Based on materials on the localized Chinese overseas, including the Melaka Babas, who are mostly Malay-speaking Chinese, this article reflects on the use of such terms as acculturation and assimilation, as well as hyb...Based on materials on the localized Chinese overseas, including the Melaka Babas, who are mostly Malay-speaking Chinese, this article reflects on the use of such terms as acculturation and assimilation, as well as hybridization and creolization, in relation to highly localized Chinese. All these concepts are seen as different ways of describing cultural formation in transcultural context. In particular, the relevance of using creolization to refer to the kind of creative process of cultural formation beyond its original usage in the Caribbean is discussed. This results in the identification of fragmented creolization as in the case of the Caribbean and a rooted creolization as in the case of the Babas. The author shall first discuss the issues of assimilation and integration, followed by hybridization and creolization. This is followed by the discussion on localization of Chinese overseas and identity. The concluding section provides some remarks on the concepts reviewed, and three main categories of acculturated Chinese are identified, namely, Chinese who are linguistically assimilated but still observe major Chinese traditions, Chinese who are so acculturated to the mainstream society that they hardly practice Chinese traditions, and Chinese who are both highly localized and highly mixed “racially”.展开更多
This article examines the Badeng Kenyah,a people in Sarawak’s interior who are experiencing the shift from subsistence living to a money economy.Ethnographic description and oral history are used to examine the insid...This article examines the Badeng Kenyah,a people in Sarawak’s interior who are experiencing the shift from subsistence living to a money economy.Ethnographic description and oral history are used to examine the inside factors(such as the individual search for livelihood)and outside forces(government and the market)that brought about this shift.Some philosophical reflection addresses the impact of money on individuality and social life,with inspiration drawn from the classic works of Karl Polanyi and Georg Simmel.When the myth of money becomes accepted as a norm,human self-interest naturally guides individual behavior toward commodification,a path negotiated through those moral values that a community has maintained intact and those it has redefined to suit a monetary economy.For better and for worse,commodification works vast changes on social relations and the environment.What the Badeng experienced is what all modern peoples have gone through at one point or another.By looking at what happened to these particular people,we see again the experience that has shaped us all.展开更多
In this article, 1 explore how the Long Geng Badeng Kenyah community of Sarawak converted to Christianity even though there was no sustained missionary persuasion from the outside. Over a period of study, I eventually...In this article, 1 explore how the Long Geng Badeng Kenyah community of Sarawak converted to Christianity even though there was no sustained missionary persuasion from the outside. Over a period of study, I eventually accept the simple emic explanation that ＂it is easy when you are a Christian＂ to be an important explanation. Central to this view is that Christianity provides an alternative religion that allows the people to avoid the need to observe the many troublesome taboos that hinder frequent traveling and engaging in various kinds of economic activities. The influence of relatives is an important factor, too, and as more people become Christians, the traditional Bungan followers lose the support to continue with the traditional religion and eventually almost all follow their relatives to adopt the new religion, which they find do not hinder practicing their culture other than replacing the traditional worship with the Christian way. The ethnographic study provides the opportunity to relate to recent scholarship on the anthropology of Christianity, and facilitates anthropological reflection on the study of cultural change, in particular, in relation to the work of Marshall Sahlins.展开更多
文摘Based on materials on the localized Chinese overseas, including the Melaka Babas, who are mostly Malay-speaking Chinese, this article reflects on the use of such terms as acculturation and assimilation, as well as hybridization and creolization, in relation to highly localized Chinese. All these concepts are seen as different ways of describing cultural formation in transcultural context. In particular, the relevance of using creolization to refer to the kind of creative process of cultural formation beyond its original usage in the Caribbean is discussed. This results in the identification of fragmented creolization as in the case of the Caribbean and a rooted creolization as in the case of the Babas. The author shall first discuss the issues of assimilation and integration, followed by hybridization and creolization. This is followed by the discussion on localization of Chinese overseas and identity. The concluding section provides some remarks on the concepts reviewed, and three main categories of acculturated Chinese are identified, namely, Chinese who are linguistically assimilated but still observe major Chinese traditions, Chinese who are so acculturated to the mainstream society that they hardly practice Chinese traditions, and Chinese who are both highly localized and highly mixed “racially”.
文摘This article examines the Badeng Kenyah,a people in Sarawak’s interior who are experiencing the shift from subsistence living to a money economy.Ethnographic description and oral history are used to examine the inside factors(such as the individual search for livelihood)and outside forces(government and the market)that brought about this shift.Some philosophical reflection addresses the impact of money on individuality and social life,with inspiration drawn from the classic works of Karl Polanyi and Georg Simmel.When the myth of money becomes accepted as a norm,human self-interest naturally guides individual behavior toward commodification,a path negotiated through those moral values that a community has maintained intact and those it has redefined to suit a monetary economy.For better and for worse,commodification works vast changes on social relations and the environment.What the Badeng experienced is what all modern peoples have gone through at one point or another.By looking at what happened to these particular people,we see again the experience that has shaped us all.
文摘In this article, 1 explore how the Long Geng Badeng Kenyah community of Sarawak converted to Christianity even though there was no sustained missionary persuasion from the outside. Over a period of study, I eventually accept the simple emic explanation that ＂it is easy when you are a Christian＂ to be an important explanation. Central to this view is that Christianity provides an alternative religion that allows the people to avoid the need to observe the many troublesome taboos that hinder frequent traveling and engaging in various kinds of economic activities. The influence of relatives is an important factor, too, and as more people become Christians, the traditional Bungan followers lose the support to continue with the traditional religion and eventually almost all follow their relatives to adopt the new religion, which they find do not hinder practicing their culture other than replacing the traditional worship with the Christian way. The ethnographic study provides the opportunity to relate to recent scholarship on the anthropology of Christianity, and facilitates anthropological reflection on the study of cultural change, in particular, in relation to the work of Marshall Sahlins.
