Rain-Forest Collectors and Traders: A Study of Resource Utilization in Modern and Ancient

Malaya. by F. L. Dunn
Review by: Karl L. Hutterer
The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Aug., 1977), pp. 792-793
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2054496 .
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792
misticview of musical life in Thailand. This is
mostof his attention
largelybecause he restricts
to royal music, "performedat the courts by
courtmusiciansforcourtfunctions"(p. 223); his
studyis based on a notatedcollectionof the re-
pertoire,compiled a fewdecades ago at the in-
stigationof PrinceDamrongRachanubhap.Nat-
urally,afterthe absolute monarchycame to an
end in I932, the patronageand social basis for
court music disappeared,and those who were
concernedfeareditmightbecome extinct.How-
ever,as Mortonmentions,theThai Department
of Fine Arts has been promotingits perfor-
manceand study.In recentyears,a considerable
numberof tertiary studentsand some secondary
studentsin Bangkok have been learningto play
in thepf phadt,khr ang sadi,and mahjrforches-
tras on their campuses, and have been taking
part in well-organizedensemble competitions.
By present trends,it seems unlikelythat this
musicwill become a museumobject, as Morton
fears(p. 224). This applies even more strongly
to the dramaticmusic. Ensemble music is still
played near templesto accompanyfolktheatri-
cals and at familyceremoniesin thehomes. Pro-
fessionaldramaticperformers are alwaysaccom-
panied by ensemble music. It may be that the
courtmusicis a "hothouseart"(p. 223), but the
same can never be said of the folkmusic tradi-
tionspracticedall over the country,despite the
anti-musicBuddhist religious philosophy ad-
hered to by some. There is littlereason to feel
glum about the state of music in manyof the
ruralareas.
Morton'sfinalchapter(entitled"Conclusion")
is notreallya conclusionof theexcellentmateri-
al in the chaptersthatprecede it. It simplypre-
sentsa few unsupportablehypotheses-forex-
ample, that "change in the high art music of
Asian nations seems to have been slow," and
that "Thai music seems to have evolved cen-
tripetally,ever simplifyingits materials" (p.
22 3). As Mortonhimselfsays,"almostno infor-
mationis availableon Thai musicof thepast" (p.
I .
This dearth of evidence was also the main
problemencounteredin the historicalchapter,
which contains reference to some concrete
sources but relies heavilyon theoriesby Thai
writers(especiallyDhanit Yupho and, to a de-
gree, MontriTramote). Musicians in Thailand
stilllike to argueabout suchproblemsas theori-
ginsof instruments. Did thegong circledevelop
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JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES
fromthegong kettlesetsof the Khmersat Ang-
kor,or earlier(Morton,p. 4)? Did it alreadyex-
istamongthe MQnpeople in theDvaravatiperi-
od (ca. the sixthto eleventhcenturiesA.D.), as
has been proposed by MontriTramote, com-
poser of the music for the recentlychoreo-
graphed "archeologicaldances" that are to be
hypotheticalreproductionsof music and dance
in earlier ages? Fascinatingtheories of origin
such as these still deal heavilyin the realm of
speculation.
Finally,I am puzzled by Morton'suse of the
term"quadratic"(e.g., p. I78). Thai composi-
tions, I would think,have a quadruple (i.e.,
"consistingof fourparts")ratherthana quadrat-
ic (i.e., "squared,to the power of two") phrase-
unitstructure.
MARGARET J.KARTOMI
MonashUniversity
Rain-Forest Collectors and Traders: A Study
of Resource Utilization in Modern and
Ancient Malaya. BY F. L. DUNN. Kuala
Lumpur: Malaysian Branch of the Royal
Asiatic Society,MonographNo. 5, I975.
Xii, I5I pp. Tables, Figures,Bibliography.
M$20.00
Rain-ForestCollectorsand Tradersis the pub-
lishedversionof a Ph.D. dissertationin anthro-
pologysubmittedto the Universityof Malaya in
I973. The author, Frederick Dunn, did not
come to anthropologybecause of the inadver-
tent momentumdeveloped by an accidentally
designedundergraduate studyplan. He had pre-
viouslyearnedan M.D. fromHarvardUniversi-
tyand had been involvedin medicalresearchin
Malaysiasince I 9 62. His longstandingstrongin-
terestin anthropologyhad influencedthe prob-
lem focus and methodologyof his medical re-
search among various "Orang Asli" groups.
Dunn's varied backgroundand interests(natu-
ralist,physician,anthropologist, archaeologist),
his extensiveknowledgeof the physicaland so-
cial environment of theMalayPeninsula,and his
nontraditional approachto anthropologyare re-
flectedin the book.
The objective of the studyis "to shed some
interpretivelighton (i) the evolutionof forest
product tradingin Malaya, and (2) certainas-
pects of the Malayanprehistoricarchaeological
record" (p. 2). Implicitly,the studydeals with
BOOK REVIEWS
the problem of human adaptationsto tropical
forestenvironments.Dunn assembles an im-
pressive arrayof biological, ethnographic,ar-
chaeological,and historicaldata, both fromhis
own fieldworkand from the literature.Two
chapterson thephysicaland bioticenvironment
of the Malay Peninsula give an excellent de-
scriptionof the incrediblediversityand com-
plexityof tropicalecosystems.Few anthropolo-
gistshave consideredthemanyspecialproblems
sucha multifarious environment poses forvirtu-
ally all aspects of humanorganization.One of
theseaspectsis investigated in a chapterentitled
"Ethnoecology."Field data fromTemuan com-
munitiesin northernSelangorare presentedto
show how forestdwellerscope cognitivelywith
theirworld.Native plantand animaltaxonomies
indicatea bewilderingbreadthof environmental
knowledge;thistremendousinformation load is
beingmanagedthroughsome amountof special-
ization even withincommunitieson an other-
wise rathersimplelevel of social organization.
In a succeedingchapter,Dunn presentspri-
maryethnographicdata on forestcollectingand
tradein forestproductsbyone Temuan commu-
nity-an account unrivaledin Southeast Asian
ethnographyin its detail and comprehensive-
ness. Dunn makes a distinctionbetween the
"gathering"of subsistenceitems and the "col-
lecting" of "economically significant. .. re-
sourcesdestinedforextracommunity exchange"
(p. 8o). Fromtheethnographicdata he abstracts
a three-tiered,dendritic model of exchange
linkages:collector/primary trader(Orang Asli in
the interiorforest),secondarytrader (mostly
Chinese collectingfromprimarytradersin up-
rivertownsand conveyingthegoods to Malayan
consumersoutside the forestzone or to export-
ers in coastalcities),and tertiary traders(import/
exportmerchantsin coastal ports).
The finaltwo chaptersdeal with the history
and prehistory of the collectingand tradein for-
est products.The historicalchaptersurveysthe
fifththrough the nineteenthcenturies, pre-
sentinga verygood collationof information and
reconstructions containedin thesecondaryliter-
ature.The thrustof the presentationis thatex-
ternaltradein forestproducts(to China, India,
etc.) has undergonea numberof shiftsin the
volume of the flowof goods, the list of goods
desiredabroad,and the organizationof the col-
lectingand tradingactivitieswithinthe Malay
Peninsula.The finalchapter,on prehistory,is
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793
perhapstheleastsatisfying partof thebook. Be-
cause of the paucityof systematicand reliable
data,thereconstruction of theprehistory of any
Southeast Asian region must necessarilybe a
"just-so" story.Thus, the prehistoricchapter
contributeslittleof empiricalor theoreticalin-
terest.
There is no doubt thatDunn's book consti-
tutes a major contributionto Southeast Asian
anthropology.However, there are a few areas
where I have to registerdisagreement.The in-
troductory theoreticalchapterpromotesa men-
talistnotionof culturethatis difficult to recon-
cile withthe otherwiseecologicalorientationof
the study.This also leads to a ratherpeculiar
conceptionof archaeologicalmethodand theory
which,fortunately, Dunn did not actuallytryto
operationalizein this study. I found the per-
sistentjuxtapositionof "Orang Asli" and "Ma-
lay" unfortunate;while this classificatory sim-
plificationis commonlyacceptedand is in many
respects convenient,it is based on old dif-
fusionarypremises and obscures the fact that
thereis greatdiversity withinthe twogroupings
which can best be explained withinan evolu-
tionaryframework.In thisconnection,I would
also modifyDunn's statementthatthegreatvol-
ume of environmentalknowledgenecessaryto
survivein the forest"locks" the forestpopu-
lationsinto theirenvironments(p. 65). On the
contrary, thissituationlocks populationsadapt-
ed to nonforestenvironments out of the forest,
whileit does notprecludetheforestpopulations
movinginto simplerhabitats.
In spiteof these and a fewotheritemsI have
minor misgivingsabout, this is an important
book and a good book. Not only is it insightful
aboutthenatureof tropicalforestenvironments
and human adaptationsto it in general, but it
containsan importantmessageabout thehuman
ecology of Malaya (and the rest of Southeast
Asia): To a largeextent,populationsof theinte-
riorhave become specialistsin the exploitation
of forestresources,which theyexchange with
societieswho have lost access to theseresources
butstillneed them.There is a chainof economic
and social ties which links diverse populations
fromthe Negritosof the interiorto the coastal
Malays. If we do not understandthis con-
nection,we will never understandthe human
ecology of SoutheastAsia.
KARL L. HUTTERER
ofMichigan
University