Continuity under Change in Dayak Societies

230 Pages·2017·16.983 MB·English

by  Cathrin Arenz, Michaela Haug, Stefan Seitz, Oliver Venz (eds.)

Edition Centaurus – Sozioökonomische
Prozesse in Asien, Afrika und Lateinamerika
Cathrin Arenz · Michaela Haug
Stefan Seitz · Oliver Venz Editors
Continuity under
Change in Dayak
Societies
Edition Centaurus –
Sozioökonomische Prozesse
in Asien, Afrika und Lateinamerika
Herausgegeben von
S. Seitz, Freiburg im Breisgau, Deutschland
A. Meiser, Freiburg im Breisgau, Deutschland
Die Reihe, 1997 in Freiburg begründet, umfasst ein breites Spektrum aktueller
Themen der Ethnologie mit interdisziplinärem Charakter. Im Mittelpunkt stehen
kulturelle Transformationsprozesse und damit einhergehende Folgewirkungen von
sozialem, ökonomischem, religiösem und politischem Wandel. Kennzeichnend ist
hierbei die ethnographische Perspektive auf die regionalen Untersuchungsfelder
Afrika, Asien und Lateinamerika und deren interdependente Vernetzung in einer
globalen, transnationalen Welt.
Die Reihe ist ursprünglich mit dem Titel „Sozioökonomische Prozesse in Asien,
Afrika und Lateinamerika” beim Centaurus Verlag erschienen.
Herausgegeben von
Stefan Seitz Anna Meiser
Universität Freiburg im Breisgau Universität Freiburg im Breisgau
Weitere Bände in dieser Reihe http://www.springer.com/series/13740
Cathrin Arenz · Michaela Haug
Stefan Seitz · Oliver Venz
(Eds.)
Continuity under
Change in Dayak
Societies
Editors
Cathrin Arenz Prof. Dr. Stefan Seitz
Freiburg, Germany Freiburg, Germany
Dr. Michaela Haug Dr. Oliver Venz
Köln, Germany Berlin, Germany
ISSN 2509-4904 ISSN 2509-4912 (electronic)
Edition Centaurus – Sozioökonomische Prozesse in Asien, Afrika und Lateinamerika
ISBN 978-3-658-18294-6 ISBN 978-3-658-18295-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-18295-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017940532
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List of Content
Figures 7

Tables 7

Preface 9
Stefan Seitz

1. Dayak Societies in Transition - Balancing Continuity and Change 13
Cathrin Arenz, Michaela Haug, Stefan Seitz and Oliver Venz

PART I: Human-Environmental Relations

2. Changing Tides - Waves of Opportunities on a Sea of Oil Palms? 47
Christian Gönner

3. Flexible Livelihood Strategies Coming to an End? The Case of
Forest-Dependent Communities in Central and West Kalimantan 73
Andrea Höing & Irendra Radjawali

4. Continuity and Change in Central Kalimantan: Climate Change,
Monetization of Nature, and its Bearing on Value Orientations 97
Anu Lounela

PART II: Ethnicity, Identity and Conflict

5. Being Dayak in West Kalimantan: Constructing Indigenous
Identity as a Political and Cultural Resource 123
Timo Duile

6. The (Ir)Relevance of Ethnicity among the Punan Murung
and Bakumpai in Central Kalimantan 141
Kristina Großmann

7. Genealogies of Anti-Madurese Violence in Kalimantan 163
Christian Oesterheld
6 List of Content
PART III: Dayak Religion and Animism

8. Values in Practice: Change and Continuity in Luangan Ritual
Performance 191
Isabell Herrmans

9. Animism in Borneo (and Beyond) A Brief Survey of (Dis-)Continuities
and the Ethnolinguistic Challenge 213
Oliver Venz

Annex: Author Information 239
Figures

Figure 2.1: Multivariate ‘Resource Longhouses’ 1995-98, 2003-05
Figure 2.2: Waves of Opportunities
Figure 3.1: Bauxite mining area at Semenduk Lake
Figure 8.1: Ceremonial display of plates paid as compensation for ritual work
Figure 8.2: Ritual Sharing of Food

Tables

Table 2.1: Events and Livelihood Patterns 1988-2016

Table 9.1: Category boundaries for English hair, feathers, fur and Benuaq balo,
buluq
Preface

Stefan Seitz

The dramatic and incredibly rapid changes in Borneo’s natural environment
and economic conditions in recent decades and the ongoing, profound
transformations of its indigenous societies have provoked a growing interest in
ethnological research.
However, comprehensive anthropological research on Borneo has primarily
taken a general focus, embedded in interdisciplinary Borneo studies as part of the
wider Southeast Asian area studies. In this sense this publication is presented
within the framework of the “Grounding Area Studies in Social Practice:
Southeast Asian Studies at Freiburg” program, supported by the BMBF (German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research), in which political, anthropological,
historical and economic disciplines cooperate. This anthology is the result of a
workshop on “Change and Continuity in Dayak Societies,” which was held from
July 17-18 2015 at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the
University of Freiburg. The workshop provided an opportunity for the younger
generation of anthropologists in Germany and beyond engaged in ethnological
research in Borneo and actually involved in or having done such field research to
come together to discuss recent processes of economic, political and social
(dis)continuities in Dayak societies. Several presentations during the workshop
illustrated vividly the close intertwinement of cultural continuity and change. We
thus decided to emphasize this relatedness by changing the book’s title slightly
from that of the workshop to “Continuity under Change”.
Whereas quite a number of publications document and analyze these
transformations, continuity and persistence within Dayak cultures are less often
examined. Therefore, the workshop and the contributions to this volume were
not only aimed at analyzing the effects of discontinuities but also at specifically
considering continuities within Dayak societies from various anthropological
perspectives.
The contributions show how flexibility and cultural dynamics, considered
key values among the Dayak, enable them to navigate and persist through
10 Preface

change, strengthening their identity and ethnicity at the same time. In this sense
the anthology reflects the main focus of ethnological research on Dayak societies
in the last two decades (see King 2013: 4).
The impetus of the workshop came from earlier research activities
undertaken by Freiburg scholars on the Dayak Benuaq. As contributions on the
Benuaq have received considerable attention, the original idea was to organize a
conference specifically focused on Benuaq research in Kalimantan to bring
together scholars from different countries and different disciplines working on
the Benuaq. Unfortunately this initial idea could not be realized. Instead,
however, a workshop was held with a smaller group of people but with a
broadened scope from just the Benuaq to Dayak societies in general.
One of the initiators of the idea was Christian Gönner (GIZ Tiflis), the first
student from the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology in Freiburg to
graduate through studying the Benuaq in 2000 and later one of the organizers of
the CIFOR (Centre for International Forestry Research) program in East
Kalimantan on "Poverty and Decentralization" as part of an interdisciplinary
project at the University of Freiburg on the impact of decentralization reforms in
Indonesia. With his experience of more than a quarter of a century continuously
observing the economic and political trends in East Kalimantan and especially in
Benuaq communities, he stimulated further fieldwork on the Benuaq among
students of the Institute, with Michaela Haug (University of Cologne) and Oliver
Venz (University Malaysia Sarawak) conducting research on the Benuaq since
the early 2000s, and with Cathrin Arenz (University of Freiburg) doing the same
between 2004 and 2007. These three were the main actors involved in preparing
the workshop and the present volume. I extend very special thanks to all of them.
Thus a certain concentration of Benuaq research was undertaken here in
Freiburg. Further fieldwork in Kalimantan by students from Freiburg was done
by Viola Schreer (University of Kent) and Anna Fünfgeld (University of
Freiburg), who were also participants in the workshop. Further contributions
came from Timo Duile (University of Bonn), Kristina Großmann (University of
Passau), Andrea Höing (BRINCC), Christian Oesterheld (Mahidol University
International College), Richard Payne (Yale University) and Irendra Radjawali
(University of Bonn). I am very grateful for their active participation and extend
my thanks to Jürgen Rüland and Judith Schlehe as leaders of the BMBF project
for their strong support of the workshop, and Lothar Käser for his scientific
advice. Unfortunately not all participants could – for various reasons – contribute
to this edited volume. I thank all for inspiring contributions and fruitful
discussions. I also want to express my thanks to Isabell Herrmans and Anu
Lounela (both University of Helsinki), who contributed to the edited volume but
could not attend the workshop.