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" Rice, work and community among the Kelabit of Sarawak, East Malaysia. "
Janowski, Monica Rachel Hughes.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1094498
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TLets337969
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| Main Entry
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Janowski, Monica Rachel Hughes.
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| Title & Author
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Rice, work and community among the Kelabit of Sarawak, East Malaysia.\ Janowski, Monica Rachel Hughes.
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| College
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London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
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| Date
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1991
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| student score
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1991
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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This thesis is about the Kelabit, a tribal group living inthe interior of the Fourth Division of Sarawak, EastMalaysia. They are agriculturalists, growing rice as theirsymbolically focal crop, and also rely on hunting andgathering.For the Kelabit, the strength of human life isindicated through success in the production of rice and inthe reproduction of human beings. Both of these can onlybe achieved through being 'big people', full adults, in thebasic social unit, the hearth-group. The strength of one'slife is indicated through on~s performance as 'big person'within the hearth group. This involves maintaining thisgroup as a viable unit through the production of rice andthe reproduction of children; the two are brought togetherthrough the successful performance of the rice meal withinthe hearth-group. The holding of such rice meals createsand confirms the prestige of the 'big people' who providethem. The hearth-group may be said to exist at levelsabove the basic one; at irau, feasts, the rice meal whichis held, Which constructs the highest level of the hearthgroupby providing for the entire Kelabit population,generates differential prestige between the 'big people' ofdifferent base-level hearth-groups.The nature of the 'life' which is expressed throughthe performance of the rice meal is made explicit at it.The rice meal, although described as such, includes otherfoods besides rice; it cannot be a rice meal, in fact,without them. These foods are paradigmatically wild.There is a complementary opposition between rice, producedby human labour, and other foods, Which reproduce withouthuman help. Both sides of the opposition are essential,although it is the rice which is explicitly valued andwhich stands for the entire complementary opposition. Thecouple, whose achievements are celebrated at . all ricemeals but particularly at feasts, stands for rice itself,the key symbol of humanity, but also, through theassociation at one level of men with the wild, for thecombination of rice with the wild which is essential to theconstruction of human society.In order to discuss the above thesis, I focus onKelabit notions of food production and consumption. I lookat rice-growing, at how it is marked as 'special' comparedto other agricultural activities, and at how it iscontrasted to hunting and gathering. I examine theattributes of the couple, the 'big people' of the hearthgroupwho are responsible for food production andconsumption at the rice meal, and at how these attributesare the basis of prestige generation in Kelabit society.I look at the structure of the rice meal and in particularat feasts, irau, super-rice meals, at which thecomplementary opposition between rice and wild foods andthe nature of human life, which is associated with thenature of the couple, is most clearly stated.
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| Subject
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Agriculturalist tribes
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| Added Entry
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London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
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