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2019
Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies / Yusof Ishak Institute, Temasek History Research Center, Temasek Working Paper Series, No. 1, 69 p. https://www.iseas.edu.sg/articles-commentaries/temasek-working-paper-series ----- ABSTRACT: Borneo has so far remained marginal in studies on Southeast Asian peoples and tigers. While the tiger is not known to exist in Borneo today, it has a significant reality in historical traditions, oral literature, myths, beliefs, and rituals. This study combines various materials about Borneo, with a primary focus on its central regions, in order to, ultimately, try to shed light on ancient belief systems and the modalities of their evolution through time and cultural contact. It first surveys the local Felidae species, the names given to the tiger, and the presence of tiger body parts among villagers. Then, it reviews representations of the tiger in oral literature, its value as a symbol of martial manliness and, locally, its standing as a culture hero, and looks at religious beliefs, the tiger’s ambivalent nature, and its function as mediator between humans and spirits. Focusing on rituals, it then stresses its benevolence (initiation, redemption, purification), as well as its sinister facets (punishment for breach of taboos), both meant to warrant a ‘cool’ socio-cosmic balance. Next, it investigates the historical role of one chieftain named Tiger who, urging forest nomads to settle down and farm, was instrumental in the emergence of a new ethnocultural cluster’s identity, and it explores the modalities of the myth-generating conflation of historical elements with religious beliefs. Finally, it scrutinizes the tiger’s complex relationship with the moon and thunder, hinting at the pre-existence among former nomads of non-dualistic beliefs in a ‘tiger-moon-thunder’ set of deities and, touching briefly on the ‘thunder complex’ question, it stresses ambiguity and variability, reflecting the systemic cultural plasticity and singular cultural histories of these societies. Due to the study’s broad spectrum, a large reference list is appended.
Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines
Tiger rituals and beliefs in shamanic Tungus-Manchu cultures2020 •
Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and …
Where Spirit and Bulldozer Roam: Environment and Anxiety in Highland Borneo (2008)2008 •
Religious beliefs and spiritual connections to biodiversity have the potential to reduce animosity towards wildlife that might otherwise present a real or perceived threat to local people. Understanding this social dynamic can therefore be important for formulating locally-appropriate species-specific conservation strategies. Using semi-structured interviews which incorporated human-tiger conflict scenarios, we investigated how beliefs towards tigers varied between ethnic groups living around a large protected area that is home to the largest tiger population in Sumatra. We gathered this information to determine the degree to which cultural tolerance may contribute to the survival of the tiger in the Kerinci Seblat landscape, Indonesia. From 154 interviewees, 133 respondents came from three main ethnic groups, Minangkabau, Kerincinese and Melayu. The majority (73.5%) of Minangkabau interviewees cited that their ethnic group had customary laws regarding tigers, as did 52% of Melayu and 44% of Kerinci-nese. Irrespective of ethnicity, most participants did not perceive there to be a connection between Islam and tigers. All participants acknowledged the existence of zoological tigers and two groups (Minangkabau and Kerincinese) held a strong common belief that different types of spirit tigers also existed. From presenting different human-tiger conflict scenarios, with varying levels of severity towards livestock or human life, an unprovoked tiger attack in the village elicited the most calls for the tiger to be killed. Yet, if a village or family member was killed by a tiger whilst hunting in the forest then most respondents across all ethnic groups said to do nothing. The frequency of this response increased if a tiger killed someone in the village who had committed adultery, reflecting beliefs associated with the role of the tiger as an enforcer of moral rule. Our study highlights the importance of consulting with local communities who live in close proximity to large and potentially dangerous carnivores when developing conflict mitigation strategies, which hitherto has not been the case in Sumatra.
Austronesian Paths and Journeys edited by James Fox. Published by the Australian National University, Canberra
Journeys in quest of cosmic power: Highland heroes in Borneo2021 •
In this chapter, I explore the nature and purpose of the journeys in which Kelabit heroes, talked of in legend, engage. I will focus in particular on the legend about a hero called TukedRini, a version of which I recorded in 1986, recited by Balang Pelaba (‘Very Much a Tiger’), in the community of Pa’ Dalih on the Kelapang River in the Kelabit Highlands of Malaysian Borneo. The legend of Tuked Rini is a sekono, a type of Kelabit oral literature. It tells of the adventures of a group of men, led by Tuked Rini, who explore the inner and outer reaches of the cosmos to do battle with powerful beings and bring back heads. It was told to encourage young men to carry out headhunting expeditions themselves and young women to support them in this. Tuked Rini’s wife, Aruring Menepo Boong, is also an important cultural hero—her female nature balancing his male nature.
2012 •
The belief in a form of therianthropy consisting of the nocturnal migration of one’s soul-substance into the body of a tiger, which thereby comes to be controlled by the will of a sleeping human, forms an important component of the traditional lore of the Kondhs, a complex of Dravidian-speaking tribal groups in the highlands of the eastern Indian state of Orissa. The Kondhs never describe this type of human-to-animal transformation as the physical metamorphosis of a person into a tiger (that is, as shape-shifting) ― a motif which, conversely, recurs in the main bulk of weretiger tales associated with witchcraft across Middle and Eastern India; nor do they ever describe it as possession of the human body by any tiger-spirit or tiger-deity. Besides, the transformation is reportedly not achieved through evil magic, but is rather conceived of by the Kondhs as a spontaneous psychic phenomenon affecting individuals ― sometimes even children ― thus predestined by divine entities. Although the majority of the Kondhs tend to believe the faculty of commanding a living tiger in dreamtime to be the prerogative of religious specialists such as shamans and healer-diviners, this supernatural ability is generally understood by them as being potentially available to laypersons as well. The little-studied Kondh weretiger-lore is of great anthropological and historical interest in that the only other area of South Asia where beliefs in similar psychic phenomena are known to be widespread is the north-eastern mountain region inhabited by the Naga, Garo and Khasi tribes, which nevertheless lies at a great distance from Orissa.
Sacred Matter Animacy and Authority in the Americas
Chiefly Jaguar, Chiefly Tree: Mastery and Authority in the Upper Xingu2020 •
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2019 •
El Prezente - Journal for Sephardic Studies
J. H. Chajes, “Sexorcism: Sexual Dimensions of Dybbuk Possession and Exorcismˮ, El Prezente - Journal for Sephardic Studies, 14-15 (2020-2021), pp. 17-47.2020 •
King of Diamonds
Vegas Underground Book 1 - King of Diamonds - Renee Rose- romana2018 •
2016 •
Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Stable isotope series from elephant ivory reveal lifetime histories of a true dietary generalist2012 •
Fronteras de Colombia: retos y desafíos para el desarrollo
Migración, tráfico y economías ilegales en las fronteras colombianas2015 •
Professional Psychology: Research and Practice
Islam 101: Understanding the Religion and Therapy Implications2004 •