura l brethren's belief in spirits and ogres (antu),another tries to salvage for posterity POSTERITY, descents. All the descendants of a person in a direct line. a most prominent member of thatsupernatural family, one whose name was traditionally used in thelonghouse to quiet unruly children. Their contrast reveals thecontradictory nature of the wider modernizing project embarked upon bythe early generation of media producers, caught up in preserving for thefuture what they, as urbanized literate Christians, had discarded intheir own lives. The only Iban-language book published in 1973 was a collection ofshort stories translated from Kadazan, a major Sabahan language. In 1974two ensera by G.N. Madang and K. Umbat and a primary school textbook byC. Saong were brought out. Another two ensera, by S. Jawan and T. Geboh,came out in 1975. The Bureau ceased to exist in 1977 when it was taken over by theFederal body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Malay for The Institute of Language and Literature) (abbreviated DBP) is the government body responsible for coordinating the use of the Malay language in Malaysia and Brunei. . In its last year of existence, B.Sandin (1976) put out Gawai Pangkong Tiang, based on a bardic invocation(pengap) recited during the festival of the same name; A. Josephpublished an ethnohistory (jerita tuai), and T. Geboh an ensera.Finally, Andria Ejau brought out another morality novella: TanahBelimpah. It contained episodes on the advantages of modem medicine overshamanic sha��man?n.A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a medium between the visible world and an invisible spirit world and who practices magic or sorcery for purposes of healing, divination, and control over natural events. (manang) rites, on those of wet rice over hill ricecultivation, on the commendable efforts of the school authorities tocreate a Malaysian people (bansa Malaysia), and on the great potentialof a newly arrived technology called "television" to bridgethe gap between rural and urban schools. We shall understand shortlyjust how tragically ironic Ejau's patriotic optimism would prove tobe. The significance of the Borneo Literature Bureau To the literary scholar, the Bureau's books are an"excellent source" for the study of Bornean languages andliteratures (Steinmayer 1990: 114), a study still in its infancy. AsSutlive (1988: 73), an authority on the Iban language, has remarked: Thirty-one years ago... Derek Freeman John Derek Freeman (b. August 15, 1916, Wellington, New Zealand; d. July 6, 2001, Canberra, Australia[1]) was a New Zealand anthropologist best known[2] told me that Iban folklore"probably exceeds in sheer volume the literature of theGreeks." At the time, I thought Freeman excessive. Today, I suspecthe may have been conservative in his estimate. At a time when much of the oral tradition has disappeared, Ibanbooks provide "unparalleled insights into Iban social philosophyand epistemology epistemology(ĭpĭs'təmŏl`əjē)[Gr.,=knowledge or science], the branch of philosophy that is directed toward theories of the sources, nature, and limits of knowledge. Since the 17th cent. ." They are "instructive about Iban values ofachievement and self-reliance, of discretion, of restraint, ofself-effacement and understatement" (Sutlive 1994: xxii). They alsoteach us about an under-researched area of study in Borneo: gender (seeAppell and Sutlive 1991). Traditional Iban society was undoubtedlymale-dominated. All the most venerated activities-pioneering, farming,headhunting-were the prerogative of men; they were designed to enable aman "to become something else" (Sutlive 1977: 158). A closereading of the Bureau's stories on Keling and Kumang reveals howtrouble often starts when a woman breaches a taboo, forcing Keling oranother male hero to intervene and restore order. We said earlier thatin modern Iban ethnohistory the White Rajahs "saved the Iban fromthemselves" by restoring order. Similarly, Sutlive (1977: 164)concludes that in Iban na rratives women "must be saved fromthemselves," from their jealousy and naivety-by men. (30) At any rate, thanks to the unrelenting work of Benedict Sandin Benedict Sandin (1918-1982) was an Iban ethnologist, historian, and Curator of the Sarawak Museum in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. He also served as Government Ethnologist to the Government of Sarawak. ,Henry Gerijih, and other Bureau authors, Iban oral literature is todayfar better recorded than that of any other Bornean ethnic group (Maxwell1989: 186, Sather 1994), even if some scholars have doubts about theusefulness of the Bureau's books, in which the oral accounts havebeen "abridged and edited making them almost unreliable for seriousstudies" (Said 1994: 58). One neglected research area, however, hasbeen the significance of the Bureau's books not for posterity butrather in terms of the 1960s-1970s attempts to develop a modern,literate Iban culture. This was precisely my aim in the preceding pages:to situate the books in relation not to a timeless past or a scholarlyfuture, but in the contemporary flux of a rapidly modernizing Sarawak.Three concluding remarks are called for: First, the vision driving the Bureau's editors and authors wasto modernize the native societies through social and economicdevelopment while preserving what they considered to be the best oftheir rich oral traditions through literacy. At the same time Sarawakhad to be protected from the related threats of racial conflict, abelligerent Indonesia, and communism. We have seen some of the ways inwhich the Bureau's authors, notably Andria Ejau, served theirgovernment. In all cases they were animated by the paradoxical projectof having both to change and to preserve Iban culture. What Iban culturedid they draw upon? Not a wholesale "pristine Iban culture"(Freeman 1980: 7) untouched by modernity, but rather, local oralfragments of an eroded "tradition" (adat Iban) that Ejau andothers reconstructed piecemeal as they went along. Yet salvaging a storyin print is a radically different action from telling a story in thesemi-darkness of an ill-lit and illiterate longhouse gathering. It ispart of the collect ive "objectification ob��jec��ti��fy?tr.v. ob��jec��ti��fied, ob��jec��ti��fy��ing, ob��jec��ti��fies1. To present or regard as an object: "Because we have objectified animals, we are able to treat them impersonally"" of Iban cultureundertaken by these pioneering media agents. Writing about the Bidayuh,formerly known as Land Dayaks, Winzeler (1997:224-5) appliesWagner's (1981) notion of "objectification of culture," aprocess whereby implicit practices are rendered explicit as"custom" or "heritage." To Wagner, such processesare part and parcel of the inventiveness of all human societies. Otheranthropologists, however, have considered them to be unique to Westernmodernity. Winzeler seeks a middle ground. He argues that SoutheastAsian societies adopted cultural objectifications of Indic and Islamicorigin (notably ugama or religion, and adat or custom, respectively)well before the arrival of Europeans. Yet the tendency "to turnnative lifeways into matters of objective contemplation and selection ofethnic traditions" was greatly intensified under colonial andpost-colonial governments. Among the Bidayuh, for instance, the male ceremonial house (baruk),a strikingly designed building where enemy skulls were kept, has emergedin recent times as the "ethnic emblem" par excellence.Winzeler (1997: 223) maintains that this choice of emblem results fromits architectural beauty and from its being uniquely Bidayuh, for thismultilingual group has little else other than architecture todistinguish it from neighboring neigh��bor?n.1. One who lives near or next to another.2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another.3. A fellow human.4. Used as a form of familiar address.v. groups. Unlike the Bidayuh, the Ibanhave a common language with minor dialectal variations, a language witha long and rich history that is often invoked as the bedrock of the Ibanculture. The Iban language was not only a means to the "objectivecontemplation and selection of ethnic traditions," the print mediaturned it into an object of study, contemplation, and culturalistdevotion in its own right. Indeed, language has remained the mostpowerful emblem of Ibanness to this day (see Masing 1981), far morepowerful than any item of material culture or architecture could everbe. Second, as Appendix 2 shows, there was a predominance pre��dom��i��nance? also pre��dom��i��nan��cyn.The state or quality of being predominant; preponderance.Noun 1. predominance - the state of being predominant over otherspredomination, prepotency of authorsfrom the Saribas-Kalaka belt, and in particular from BenedictSandin's Paku River-an area noted both for its early economic andeducational achievements and its love of Iban tradition (Sather 1994:71-72). The Saribas was a curiously modernist-traditionalist crossroadswhose leading families were well aware of the economic advantages of aChristian name Christian namen.1. A name given at baptism. Also called baptismal name.2. A name that precedes a person's family name, especially the first name. and education, and yet had retained a deep respect fortheir own cultural heritage. Sandin and the other Bureau authors createda cultural feedback loop: they acquired oral items in the rural areas,processed them in Kuching, and "fed them back" to the ruralareas in a new, literary form. In the process they were adding symbolicand market value to their stories, for the written word carried immenseauthority among illiterate and semi-literate longhouse residents. It wasa classic center-periphery relationship whereby raw materials from theeconomic margins were manufactured in the urban centers and sent back totheir places of origin. In so doing, the Bureau was also standardizing"Iban culture" through the systematic use of orthographic or��tho��graph��ic? also or��tho��graph��i��caladj.1. Of or relating to orthography.2. Spelled correctly.3. Mathematics Having perpendicular lines. ,generic, and rhetorical conventions. Moreover, after 1963, its authors"updated" Iban ethnohistory with the incorporation of Malaysiainto their developmentalist accounts. Finally, King (1989:243) understands ethnic categories as"part of wider taxonomies and sets of social, economic, andpolitical relations" and urges researchers in Borneo to relateethnicity to other "principles of social organization."Similarly, Eriksen (1993: 12) notes that "ethnicity is essentiallyan aspect of a relationship, not a property of a group." In thecontext of Iban ethnicity, we have to stress a sub-ethnic domain:one's river of origin. Class, education, and geography wereinextricably in��ex��tri��ca��ble?adj.1. a. So intricate or entangled as to make escape impossible: an inextricable maze; an inextricable web of deceit.b. conjoined conjoined/con��joined/ (kon-joind��) joined together; united. conjoinedjoined together.conjoined monsterstwo deformed fetuses fused together. in the making of the early Iban media producers.These pioneering authors were not only the products of a region, theirtalents were fostered and channeled in a few educational institutions,which favored the social and cultural development of the Iban. Appendix2 demonstrates how nearly half the authors sampled obtained theirsecondary schooling at St Augustine, in the Saribas. Additionally, asizeable number of authors trained as teachers at Wilson's BatuLintang in Kuching. Virtually all were, or ha d been, rural,schoolteachers. Four authors (Ejau, Jimbai, Kechendai and Jarraw) werealso broadcasters with Radio Sarawak, another nativist na��tiv��ism?n.1. A sociopolitical policy, especially in the United States in the 19th century, favoring the interests of established inhabitants over those of immigrants.2. institution. Theexclusion of women from the new field of cultural production was ahidden, taken-for-granted principle of social organization at work inthis process. Very few women in those days had access to a secondaryschool education, let alone to further training in the capitol. Besides,storytelling had always been yet another male Iban prerogative. (31) Insum, our authors were mission-educated men from economically progressiveyet culturally conservative areas, bent on Adj. 1. bent on - fixed in your purpose; "bent on going to the theater"; "dead set against intervening"; "out to win every event"bent, dead set, out to developing their careers in anew field of cultural production while developing their people. From the above discussion, it may appear as if there were noresistance to the modernizing drive of these media producers. A closerreading of their texts, however, suggests a constant struggle topersuade reluctant rural Iban to modernize their ways, particularly inEjau's educational work. Elsewhere (Postill 1998 and 1999, chapters5-6), I argue that their efforts, at least in the Saribas and Skrangrivers, have paid off, This is born out by a history of ideas The history of ideas is a field of research in history that deals with the expression, preservation, and change of human ideas over time. The history of ideas is a sister-discipline to, or a particular approach within, intellectual history. and mediapractices in these areas I have written from the perspective of localmedia consumers. Today, there is little resistance to"development" (pemansang) in its myriad institutional forms,from Christianity through agriculture to health and education. Iban print media: from boom to bonfire According to Leigh (1983: 160), the three key political issues inthe decade that followed independence (1963-1973) were federal-staterelations, the opening-up of native land to commercial exploitation, andthe debate over whether English or Malay was to be the medium ofinstruction in Sarawak. The first Chief Minister of an independentSarawak "through Malaysia" was an Iban, Stephen Kalong Ka`long´n. 1. (Zool.) A fruit bat, esp. the Indian edible fruit bat (Pteropus edulis). Ningkan. He was seen in Kuala Lumpur as a confrontational Dayak,especially because of his strong defence of English as the language ofinstruction and government and his reluctance to take on Malayan civilservants. In fact, like many other Sarawak leaders at the time, heconsidered the union with Malaysia as a "treaty relationshipbetween sovereign nations" (Leigh 1983: 162). In 1966, the Malaysian Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Not to be confused with Tuanku Abdul Rahman, the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of the Federation of Malaya.Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah , made useof emergency powers to remove Ningkan from power. (32) Instead, heinstalled a more pliable Iban: Tawi Sli. The Tunku was a firm believerin the need for a strong national language, "for language is thesoul of the Nation" (Leigh 1974: 88). He was convinced that underTawi Sli "there was a much better chance of the people developing aMalaysian consciousness" (Leigh 1974: 105, fn 79). The languageissue was finally settled under the following Chief Minister, AbdulRahman Yakub, a Melanau Muslim, in favour of Malay (33) (Leigh 1983:163). With Ningkan went the political support needed for the developmentof modem Iban-language media. Appendix 3 shows how the golden period ofnew Iban titles at the Borneo Literature Bureau came to a sharp end in1968. Allowing for the backlog created by the deluge of new manuscriptsreported in 1965, it is safe to assume that the drop was linked to thenew, unfavorable political climate. From the mid-1960s, the Iban (and other Dayaks) increasingly lostpolitical ground to the Malay-Melanau Muslim elites. The only outlet forIban discontent with the slow pace of rural development, the oppositionparty SNAP, was financially weak and finally joined the governmentcoalition in 1976. All through this period there were token Iban/Dayakrepresentatives in the state cabinet, but the real power always residedwith the Melanaus and their Malay allies (Jawan 1994: 124). Radio Sarawak (later RMS (1) (Record Management Services) A file management system used in VAXs.(2) (Root Mean Square) A method used to measure electrical output in volts and watts. 1. RMS - Record Management Services.2. and RTM) and Borneo Literature Bureauproducers and authors were struggling to preserve a language and aculture that in the mid-1960s lost out to the new national languageimported from Malaya. Iban-language radio and literature werecomplementary media: the former used oral/aural means, the latter,visual means to achieve the same goals. Their target audience was in thepolitically weak rural areas, away from Kuching's corridors ofpower, increasingly linked to those of Kuala Lumpur. The cultural systemfrom which the authors of books and scripts drew oral knowledge and towhich they contributed literate knowledge was rapidly becoming asubsystem within an expanding national polity. Twenty-seven years ago, Leigh (1974:94) predicted that "theIban school teachers may yet prove to be a politically pivotalgroup." That appears to have been the case, to some extent, in the1987 elections (Leigh 1991). I now turn to the abrupt end of the Ibanmedium with which those teachers were most actively involved. This eventarguably thwarted the development of Iban as a language of high cultureand social critique. (34) Oral tradition in Kuching has it that soonafter Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP DBP Diastolic Blood PressureDBP Development Bank of the PhilippinesDBP Database Project (Visual Studio File Extension)DBP DNA Binding ProteinDBP Disinfection ByproductDBP Deutsche Bundespost ), Malaysia's language planning This article is about the field of language planning & policy. See Constructed language for details on the creation of planned or artificial languages.Language planning and development agency, took over the Borneo Literature Bureau in 1977,they had all the books in Iban and other Bornean languages buried.Shortly afterwards, the mass media grave was discovered by a reader whorescued some of the books. To prevent future finds, my informants allegethat the new cultural authorities resorted to a traditional agriculturalpractice known as "open burning." If this is true, what in the1960s had been a modest literary boom, ended up feeding a bonf ire. DBP officials appear to be nervous on the subject of Borneanlanguages. For instance, Z. A. Zulficly (1989) has stated that the roleof his agency is to publish works "in the national language orother vernaculars" (my emphasis) and that it "does notdisregard Sarawak's principal aspiration in relation to itsliterature and local socio-culture, most importantly Adv. 1. most importantly - above and beyond all other consideration; "above all, you must be independent"above all, most especially , its oral traditionin the form of folklores in order that such folklores will not beobliterated o��blit��er��ate?tr.v. o��blit��er��at��ed, o��blit��er��at��ing, o��blit��er��ates1. To do away with completely so as to leave no trace. See Synonyms at abolish.2. thus" (1989: 159). Soon after, however, he reveals thepost-1977 function assigned by Kuala Lumpur to the local languages: tosupply the national language with new words, a role he deems"immensely significant for the purpose of fostering nationalintegration." Indeed, he says, "[h]itherto, 50 words invarious regional languages have been officially assimilated in thebahasa Malaysia Noun 1. Bahasa Malaysia - the Malay language spoken in MalaysiaBahasa Kebangsaan, Bahasa Melayu, MalaysianMalay - a western subfamily of Western Malayo-Polynesian languages word vocabulary" (35) (1989:159). He concludes thatDBP cannot publish books in regional languages "because this wouldinadvertently contradict its policy and an apparently m ediocremarket" (1989: 161), thus inadvertently contradicting his ownopening statement on the agency's role in publishing works in"other vernaculars." The truth is that the protection anddevelopment of "minority languages" (36) appears in Article152 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees "the right of allethnic communities in Malaysia to use, sustain and develop their mothertongue" (Tawai 1997: 18). In practice, however, the sustained aimis to create a Malay-based national language and culture. Thus, in 1988,to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of Malaysia, the Sarawakgovernment ran a number of workshops on each of the state's majorethnic groups in order to determine "what to discard in theinterest of 'development' and 'unity' and what topreserve and incorporate into a national (Malaysian) culture"(Winzeler 1997: 201). Well-placed Dayaks aid this process of linguistic and culturalassimilation Not to be confused with Intermarriage. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. . Another DPB DPB - /d*-pib'/ The PDP-10 instruction "DePosit Byte" that inserts some bits into the middle of some other bits. Hackish usage has been kept alive by the Common LISP function of the same name. official, Jonathan Singki, the editor of theIban-language magazine Nendak from December 1975 until its reportedcremation cremation,disposal of a corpse by fire. It is an ancient and widespread practice, second only to burial. It has been found among the chiefdoms of the Pacific Northwest, among Northern Athapascan bands in Alaska, and among Canadian cultural groups. in November 1977, offers a different explanation for theinsignificant output of Iban books under DPB. Singki, who now devoteshis energies to Malay-language texts, argues that Iban authors, and inparticular the committee set up to publish Iban textbooks, are notsufficiently professional. Instead of sending Camera Ready Copy (CRC (Cyclical Redundancy Checking) An error checking technique used to ensure the accuracy of transmitting digital data. The transmitted messages are divided into predetermined lengths which, used as dividends, are divided by a fixed divisor. )manuscripts, says Singki, (37) they send in crude printouts in need of agreat deal of editorial work that causes huge delays. Other urban Iban I talked to privately suspect that there arepolitical reasons behind these "technical delays." A case inpoint is Andria Ejaus manuscript Layang Bintang, a morality novella onrural development he wrote in 1972 in which he warns rural readers ofthe perils of sheltering communist-terrorist (CT) guerrillas. Thisensera kelulu won a 1973 BLB award, yet the Bureau never printed it. Itwas only in 1984, after a hiatus of 11 years, that Ejau learnt that hismanuscript would not be published by DBP because it had been originallysent to the Borneo Literature Bureau,38 an organization no longer inexistence (Ejau 1985:5). DBP were willing, however, to return theoriginal manuscript to Ejau. Fortunately for him, that same year (1984)the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA) was founded. One of theirvery first tasks was to publish Layang Bintang, which finally came outin 1985 (by which time the anti-communist message was somewhat dated!).The rationale behind such an expenditure was enunciated in unequivocalterms by the Chairman of SADIA, Sidi Munan (1985:3): "For if weLOSE OUR LANGUAGE, we will LOSE OUR PEOPLE,, (39)--a slogan tellinglyreminiscent of Malaysia's first Prime Minister's aforesaid Before, already said, referred to, or recited.This term is used frequently in deeds, leases, and contracts of sale of real property to refer to the property without describing it in detail each time it is mentioned; for example,"the aforesaid premises. "for language is the soul of the Nation." Conclusion Ernest Gellner (1983: 140-143) has famously argued that the originsof nationalism in Europe lay in the rise of industrial society. Therequirements of a modern economy that aimed for sustained economicgrowth led to a new relationship between state and culture. Such aneconomy depended on a "literate sophisticated high culture" inwhich members could communicate precisely both face-to-face and throughabstract means. European states came to monopolize legitimate culturevia mass education and a national language. The driving principle ofnationalism, says Gellner, was one state, one culture. Across SoutheastAsia, this principle is being relentlessly pursued today, in spite ofthe ubiquity UbiquitySee also Omnipresence.Burma-Shavetheir signs seen as “verses of the wayside throughout America.” [Am. Commerce and Folklore: Misc. of "unity in diversity" symbols and slogans. Forinstance, the Thai government "actively discourages attempts byforeign missionaries to provide its hill-tribe minorities with their owntranscription-systems and to develop publications in their ownlanguages: the same government is largely indifferent to what theseminorit ies speak" (Anderson 1991: 45). Similarly, Iban radio posedless of a threat to the fledgling Malaysian nation-state than Iban printmedia, so it was allowed to live on. Provencher (1994:55) overlooks thiscrucial distinction between orality orality/oral��i��ty/ (or-al��it-e) the psychic organization of all the sensations, impulses, and personality traits derived from the oral stage of psychosexual development. o��ral��i��tyn. and literacy when he states that theofficial policy is to teach the standard language (bahasa baku) to everyMalaysian citizen "and to officially criticize those who continueto speak and write in regional dialects." Eriksen (1993:128) maintains that literate minorities have a betterchance of surviving than illiterate ones. He adds: "Groups whichhave 'discovered that they have a culture,' who have inventedand reified their culture, can draw on myths of origin and a wide arrayof potential boundary-markers that are unavailable to illiterateminorities." That was precisely what was at stake when DBP tookover the Borneo Literature Bureau. Ethnicity studies within social anthropology since Barth (1969)have tended to focus on how cultural differences among ethnic groupsacquire "social significance." Anthropologists who adopt this"constructivist con��struc��tiv��ism?n.A movement in modern art originating in Moscow in 1920 and characterized by the use of industrial materials such as glass, sheet metal, and plastic to create nonrepresentational, often geometric objects. " approach are not overly interested in theactual cultural differences that may separate one ethnic group fromanother, but rather in how those differences are constructed. Yet thereare anthropologists with an historical bent who maintain that culturalfeatures matter a great deal. For instance, Peel (1989) has insisted, asI mentioned in the introduction, that cultural and linguisticdistinctiveness was central to the strong consolidation of the Yorubaidentity within the Nigerian state. In this essay I have adopted a "culturalist" andhistorical approach centered on language, emphasizing the importance ofthe Iban language during the first phase of media production (1954-1976)and the uniqueness of the re-invented cultural heritage preservedthrough it. I will be analyzing the second phase (1977-ongoing) in afuture piece (see Postill 2000 chapter 2). This early phase gave newopportunities to a generation of young Iban men who had acquiredliteracy skills at the mission schools and were eager to build, to quoteGellner again, a "literate sophisticated high culture"combining cultural materials from their colonial masters and longhouseelders. Their project was remarkably similar to that embarked upon bylate 19th century Norwegian and other nationalists in Europe (cf.O'Connor 1999 on Ireland). The Norwegians, too, traveled to remotevalleys in search of ancient words, stories, and artifacts artifactssee specimen artifacts. from an"authentic culture"--a culture they believed distinct fromthat of their Swedish rulers. The yoo, selected items from the peasantculture they studied to create a coherent ethnogenesis Ethnogenesis (From Greek: ethnos(nation)+"genesis(birth), Greek: Εθνογένεσις) is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the back in the urbanareas that was then re-routed to the countryside (Eriksen 1993:102). Thecrucial difference was that the Iban teachers lacked an Iban state, fora literate culture "cannot normally survive without its ownpolitical shell, the state" (Gellner 1983: 140-143). It is onething to incorporate the state into a minority's ethnohistory anddrama, like Sandin and Ejau did. (40) It is quite another to create atruly multilingual nation, like the anomalous Swiss have done.APPENDIX 1A breakdown of 7 issues (41) of Nendak magazine (1968-1975) by general(folklore vs. educational) (42) and specific subject matter.Penemu lama Iban folklore (43)7 ensera fictive narratives, usu. epic sagas6 cherita lama/tuai "factual" ethnohistorical accounts (44)2 cherita mimpi dream narratives2 ensera anembiak stories for children2 entelah riddles2 adat Iban Iban custom pieces (45)1 cherita kelulu morality taleI pantun sung poem1 leka main propaganda poem1 jako kelaung enggau proverbs and parables jako sema1 ngalu petara leboh Dayak Day ceremony to welcome gods (46) Gawai Dayak1 lumba enggau main traditional Iban games27 sub-total itemsPenemu baru Educational material (47)2 betanam betupi agriculture and animal husbandry (48)2 ungkop sida ka indu home economics (49)2 ajar pengerai health advice (50)2 jako melintang pukang Iban crossword puzzle2 belajar Bahasa national language lessons Kebangsaan1 pengawa kunsila the office of councilor1 tuai rumah enggau the office of headman anembiak iya1 rumah panjai the longhouse [in a modem society]1 ajar lumor algebra lesson1 main sains dunya & geography quiz gaya pengidup1 sekula di menoa the school system in Malaysia Malaysia1 Bujang Berani pro-Malaysia propaganda article Anembiak Malaysia [Malaysian Heroes]1 Taun Baru China Chinese New Year [feature article]1 gambar tuai perintah photographic report on Sarawak leaders1 gambar Taun Baru photographic report on Chinese New Year China20 sub-total items47 total itemsAPPENDIX 2Profiles of 17 Borneo Literature Bureau Iban Authors Name Origin Secondary Training Other1962 Sandin Paku, Saribas St Augustine Sarawak tukang tusut Museum1962 Gerijih Paku, Saribas St Augustine Batu Lintang lemambang1962 Majang Kalaka St Augustine Batu Lintang1963 A. Ejau Kalaka St Augustine Councilor Radio Sarawak1965 Duncan Saribas St Augustine Batu Lintang1966 Pitok Simanggang Simanggang Batu Lintang1966 Imang Simanggang Simanggang Batu Lintang craftsman1966 Guang Paku, Saribas St Augustine Agric. Dept.1966 L.Ijau Paku, Saribas Paku, Saribas Batu Lintang1967 Inn Kalaka Saratok Lubok Antu1967 Nyangoh Kanowit Julau ?1967 Gani Balingian Kapit Methodist pastor1968 Pelima Rimbas Debak trader, Paku1968 Ensiring Saratok Saratok Rajang TTC1968 Jarraw Kanowit Kanowit Radio BBC Sarawak1969 Rajit Saribas St Augustine Anglican priest1970 Kechendai Paku, Saribas Debak St Augustine Radio Sarawak [GRAPH OMITTED]Table 1Number of manuscripts by language sent in for the 8th Borneo LiteratureBureau annual competition, 1965.32 English 1 Bukar Sadong28 Iban 1 Bau Jagoi18 Chinese 1 Biatah14 Malay 1 KayanSource: Borneo Literature Bureau Annual Report (1965). (1.) This article is adapted from the first part of Chapter 2 of myPhD dissertation (Postill 2000). The doctorate was with the AnthropologyDepartment at University College London “UCL” redirects here. For other uses, see UCL (disambiguation).University College London, commonly known as UCL, is the oldest multi-faculty constituent college of the University of London, one of the two original founding colleges, and the first British and was supervised by Dr SimonStrickland and Professor Chris Tilley. The thesis was based on researchI carried out in Sarawak for some 17 months in all: in June 1996 andfrom December 1996 to April 1998 (with a short break). I was officiallyattached to both the Majlis Majlis (مجلس) is an Arabic term meaning "a place of sitting" used to describe various types of formal legislative assemblies in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to Islamic countries. Adat Istiadat and the Sarawak Museum The Sarawak Museum is the oldest museum in Borneo. It was established in 1888 and opened in 1891 in a purpose-built building in Kuching, Sarawak. Sponsored by Charles Brooke, the second White Rajah of Sarawak, the establishment of the museum was strongly encouraged by Alfred Russel . Fieldresearch was supported by the Anthropology Department and GraduateSchool at University College London, the Evans Fund of CambridgeUniversity Cambridge University,at Cambridge, England, one of the oldest English-language universities in the world. Originating in the early 12th cent. (legend places its origin even earlier than that of Oxford Univ. , and the Central Research Fund of London University. I ammost grateful to these institutions and to others such as the IbanService at RTM, Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan, Tun TUN, measure. A vessel of wine or oil, containing four hogsheads. Jugah Foundation,Betong District Office, the Sarawak State Planning Unit, as well as tocountless individuals, families, and longhouses in the Betong, Skrang,and Kuching areas for their generous support. (2.) Both Clifford Sather (personal communication) and an anonymousreviewer, however, dispute this point. Sather mentions the regionalcleavages to be found amongst the Iban, and the fact that many Iban fromthe Saribas basin (including Benedict Sandin, see below, until late inhis life) preferred to retain the term "Sea Dayak." On theother hand, says Sather, the Melanau are "as heterogenous (spelling) heterogenous - It's spelled heterogeneous. as theBidayuh" and yet they have held the reins of state politics fornearly four decades. (3.) One anonymous reader asks whether this is any less true of,say, England. It is--England has a range of mass media under varyingdegrees of government control, from tight to minimal. Outspoken criticsof the government of the day, including the opposition party,citizens' groups, and religious organizations, are allowed regularaccess to the media. This does not occur in Malaysia or Brunei. (4.) The development officer John K. Wilson (1969: 163, see below)was a pioneer in the use of radio for development purposes. His firstdevelopment center was at Budu, near Saratok: "That the people usedthe radios to listen in to organised programmes forwarded to RadioSarawak either by tape or letter was of course encouraged to the limit.Budu news and educational features were a mainstay at Radio Sarawak inthe early days. So if it happened that we were in Kuching and wanted acanoe to meet us anywhere, this was just very easy now. A telephone callto Radio Sarawak and that night the news had reached thelonghouse." (5.) One well-traveled Iban informant informantHistorian Medtalk A person who provides a medical history told me that his language wasmuch more of a lingua franca lingua franca(lĭng`gwə frăng`kə), an auxiliary language, generally of a hybrid and partially developed nature, that is employed over an extensive area by people speaking different and mutually unintelligible tongues in order to in Kayan-Kenyah areas in the late 1950s and1960s than it is today, thanks to the popularity of the Iban-languageservice. Yet even today some Iban programs are popular with other ethnicgroups. An elderly Malay man from the Saribas assured me that he findsthe Iban-language news programs easier to follow than their BahasaMalaysia equivalents, as he had no schooling. The Saribas Iban dialectis more familiar to him than the relatively new Standard Malay importedfrom West Malaysia West Malaysia:see Malaysia. . (6.) The term penabur is a metaphorical neologism A new word or new meaning for an existing word. The high-tech field routinely creates neologisms, especially new meanings. Years ago, there was no doubt that a "mouse" referred only to a furry, little rodent. derived from theIban farming term nabur (to sow or scatter). (7.) Sarawak Education Department (SED (1) (Stream EDitor) A Unix text editor that processes an entire file. It is the stream-oriented version of ed, an earlier text editor. Sed executes ed commands, but instead of editing one line at a time, sed applies the commands to the whole file. ) Annual Reports 1958-1960:34. (8.) SED Annual Reports 1958-1960: 35. (9.) SED Annual Reports 1958-1960: 34. (10.) I obtained this information from a reliable source. (11.) There is a sizeable literature on Confrontation(konfrontasi). For Mackie (1974: 33) Soekarno was no great believer in"Malay brotherhood." He only used this notion for propagandapurposes. After having acquired West New Guinea West New Guinea:see Papua, Indonesia. from the Dutch by force,and subject to official indoctrination in��doc��tri��nate?tr.v. in��doc��tri��nat��ed, in��doc��tri��nat��ing, in��doc��tri��nates1. To instruct in a body of doctrine or principles.2. for years, the Years, Thethe seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109]See : Time Indonesian people,says Mackie (1974: 326-333), were predisposed pre��dis��pose?v. pre��dis��posed, pre��dis��pos��ing, pre��dis��pos��esv.tr.1. a. To make (someone) inclined to something in advance: towards Soekarno'sslogans. His millennialism--a sophisticated version of a cargocult--struck a chord with Indonesians and scared other governments inthe region. According to Poulgrain (1998) it was not Soekarno whostarted konfrontasi but rather British and American intelligenceagencies seeking to further the aims of their respective states. Jones(2002), who has studied recently declassified de��clas��si��fy?tr.v. de��clas��si��fied, de��clas��si��fy��ing, de��clas��si��fiesTo remove official security classification from (a document).de��clas British documents,provides us with yet another picture; one showing the Commonwealthpowers and the US entangled en��tan��gle?tr.v. en��tan��gled, en��tan��gling, en��tan��gles1. To twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; snarl.2. To complicate; confuse.3. To involve in or as if in a tangle. in a hostile nationalist andanti-imperialist environment. In this account, Britain was largely ledby regional politicians througho ut the process of the formation ofMalaysia. (12.) Interviewed on 1 July 1997 in Kuching. (13.) The Borneo Literature Bureau (see below) published threefolklore books by Lawrence Sanoun Ijau in the 1960s. Like many otherfolklorists, Ijau was from the Paku area and trained at Batu LintangTeachers Training College. (14) One reader has suggested that it was not only Kuala Lumpurrulers who had a hand in Wilson's expulsion, but also Iban leaderssuch as the Tun Jugah. This reader believes the rivalry betweeninfluential Iban from the Rejang and other rivers may have played apart. I have not been able to pursue this matter. See also Wilson(1969). (15) Although based in Kuching, one interesting geopolitical ge��o��pol��i��tics?n. (used with a sing. verb)1. The study of the relationship among politics and geography, demography, and economics, especially with respect to the foreign policy of a nation.2. a. anomaly of the now defunct Bureau is that it catered to the whole ofMalaysian Borneo (Clifford Sather, personal communication). A muchshorter-lived attempt at establishing an East Malaysian mediaorganization was television. As I explain in Postill (2000: 106):"In their television history, the Bomean states are again a specialcase. Transmission commenced in Sabah in 1974, eleven years after it haddone so in West Malaysia. From 1975 Sarawak was allowed to use theSabahan facilities. Various cultural, musical and religious programmeswere produced and broadcast by the two states over a joint channel knownas Channel 3. However, in 1985 Channel 3 was closed down followingdirectives from Kuala Lumpur--predictably, it was seen as a threat tonational unity. Programming was taken over by the centre, with whichairtime air��time?n.1. The time during which a radio or television station is broadcasting. Also called airspace.2. The time at which a radio or television program is broadcast. was now "shared." Non-Muslim religious programmes werenever again broadcast." (16) Total sales in all languages rocketed from $38,739 in 1960 to$171,157 in 1961 to $348,528 in 1962. By contrast, Chinese books wereselling poorly. The reason adduced was that neither Chinese adults norchildren had much interest in books with Bomean themes (BLB AnnualReport 1962). (17.) Traditionally, Iban have relied on dreams On Dreams (or "De Insomniis") is a text by Aristotle. External linksOn Dreams, translated by J. I. Beare (mimpi) as much ason omens (burong) for guidance (Richards 1981: 220). (18.) An ensera is an "epic or saga sung in poetic languagewith explanations and conversations in prose" (Richards 1981: 87). (19.) BLB Annual Report (1963). (20.) According to Richards (1981: 288), Pulang Gana"[r]epresents Indian Ganesh (Ganesa, Ganapati, lord of the troopsaccompanying (sempulang) or attendant on Siva) whose 'vehicle'is the rat (cit) from whom the Iban obtained PADI [rice]." (21.) Otto Steinmayer (personal communication, January 1999). (22.) Collins English Dictionary (1994). (23.) Also published in 1965 were Peransang Tunang by A.K. Mancha,four English translations and an English-Iban, Iban-English phrase bookwhich sold very well (BLB Annual Report [1965] and Steinmayer [1990]). (24.) No explanation for this fact is given in the Annual Report. (25.) Jenang was born in Sungai Assam, Krian, Saratok. He learntthe art of storytelling from his father. A precocious pre��co��ciousadj.Showing unusually early development or maturity.pre��cocity , pre��co author, Jenangwrote this ensera at the age of 16 "all by myself," it did notfollow from "ancient stories" (ensera tu ukai nampong batangensera tuai tang iya empegal digaga aku kadiri). Unfortunately, this wasto be, to the best of my knowledge, his first and last published work. (26.) Accounting to Paku custom, during the mourning period peopleare not allowed to "make music, shout and put on flowery flow��er��y?adj. flow��er��i��er, flow��er��i��est1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of flowers: a flowery perfume.2. Abounding in or covered with flowers.3. and redclothes" or cut their hair (Sandin 1980:71). In my 1996-98fieldwork I found that rural Iban, at least in the Saribas, have benttheir mourning adat to accommodate radio and television (see Postill2000, chapter 4). (27.) I have translated the word bansa as "race" here inline with the English usage prevalent at the time of Sandin'swriting. It is still widely used in the English-language press andeveryday conversation among urban Sarawakians. Another commonly usedterm equivalent to the current academic term "ethnic groups"is "ethnics." (28.) I myself found them very useful and enjoyable as a gentleintroduction to the intricacies of the Iban language prior to fieldwork. (29.) In the original: Dini chit chit?1?n.1. A statement of an amount owed for food and drink; a check.2. A short letter; a note.3. tau ran ka puchau kita? Perintahudah meri rachun dikena munch munch - To transform information in a serial fashion, often requiring large amounts of computation. To trace down a data structure. Related to crunch and nearly synonymous with grovel, but connotes less pain.Often confused with mung. chit tang sida agi majak ka penemu sidanya (Jalie 1972). (30.) There is an important exception, however: the comic characterFather-of-Aloi (Paloi), a mischievous old man eternally rescued from hisself-inflicted miseries by his wife and son. Then again, comic fables"satirize sat��i��rize?tr.v. sat��i��rized, sat��i��riz��ing, sat��i��riz��esTo ridicule or attack by means of satire.satirizeor -riseVerb[-rizing, everyday life," while the heroic sagas of Keling"celebrate Iban ideals and dwell in particular on wars, travel andromance" (Sather 1984:ix). Hence one could see the hen-pecked Paloias the moral antithesis antithesis(ăntĭth`ĭsĭs), a figure of speech involving a seeming contradiction of ideas, words, clauses, or sentences within a balanced grammatical structure. Parallelism of expression serves to emphasize opposition of ideas. of Keling-a model of aborted a��bort?v. a��bort��ed, a��bort��ing, a��bortsv.intr.1. To give birth prematurely or before term; miscarry.2. To cease growth before full development or maturation.3. manhood MANHOOD. The ceremony of doing homage by the vassal to his lord was denominated homagium or manhood, by the feudists. The formula used was devenio vester homo, I become you Com. 54. See Homage. not to betried in one's longhouse rooms. See Sather (2001) for a collectionof comic tales in one of which Paloi challenges Keling and his followersto a cockfight. The agreement is that the loser becomes the slave of thewinner. The heroes lose and their wives have to save the situation bytrouncing Paloi and winning their husbands back. For once, it is notPaloi who has to be rescued (Sather 2001: 60-66). For a very Britishversion of Paloi, see Tom Shame's (1976) farce, Wilt. (31.) With the exception of the sabak (dirge) genre. Recall thatRajit (1969), the Anglican priest mentioned earlier, acquired his sabakknowledge from his mother. (32.) A move applauded at the time by Malaysia's current PrimeMinister, Dr Mahathir bin Mohammed, then a backbencher back��bench?n.1. Chiefly British The rear benches in the House of Commons where junior members of Parliament sit behind government officeholders and their counterparts in the opposition party.2. . According to onebiographer biographerClinical medicine A popular term for a Pt who describes his/her own medical history , Mahathir already held "a dim view of democracy" inthe early years of independence (Khoo 1995: 275). (33.) Malay was accepted as the official language in Sarawakalongside English until 1985, when English was finally dropped (Zulficly1989: 159). (34.) It remains to be investigated whether the internet is aidingthe creation of such a critical space. (35.) Including the Iban terms berandau (to converse, to chat) andmerarau (to have lunch). (36.) Ironically, in numerical terms, Malay is more of a"minority language" in Sarawak than Iban. The Malay populationstood at 330,000 in 1988 (21% of the total), compared to 471,000 Iban(30%), the largest ethnic population in the state. Together, the Dayaksmade up approximately 50% of the state population (Jawan 1994:24). (37.) Interviewed on 30 July 1997 in Kuching. (38.) John Lent John Lent (1948 to 2006) is a Canadian poet and novelist.1948 to 2006, born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, he grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. Lent studied at the University of Alberta, where he was a student of Sheila Watson. (1994: 94), a media researcher, claims he was thevictim of a different kind of restriction. His book manuscript on masscommunications was banned from publication owing to "a fewtimidly-critical points about Malaysian mass media." The officialline was that the manuscript had not been written in Bahasa Malaysia. (39.) "Laban enti kitai LENY LENY Limited Edition New York AU JAKO, reti LENYAUBANGSA." (40.) As Clifford Sather (personal communication) has rightlypointed out, the broad socio-economic and geopolitical factors that Istress in this essay should not make us lose sight of "the agency,the dogged determination, passion, at times even literary brilliance, ofthe Iban actors in this story." Often we are dealing with"creative and imaginative works, some of them quite moving, funny,etc." Benedict Sandin, adds Sather, had to struggle throughout hislife with both Sarawakians and foreigners hostile to his "oldfashioned n. 1. A cocktail consisting of whiskey, bitters, and sugar, garnished with with fruit slices and often a cherry.Noun 1. old fashioned - a cocktail made of whiskey and bitters and sugar with fruit slices " line of work (witness, for instance, Freeman's 1980dismissal of Sandin as unscholarly in his adherence to "Ibantenets"). Since the demise of the BLB, Sandin's memory"is all but gone" in Sarawak, yet "he loved what he did,thought it mattered enormously, and most of all he simply loved thelanguage." (41.) Some parts were missing in two of the photocopies I was ableto inspect, and I could not date another two of them. (42.) The division of the items into two broad categories is mine.No such division is apparent in Nendak. Items from both categories arejumbled together in all issues examined. Furthermore, some of the"Iban Folklore" items are also meant to "modernize"the readers' supposedly traditional worldview world��view?n. In both senses also called Weltanschauung.1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group. . (43.) Literally "old knowledge," including recentinnovations, e.g. Gawai Dayak (Dayak Festival Day) ceremonies, andpro-government morality tales (cherita kelulu). (44.) See Sather (1994) for a learned discussion of Ibanethnohistory. (45.) One contribution by Benedict Sandin on longhouse basa(etiquette, good manners Noun 1. good manners - a courteous mannercourtesypersonal manner, manner - a way of acting or behavingniceness, politeness - a courteous manner that respects accepted social usageurbanity - polished courtesy; elegance of manner ), the other an interview with Tunggay anakMulla, also from the Saribas, on ngetas ulit (rite to end a period ofmourning) and serara bunga (rite to "separate" the dead fromthe living). (46.) A newly invented rite to receive and introduce to thelonghouse the Petara, or heavenly guests (Richards 1981: 7), during theGawai Dayak festival, adapted from Iban custom. Gawaf Dayak was inventedin 1965, three years before the publication of this issue of Nendak (seediscussion of Ejau's novella Batu Besundang above). (47.) I am following the Bureau's terminology here. In someitems, e.g. "Bujang Berani...," read propaganda. (48.) Prepared by the Agriculture Department. (49.) Idem. (50.) Prepared by the Health Department. N.B. I have included authors on whom information is available andarranged them by year of first publication, indicating place of origin,secondary school education, training and other relevant informationwhere applicable. Sources: Borneo Literature Bureau publications and Steinmayer(1990). Key: St Augustine = St. Augustine School, in Betong, Saribas;tukang tusut = genealogist ge��ne��al��o��gy?n. pl. ge��ne��al��o��gies1. A record or table of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or ancestors; a family tree.2. Direct descent from an ancestor; lineage or pedigree. ; lemambang = bard; Batu Lintang = BarnLintang Teacher Training College, in Kuching; Rajang TTC TTC Trying To ConceiveTTC Toronto Transit CommissionTTC Trans Texas CorridorTTC Toutes Taxes Comprises (French)TTC Trident Technical College (North Charleston, SC)TTC Temporary Traffic Control = RajangTeacher Training College.