Foragers and Others 636 South-east Asia (regional editor: Kirk Endicott;
archaeological background: Peter Bellwood)
Orang Asli is a cover term for the indigenous non-agricultural peoples of the Malay
peninsula and insular South-east Asia. Among the best known are the Batek (Endi-
cott) and Jahai (Van der Sluys) in the Malaysian forest and the Batak (Eder) on the
Philippine island of Palawan. Other groups are found in Thailand, Myanmar,
Laos and China’s Yunnan province (Song and Shen). On the island of Borneo live
the Penan of Sarawak (Brosius), firmly rooted in hunting and gathering until
recent displacement by multinational logging interests. The Philippine main
islands have several pockets of foraging peoples, including the Agta of north-
eastern Luzon famous for their female hunters (Griffin and Griffin).
7 Australia (regional editor: Nicolas Peterson; archaeological
background: Michael A. Smith)
Prior to European colonization in the late 18th century, Australia was entirely occu-
pied by hunting and gathering peoples. These suffered a precipitous decline after
- Nevertheless in the centre, north and west, Aboriginal people have persisted,
the last nomadic Pintupi foragers in the Western Desert coming in to settlements in
the 1950s and 1960s (Myers). Arnhem Land Aborigines such as the Yolngu (Keen)
retain significant elements of social and ritual organization, as do some of the desert
groups like the Warlpiri (Dussart), Pintupi (Myers), and Arrernte (Arunta) (Mor-
ton). The Aborigines of Cape York in north-east Queensland (Martin) and the Kim-
berleys (Toussaint) and the famous Tiwi of Bathurst and Melville Islands (Goodale)
give a sense of the range of variation among contemporary Aboriginal peoples. A
significant percentage of Aborigines are urbanized and, like the Ngarrindjeri in
South Australia (Tonkinson), are struggling to preserve and revivify their cultures
and land rights in the face of the indifference and tokenism of Australian society at
large. The Torres Strait Islanders (Beckett) lie geographically and culturally midway
between Australia and Papua New Guinea. They are active partners with Aborigines
in political movements, legal challenges, and administrative structures.
Although the main story of hunters and gatherers today is carried by the 53 case
studies and their regional introductions, important themes cross-cut the focus on
regions and cultures. The special topic essays focus attention on broader issues
involving or affecting hunting and gathering peoples worldwide.
Alan Barnard traces the complex perceptions (and misperceptions) of hunter-
gatherers through Western intellectual history. As noted above, Barnard sensitizes
us to the fact that foragers have always been viewed through a thick lens of ideol-
ogy and this became even more pronounced when European colonialism and its
oppositions became predominant sites of political and cultural discourse about
foragers. Barnard documents how current debates are actually reprises of older
controversies resurfacing anew.