Encountering of Cultures

Masao ISHIIFaculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

Mie Univeristy

Cultures in Conflict?

Two contrasting examples from Insular S.E. Asia & Pacific

In Melanesia: Native Fijians and Indo-Fijians

In Borneo: Malays and Kadayans

Sarawak Fiji IslandsSarawak Fiji Islands

In Fiji:Contrasting Two Cultures

The native Melanesian culture and the South Asian culture.

Two cultures encountered in the late 19th century under the British colonial rule.

The Melanesians fear to lose their native land rights following the increase of Indian population.

Two Ethnic Groups of Fiji

775,077

393,575

338,818

42,684

Village Life of Fijians

Conflict between Two GroupsMilitary coup d’etat against Indian “dominated” government in 1987.

Col. Rabuka stayed in power as Prime Minister until General election in 1999.

First Indo-Fijian Prime Minister formed a coalition government in 1999.

In May 2000, the coalition government was overthrown by a militia group of Native Fijians

In Northern Sarawak:Two Similar Cultures

Malays and Kadayans are both under the rule of Brunei Saltanate since 14th century or earlier.

Kadayns and Malays speak almost the same language, and share common customs.

Kadayans were confined to lower status against ruling Brunei Malays.

In Brunei, Kadayans are silently merging into Malays since the colonial days.

Kadayans in Sarawak

In Sarawak under the rule of Brooke, Kadayans enjoyed higher status than their counterpart in Brunei.

Their ethnic identiy is circumstantial.

Ethnic awareness is getting vigorous recently, through carrying out the traditional rituals, and the activities of the Kadayan Ethnic Association.

Kadayans of Sarawak

Conflicts are mostly concentrated in the urban area.

The stereotyped images of the “culture”.

How and why these images are formed ?

Political background and the role of the mass media.

Ethnic Conflicts ?