modernization
The Semai of Pos Betau
The New Straits Times, an English language newspaper from Malaysia, sent a journalist to the Semai village of Pos Betau in the Cameron Highlands last week to report on her impressions. As so often happens when people leave the comforts of urban life and venture into a remote area, the journalist was struck by the […]
Cell Phone Pioneer: Zapotec Mountain Community
Last week the Washington Post carried an Associated Press story about how wireless communications are developing in an isolated mountain Zapotec village in Mexico. Until this year, placing a phone call in the village of Talea de Castro, in Oaxaca state, has meant walking to a central community telephone booth and paying a lot of […]
Chewong Choices: Modern or Traditional Values [anthology chapter review]
Chewong elders are often dismayed when animals that are killed in the forest are not shared in the village, a result of the economic and social changes occurring in their society. Signe Howell describes those changes, and the ways the Chewong are coping, in a recently published article. Starting in 1977, Howell spent 18 months […]
Batek Persuaded to Abandon Nomadic Lifestyle
Enticed by the pleasures of permanent homes and modern gadgets, some Batek people no longer live in the forests of the Malay Peninsula. While many older people are still illiterate, they are encouraging the young Batek to become educated. An article on February 16th in the New Straits Times, which has already been moved to […]
