For the last and final module of this subject, the topic was about indigenous societies : The Maori society in particular, and another indigenous society of our choice.
First of all, who are the Maori?Maori's are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. They originated with settlers from Eastern Polynesia, who arrived sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE. Due to the fact they were isolated for 7 centuries, they developed an extraordinary culture which is known today as the Maori culture, with their very own language, rich mythology, performing arts and distinctive craft. Early settlers formed tribal groups, and later a warrior culture emerged.
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| (Untitled photo of an early traditional Maori family, n.d). Retrieved October 31, 2013 |
A lot of things changed for the Maori's when Europeans started arriving in New Zealand at the start of the 17th century, the Maori's gradually adopted many aspects of the Western society and culture. At the start, Europeans and the Maori had quite an amicable relationship, and it was further improved by the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 between the 2 parties, but sometime in the 1860's, disputed land sales led to a rise in tension and conflict. Apart from that, social ills, disease, and the long time conflict took a devastating toll on the Maori population, which dwindled in numbers in the following years. By the start of the 20th century though, the population numbers began to revive, and more efforts were made to increase their standing in the New Zealand society.
The 2006 New Zealand census reported an estimated 620,000 Maori in New Zealand, which made up about 15% of the national population. They are the 2nd largest population in New Zealand after the European New Zealanders, and there are also about 120,000 Maori in Australia.
Some numbers of Maori face quite significant economic and social obstacles, like lower life expectancies and incomes when compared to other groups in New Zealand, and also higher crime rates, health issues, and under achievement in education. (Wikipedia, 2013)
What are indigenous people? Indigenous people are also known by different names : Tribal people, first people and native people. They make up about 5% of the world's population, it is estimated there are about 370 million of them in the world, belonging to 5000 different groups, in 90 countries around the world. It is reported that about 70% of them are living in Asia.
There is no definite explanation for the term 'indigenous people', but there are common threads which appear to run through all of them:
a.) They have relatively small populations compared to the dominant culture of the country they live in
b.) They have/had their own language
c.) They have their own distinctive cultural practices that are still practiced until today
d.) They usually have their own land and territory, to which they are attached to in a variety of ways
e.) They self identify as Indigenous
(Cultural Survival, 2013)
Some examples of indigenous people are :
- Bushmen (South Africa)
- Pygmy people (Central Africa)
- Aboriginal people of Canada
- Alaska natives (Alaska)
- Assyrians (Iraq)
- Naimans (Inner Mongolia)
- Yamato ( Japan)
- Adivasi (India)
- Andamanese (Andaman Islands and India)
- Orang Asli (Malaysia)
- Pribumi (Indonesia)
- Australian Aborogines (Australia)
- Fijian (Fiji)
- Maori (New Zealand)
- Cook Islanders (Cook Islands)
- Samoan (Samoa)
- Tongan (Tonga)
(Wikipedia, 2013)
With regards to technology and innovation, indigenous people have historically been referred to as 'laggards', or slow to adopt new technologies. While usually accepted as originators of certain acceptable quaint traditions, the Maori like other native people are usually labeled as passive adopters of new and beneficial innovations. Maori culture has had a significant impact on the modern New Zealand society, the names of most native flora & fauna are from the Maori language, the national rugby team, the All Blacks perform a ceremonial haka before matches, the traditional welcome ceremony which is the Powhiri is performed at the start of most formal ceremonies, the crest of New Zealand feature a white woman and a Maori man, and the national army incorporates a taiaha (traditional Maori weapon) in their insignia.
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| (All Blacks perform the Haka, n.d) Retrieved from www.hakashows.com |
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| (Sacred Maori Taiaha spear, n.d) Retrieved 02 Nov, 2013 |
Indigenous or tribal people have been affected by the introduction of new technology from other cultures for many many years. Some of these introductions have not made a big impact on their lifestyles, whereas others have completely changed societies, identities and world views. Modern technologies especially computing and telecommunication technologies have totally revolutionised the way of living and participation of the indigenous societies with the other societies and within the economy.
One area we can look at is at the impact technology had on the Maori culture. One example is the Poi, which is a performance art which involves swinging tethered weights through a variety of rhythimical and geometrical patterns. Poi is the Maori word for 'ball' on a cord. In the olden days the poi used to be made of flax, whereas after the European influence started to seep into the Maori culture, now plastic and yarn are used to make the poi instead. Maori songs are now frequently accompanied by a guitar in addition to traditional instruments.
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| Retrieved from http://www.thepoiroom.co.nz/image/cache/data/Children/Poi%20Boys%20full-500x500.jpg |
The Maori are famous for their traditional tattoos, called the Ta Moko (permanent body and face marking), which are different from traditional tattoos in the way that the tattoos are carved by uhi(chisels) rather than punctured. Nowadays, tattoos are done using Western tattoo techniques, such as using tattoo machines.
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| (Artist rendition of traditional Ta Moko technique. Retrieved 02 November 2013) |
Food also could not be readily cultivated and produced all year around, and new techniques to produce food were developed as well as the need to store food. A lot of the food was collected in the warm months, and they were then needed to be preserved for winter. Some of the techniques included drying fish in the sun, birds were cooked and placed in sealed gourds, with the birds own fat inside it.
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| (Example of Maori used musket, n.d.) Retrieved 01 Nov 2013 |
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| (Untitled photo of Maori brandishing muskets, n.d). Retrieved 01 Nov 2013 |
Unfortunately, the introduction of these muskets were to tragic effect. Thousands of Maori died in the inter-tribal Musket Wars of the 1810's, 1820's and 1830's. Many other Maori's were enslaved or in the process became refugees, whereas some tribes were decimated, and territorial boundaries of others were drastically changed. Due to this, by the 1830's, thousands of Maori had fled the traditional lands, which then freed up many areas for Pakeha (European) settlements, and thus complicating ownership disputes and claims.
In the past, the reputation of the Maori people for splendid physiques has placed them on very much what can be called a pedestal of perfection. According to a report by the NZ Herald in 2012, Maori were once the most physically perfect race on the planet. Their physical perfection is backed by the first sketch of Maori by a man called Isaac Gilsemans who was Abel Tasman's cartographer, who shows young and old warriors in a canoe, every single one of them in superb physical condition.
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| The physical perfection of Maori startled Europeans arriving in New Zealand. NZ Herald, 2012 |
Captain Cook in 1769 observed that "they are exceedingly vigorous and active. Their teeth are extremely regular and as white as ivory... they seem to enjoy high health and we saw many who appeared to be of a great age." Before contact with the white man, Maori enjoyed very good dental health, and a study performed showed only one tooth in 2000 teeth attacked by dental caries with almost 100% normally formed dental arches. (Isolated and modernized NZ Maori, n.d).
Now though? A study performed on 535 individuals in 22 school districts showed that from 15,332 teeth, 3420 had been attacked by dental caries (22.3%). In the most modern groups, about 31-40% had dental caries. The incidence of deformed dental arches ranged from 40-100%.
Why the big difference? The breakdown of these physical perfect capabilities came from the departation from native foods to modern food, consisting of white flour, sweetened stuff, syrup and goods in cans. The results are similar to other races after using so called 'modern foods'.
Maori are quite outnumbered by their colonial countrymen, or pakeha, and their existence is quite different. Currently, Maori only make up around 15% of the New Zealand population, and studies show that they are lagging far behind their European fellow countrymen in terms of unemployment rates, health and literacy.
According to Statistics New Zealand,
Among the full-time employed, a higher proportion of Māori than non-Māori were employed in occupations with lower median incomes, for example, as sales and service workers, plant and machinery operators and in elementary occupations. In contrast, a lower proportion of Māori were employed as legislators, administrators and managers, professionals or technicians and associate professionals, occupations with higher median incomes. Māori were one and a half times more likely than non-Māori to be employed as trades workers and plant and machinery operators than legislators, administrators and managers.
This can be partially attributed to the low literacy rates. A survey done by Statistics New Zealand show that almost 3/4ths of Maori were under the literacy skill level necessary to handle the "complex demands of everyday life and work". Because of this, more than 30% of Maori are in the lowest quarter ranking of income totals.
Another less desirable fact is the representation of Maori in the prisons of New Zealand. Close to 50% of incarcerated prisoners are Maori, according to the Department of Corrections.
Now, moving on to another indigenous group : the Orang Asli of Malaysia
Malaysia is a part of Asia, and is well known all over the world for the multi cultural society its people live in. With an estimated population of 40 million people, it's one of the rapidly developing countries, and consists of Muslims (61.3%), Buddhist's (19.5%), Hindu's (6.3%), other religions (1.4%) and no classified religion (0.7%).
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| Photo courtesy of National Geographic Travel |
In the year 2000 the number of orang asli's living in Malaysia were estimated to be around 148,000 which makes up roughly 0.5% of the population. (Wikipedia, 2013)
Most orang asli still live a nomadic life, hunting and gathering lifestyle. Their settlements are mostly along rivers, along forest trails, and on mountains. They were the primary suppliers of forest products like rattan,bamboo,ivory, and other animal parts in the maritime trade that linked Southeast Asia to markets in China, India and the Middle East in the first millenium AD.
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| (Orang Asli Aborigine Village, n.d) |
During the development of the country in the late nineteenth century and the early 20th century, forests were cleared at an alarming rate, and transformed into plantations and tin mines. The move towards economic development further created the need for forests to be converted into plantations, land developments, and mines. The construction of roads and dams destroyed large areas of forest, and with them, the lifestyle and livelihoods of the orang asli.
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| Front page of a national daily highlighting the worry of the natives, 2008 |
From the 1960's, the Malaysian government started an "integration" policy which essentially meant they tried to take steps to modernize the orang asli by introducing cash-crop agriculture (which meant discouraging nomadic activities and traditional hunter-gathering), and replacing tribal and traditional leaders of community with headmen appointed by the government. After the 1980's, the government started stepping up religious efforts in concerns to the orang asli. Mostly, efforts were made by the Department of Orang Asli Affairs to carry out spiritual development of the orang asli.
Malaysia's economy started to flourish with the arrival of the 1980's and the 1990's, but with this it has increased pressure on the orang asli, especially in terms of land rights. As stated above, a lot of their land was lost to plantations, factories and other developments in the name of progress, and most of the time without any form of compensation at all.
The legislation which pertains to Orang Asli, the 1954 Aboriginal Peoples Act, has been long said as too weak to protect the rights of the Orang Asli, especially when coming to matters regarding land ownership and usage. Very few of them actually own their lands, and the Act only provides for 'certain rights' to use land and the resources. As a result, most of them are essentially tenants on their own traditional lands.
According to a February 2007 study carried out by the Malaysia National Human Rights Commission, everywhere in Malaysia the Orang Asli indigenous communities are facing a very bleak future marked by official neglect and the greed of private enterprise. (World Directory of Minorities, n.d).
One main thing in common that can be seen when comparing these 2 indigenous societies, are that modernization and colonization is drastically affecting native people. The world might be improving and moving forward due to improvements in technology and the economy, but i'm afraid the indigenous people aren't sharing the fruits of these developments like we are.
One of the common traits that the Maori and the Orang Asli have in common are land matters. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed by representatives of the British crown and the five northern Maori tribes, and the copies were disseminated throughout the island for review and agreement by others. But before all the signed copies were returned, Captain William Hobson claimed New Zealand for Britain on the basis that Maori ceded the North Island in the treaty and that Captain Cook had discovered the South Island and claimed it for the British despite the fact there were a large amount of Maori living there. With the orang Asli, most of them are very far removed for any extensive recognition of their ancestral land ownership rights, while development and modernization projects carry on threatening their livelihood and homes.
Technologically the Maori may fare better off than the orang asli, as the Maori are generally educated people, as compared to the Orang Asli who mostly still live in forests and hills as mentioned above, and
Healthwise, the Maori fare slightly better as the life expetancy of the Orang Asli is only about 53 years, and a very high infant mortality rate with 51.7 deaths per 1000 births, and for the Maori about 70.4 years, and with an infant mortality rate of 6.8 per 1000 births.
References:
Barish, M. (01 April, 2009). In the Corner of the World. Retrieved November 4,2013 from http://www.gadling.com/2009/04/21/in-the-corner-of-the-world-bay-of-islands/
Barish, M. (01 April, 2009). Struggles of the Modern Maori. Retrieved November 4,2013 from http://www.gadling.com/2009/04/28/in-the-corner-of-the-world-struggles-of-the-modern-maori/
Hide, R. (01 July, 2012). Modernisation has ruined health of Maori. Retrieved 08 November 2013 from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10816556
Isolated and Modernized New Zealand Maori.(n.d). Retrieved November 07, 2013 from http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/price12.html
Wikipedia. (2013). Orang Asli. Retrieved 06 November, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orang_Asli
World Directory of Minorities.(n.d). Retrieved October 31,2013 from http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=4538&tmpl=printpage
Eventhough you've done some excellent research I feel that there is very few referencing done in th post as a lot of material is taken from external sources but no acknowledged. You get a 13/20.
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