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References: Orang Asli bibliography 2001 (16): Endicott & Endicott

Updated: Sep 18, 2023

From: Lye Tuck-Po, ed. 2001. Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia: A Comprehensive and Annotated Bibliography, Cseas Research Report Series No. 88. Kyoto: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University.References 289–313


Kirk and Karen Endicott
243. ENDICOTT, Karen L[ampell]. 1979. Batek Negrito sex roles. M.A. thesis, Australian National University, Canberra. 184 pp.
244. ——. 1981. The conditions of egalitarian male-female relationships in foraging societies. Canberra Anthropology 4: 1–10 — re-examines a popular argument in the 1970s, that there are no sexually egalitarian societies in the world. The Batek is one exception; their egalitarianism is attributed to the lack of “sociocentric statuses of authority” (i.e., authority is derived not from institionalized roles but from personal qualities). Examines a range of conditions that promote equality. [LTP]
245. ——. 1984. The Batek De’ of Malaysia: Development and egalitarian sex roles. CSQ 8(2): 6–8 — reports on how logging operations and development in the Lebir region, Kelantan, were changing the lives of the Batek. With increasing encapsulation, there were negative implications for the traditionally egalitarian relations between men and women. JHEOA administration was introducing a Malay style of interaction to the Batek. Patterns of change would depend on the degree to which physical isolation and cultural norms would persist. [LTP]
246. ——. 1992. “Fathering in an egalitarian society”. Pp. 281–296 in Father-child relations: Cultural and biosocial contexts. Ed. Barry S. Hewlett. New York: Aldine de Gruyter — draws from earlier work on childcare, socialization, and gender roles to examine fathers’ importance and significance in Batek children’s lives and identity formation. Useful insights on behaviour and role modelling. The volume in general offers good case studies, mainly from hunting-and-gathering societies, and contributes to anthropological reexamination of male parenting. [LTP]
247. ENDICOTT, Karen L., and Kirk ENDICOTT. 1986. “The question of hunter-gatherer territoriality: The case of the Batek of Malaysia”. Pp. 137–162 in The past and future of !Kung ethnography: Critical reflections and symbolic perspectives. Ed. Megan Biesele, et al. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag — argues that territoriality, which is defined as “the exercise, by groups or individuals, of exclusive rights to the use or control of resources in a particular area” (p. 137) is absent among the Batek of Kelantan (Lebir, Aring, and Relai rivers). Describes the social organization, economic activities, and rights to land and resources. A good analysis marred by confusing “lack of territoriality” with “absence of strong ties to land”. [LTP]
248. ENDICOTT, Kirk [Michael]. 1969. Negrito blowpipe construction on the Lebir River, Kelantan. FMJ (n.s.) 14: 1–36 — on Batek and Mendriq; detailed description of materials used and methods of assembly. [LTP]
249. ——. 1970. An analysis of Malay magic. Singapore: OUP — pulls together and analyzes the key colonial writings on pre-Islamic Malay religion. Contains useful insights on Malay classification of the environment and of Orang Asli, particularly the Semang. In Needham’s opinion, establishes “for the first time a coherent order in the multifarious ideas and practices of Malay folk religion” (#673) [LTP]. Originally submitted 1968 as B.Litt. thesis (Social Anthropology, Oxford University).
250. ——. 1974. Batek Negrito economy and social organization. Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. 262 pp.
251. ——. 1975. A brief report on the Semaq Beri of Pahang. FMJ (n.s.) 20: 1–23 — general description, showing a way of life that blends settled cultivation with mobile hunting-and-gathering. [Harper #404]
252. ——. 1979. “The Batek Negrito thunder god: The personification of a natural force”. Pp. 29–42 in The imagination of reality: Essays in Southeast Asian coherence Systems. Ed. Alton L. Becker and Aram Yengoyan. Norwood, NJ: Ablex — argues that the deities are the symbolic manifestations of Batek environmental classification; includes comparison with other Semang peoples. Material extracted from #300. [LTP]
253. ——. 1979. “The impact of economic modernization on the Orang Asli (aborigines) of northern Peninsular Malaysia”. Pp. 167–204 in Issues in Malaysian development. Ed. J. C. Jackson and Martin Rudner. Singapore: Heinemann — overview of the impact of development on Orang Asli. Argued that increased exposure to dominant society, as brought about by the building of dams, roads, and forest loss and through government policy, would lead to deterioration of indigenous ways of life and the loss of land. [LTP; CN #679]
254. ——. 1979. Batek Negrito religion: The world-view and rituals of a hunting and gathering people of Peninsular Malaysia. Oxford: Clarendon— pioneering study of Batek religion. Convincingly argues that Batek and other Semang are primarily outward-oriented people, whose religions show flexible combinations of ideas from old and new; this flexibility is the distinguishing characteristic of the religions. Supplemented with comparative analyses of early studies of Semang religions. Needham (#673) comments that this study makes possible an entirely new comparative comprehension of Orang Asli representations of deities and other religious phenomena [LTP]. Revision of 1976 D.Phil. thesis (Social Anthropology, Oxford University). For review, see: RKD in Journal of Asian Studies vol. 40 (1981), pp. 421–423.
255. ——. 1979. The hunting methods of the Batek Negritos of Malaysia: A problem of alternatives. Canberra Anthropology 2(2): 7–22 — poses the problem why the Batek, who are capable of hunting larger fauna, do not do so. [LTP]
256. ——. 1982. The effects of logging on the Batek of Malaysia. CSQ 6: 19–20 — brief overview on the effects of logging in the Lebir River, Kelantan and suggestions for how the Batek will respond. Suggests that Taman Negara, as refuge area, may delay but not prevent the demise of the traditional way of life. [LTP]
257. ——. 1983. “The effects of slave raiding on the aborigines of the Malay Peninsula”. Pp. 216–245 in Slavery, bondage, and dependency in Southeast Asia. Ed. Anthony Reid and J. Brewster. Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland Press — an important historical study of pre-1920 slave raiding and its social and behavioural consequences. Draws richly from older sources. [LTP]
258. ——. 1984. The economy of the Batek of Malaysia: Annual and historical perspectives. Research in Economic Anthropology 6: 29–52 — an important study of the period, that helped generalists rethink old (simplistic) assumptions of the hunting-and-gathering way of life. Demonstrates seasonal and annual variability in the Batek’s choice of production activities; further, the Batek actively choose those activities that give the highest return for energy expended and minimize the risks of failure. [LTP]
259. ——. 1987. “The effects of government policies and programs on the Orang Asli of Malaysia”. Pp. 47–51 in Southeast Asian tribal groups and ethnic minorities: Prospects for the eighties and beyond, Cultural Survival Occasional Paper 22. Ed. Jason Clay. Cambridge, MA: Cultural Survival — literature-based historical review; points out that the future of Orang Asli depends on government policies and how their rights and identities are defined in law. [LTP]
260. ——. 1988. “Property, power and conflict among the Batek of Malaysia”. Pp. 110–127 in Hunters and gatherers, vol. 2: Property, power and ideology. Ed. Tim Ingold, et al. Oxford: Berg — detailed analysis of Batek concepts and practices, focusing on unharvested and harvested resources, bought commodities, food, and land. Relatedly, examines how the egalitarian ethos and freedom to move militates against the development of personal power and the capacity of leaders to control the group. Argues that generalized sharing is the basis of social life, which creates tension in the transition from hunting-and-gathering to a peasant economy founded on individual ownership of agricultural products. [LTP]
261. ——. 1995. “Seasonal variations in the foraging economy and camp size of the Batek of Malaysia”. Pp. 239–254 in Dimensions of tradition and development in Malaysia. Ed. Rokiah Talib and Tan Chee Beng. Petaling Jaya, Selangor: Pelanduk — describes seasonal variations in the Batek’s activities and social groupings, to try and sort out the effects of environmental and social variables on these variations. Presents useful tables detailing population changes in forest camps over time. [LTP]
262. ——. 1997. “Batek history, interethnic relations, and subgroup dynamics”. Pp. 30–50 in Indigenous peoples and the state: Politics, land, and ethnicity in the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo. Ed. Robert L. Winzeler. New Haven, CT: Yale Southeast Asia Studies no. 46, Yale University Press — attempts to piece together aspects of recent Batek history, focusing on how the Batek use, and think of land; analyzes the formation and dissolution (i.e., socio-political flexibility) of sub-groups through time, including the effect of mobility on territorial identity. From a linguistic point of view, informative on the social processes underlying the great idiolectal variability in Batek (and other Northern Aslian) speech patterns. [LTP; GB]
263. ——. 1998. The Orang Asli Assistance Fund. CSQ 22(1): 14–15.
264. ——. 2000. “The Batek of Malaysia”. Pp. 101–122 in Endangered peoples of Southeast and East Asia: Struggles to survive and thrive. Ed. Leslie Sponsel. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group — follows the same format as #264. [LTP]
265. ——. 2001. “Indigenous rights issues in Malaysia”. In At the risk of being heard: Identity, indigenous rights and post-colonial states. Ed. B. Dean, and J. M. Levi. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
266. ENDICOTT, Kirk, and Karen ENDICOTT. 1993. “What we learnt from the Batek”. Pp. 16–19 in #455. [see notes for #455]
267. ENDICOTT, Kirk, and Peter BELLWOOD. 1991. The possibility of independent foraging in the rain forest of Peninsular Malaysia. Human Ecology 19: 151–185 — Endicott draws on Batek material, Bellwood examines the archaeological evidence. Critically examines the Bailey-Headland hypothesis that the tropical forest is incapable of supporting a human population without agriculture. Convincingly demonstrates that the Malaysian forest had the necessary resources to support a hunting-and-gathering population and further that tropical forests are so diverse across the spectrum that one cannot generalize from specific cases alone. What hunter-gatherers are not seen to do now does not mean that they have never done it before, whether in historical or prehistoric times. [LTP]
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