IDNO

DG.102032.PAO

Description

Four ?Europeans or Americans, probably Peace Corps volunteers, sit on the ground in a jungle clearing near Kampung Benuk, eating a meal of rice, corn and other items off banana leaves. The two women wear short patterned dresses, and the two men wear shirts and trousers. The man in the lower left-hand corner is Mike; one of the woman is called Judy.
To the right sits Babai Rimau, also eating and being offered some food by a person (unseen) on the right. He sits next to a sangar (bamboo ‘altar’), where he has probably just performed an adat gawai (pre-Christian ritual) rite. The sangar consists of several thin leafy poles of young bamboo (tering variety) to which palm leaves and spirit offerings are tied, and a raised latticed platform on which spirit offerings like food wrapped in banana leaves are placed. A circular bead ritual necklace and other ritual items are hung on the sangar.

Place

SE Asia Borneo; Malaysia; Sarawak; Penrissen; Kampung Benuk [Kampung Segu Bunuk]

Cultural Affliation

Bidayuh [historically Land Dayak]

Named Person

Mike; Judy; Babai Rimau (Seot)

Photographer

?Paka anak Otor

Collector / Expedition

Paka anak Otor

Date

1963

Collection Name

Paka anak Otor Collection

Source

Paka anak OtorChua, Liana

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Source: A selection of 185 prints from Paka anak Otor’s larger collection of approximately 500 prints was made by Liana Chua during fieldwork in Kampung Benuk, Sarawak, Malaysia, in 2005. The purchase of non-exclusive reproduction rights [RM 1845, £250] by the Museum to the family of Paka anak Otor [82 Kampung Benuk, Jalan Puncak Borneo, Kuching 93250, Sarawak, Malaysia], and digital copy photographs of the collection [RM 869, £125] were paid for by the Museum Acquisition Fund [£250] and part of a Crowther-Beynon grant [£125] for the collecting of Sarawak objects. The digital scans were made by Fung Huang Colour Photo Centre [153 Padungan Road, Kuching, Sarawak] in 2005. [Liana Chua 2/8/2007]

Date: Photograph has been dated according to a date found on a related photograph belonging to Paka’s family (not reproduced in this collection). [Liana Chua 30/8/2007]

Context: Kampung Benuk has been a small-scale tourist attraction since the 1960s, being particularly famous for its longhouse. Its first visitors were often members of the British, Australian and American armed forces stationed nearby during the Confrontation years between Indonesia and Malaysia (1963-1966); later visitors included civilian tourists, foreign dignitaries, UNESCO representatives, film crews, and government officials. Paka’s sons identified the people in this photograph as Peace Corps volunteers, although Mike also appears in photographs taken during the British Navy visit of 1966.
Benuk’s visitor numbers appear to have peaked around the 1970s and 1980s, especially with increasing domestic and Asian tourism and the state government’s tourist promotion efforts. Today it remains a fairly popular attraction despite its much diminished longhouse. [Liana Chua 6/8/2007]

Context: Adat gawai is a generic term for the complex of indigenous rituals practised in Bidayuh villages prior to widespread Christian conversion from the 1970s and 1980s. Today (2007) it is still observed by rapidly diminishing handfuls of elderly people in various villages. Most rituals revolved around the cultivation of rice, taking place throughout the year at major stages of the rice cycle. Other rituals were held, for example, to mark various life stages, such as adolescence, marriage and death, and to cure illnesses. Adat gawai is premised on the existence of a rather remote ‘Supreme Being’, Tapa, and more importantly, a variety of different spirits – the most important of which is the rice spirit – to whom offerings are made and invocations chanted. Such rituals entangle adat gawai practitioners and spirits alike in webs of obligations and strict protocols, including lengthy ‘taboo’ periods (pantang) which impose restrictions or demands on people’s movement and dietary habits. The key aim of adat gawai is to maintain a state of modud (‘coolness’) in the world: of stability, safety and wellness. [Liana Chua 30/8/2007]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Liana Chua 30/8/2007]