Papers by Monica Janowski
Permission is granted by the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich for the c... more Permission is granted by the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich for the copying, distribution and/or transmitting of this work under the conditions that it is attributed in the manner specified by the author or licensor and it is not used for commercial purposes. However you may not alter, transform or build upon this work. Please note that any of the aforementioned conditions can be waived with permission from the NRI.
conference on Integrated Agricultural …, 2004
A baseline study was one of the first activities of a research project on 'Decentralised Mark... more A baseline study was one of the first activities of a research project on 'Decentralised Market Information Services in Lira District, Uganda'. Using the Sustainable Livelihoods approach as an entry point, data collection included both PRA techniques and ...
Sarawak Museum Journal 103 pp. 1-20, 2019
I discuss the dragon among the Kelabit and Lundayeh of Sarawak in Borneo. They are regarded as bo... more I discuss the dragon among the Kelabit and Lundayeh of Sarawak in Borneo. They are regarded as both powerful and very frightening. They are closely associated with the power of the natural environment and are sometimes explicitly conflated with the Ada’ Rayeh, the Great Spirit of the forest and mountains. Through the Great Spirit, the dragon is protective of the natural environment upon which the Kelabit and Lundayeh depended entirely until quite recently. With Christianity, the dragon has been demonised, as has the Great Spirit. This is associated with a separation between humans and the natural environment. In the past, the fear of retribution from the Great Spirit was considerable, with very severe consequences to be expected if humans misbehaved. With Christianity, this fear has abated. The SIB Church, to which almost all Kelabit and Lundayeh belong, views all nature spirits as evil, as saitan, and it couples this with a belief that Jesus is much more powerful than any of these, including the Great Spirit. This implies that humans no longer need to worry about retribution from the Great Spirit. However, while among the Kelabit I found that there is, indeed, little worry about what will happen if humans cut down large trees or use deep pools as rice fields, among the Lundayeh there continues to be both a belief that one has to be careful about how one behaves vis-à-vis the natural environment because of possible retribution; and a belief that the Great Spirit, and the dragon closely associated with it, are not necessarily to be regarded as entirely evil, as the story of Nooh Dawa demonstrates.
Sarawak Museum Journal 102 pp. 115-151, 2019
This article discusses the origin, nature and significance of the nabau, which I gloss in English... more This article discusses the origin, nature and significance of the nabau, which I gloss in English as ‘water dragon’. I show how there are clear indications that the nabau is regarded by the Iban as protective. The nabau has been woven into pua cloths, skirts and strips of cloth called labong Bungai Nuing. The nabau on labong Bungai Nuing are regarded as manifestations of a culture hero from the parallel semi-spirit world of Panggau Libau, Bungai Nuing, and they are used as protective amulets. This is the clearest demonstration of the protective nature of the nabau. I suggest that the significance of the nabau should be understood in the context of its association with water and with beliefs about the flow of cosmic power and fertility through water. The use of the figure of Bungai Nuing hints, I suggest, at the nature of beliefs about the flow of cosmic power, kuasa, and the ways in which humans engage with this.
Imagining Landscapes, 2016
Animism in Southeast Asia, 2015
This chapter explores what beliefs and practices about spirits can tell us about conceptualizatio... more This chapter explores what beliefs and practices about spirits can tell us about conceptualizations of the nature of cosmic reality among these two peoples: the Kelabit of the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak, who live at the headwaters of the Baram River, and the Eastern Penan who live to the east of the Baram River in areas surrounding the Kelabit Highlands. It suggests that there is the potential for a more equal relationship between people and forest spirits/animals in Southeast Asia too. In Penan, a range of terms are used to describe what would be described in English as the spirits of humans, animals, trees and places: beruen or sahe for human spirits, penakoh for tree spirits and bale for other spirits. The Kelabit converted to Christianity during the period from the Second World War until the so-called 'Revival' in 1973, and the Penan are also now at least nominally Christian, though some Western Penan have adopted the syncretic Bungan religion
Baseline study carried out in five sub-countries of Lira District on farmers' and traders' needs ... more Baseline study carried out in five sub-countries of Lira District on farmers' and traders' needs and sources of information (NRI report no. 2766) Greenwich Academic Literature Archive (GALA)
The Kelabit Highlands in the Malaysian state of Sarawak is part of a tableland about 3,500 feet a... more The Kelabit Highlands in the Malaysian state of Sarawak is part of a tableland about 3,500 feet above sea level broken by lower ranges of mountains and hills, extending into East Kalimantan in the Indonesian part of Borneo (fi gure 12.1). This tableland is distinctive for the presence of numerous megalithic monuments, for the practice of wet as well as dry rice cultivation, and for the feasts of merit at which, until the 1950s, megaliths were still erected. It is inhabited by a group of peoples speaking what Hudson (1977) describes as Apo Duat languages, a er the mountain range between the Kelabit Highlands and the Indonesian part of the tableland; this should more properly be described as Apad Uat, the local term for the range, meaning "root mountains" in the local languages. Today the Kelabit Highlands are inhabited by a people who are known as, and call themselves, Kelabit. Eastern Penan, who are not Apad Uat-speaking people, have also lived in the Kelabit Highlands in the past and still live in areas immediately to the south and west of the Kelabit Highlands. 1 While the Kelabit are rice growers, the Penan were, until recently, dependant on wild sago palms as their main source of starch food. Since World War II, most Penan have become se led or semise led (fi gure 12.2) and have begun to grow rice, although some groups continue to be primarily reliant on wild sago. This chapter is based on data gathered in the Kelabit Highlands since 1986 by Janowski, chiefl y in the community of Pa' Dalih in the Kelapang valley, and data gathered in the Kelabit Highlands and surrounding areas by a team including the three authors, as part of the three-year research project (from April 2007 to April 2010), The Cultured Rainforest (h p://www.arch.cam.ac .uk/cultured-rainforest/), funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. This draws on anthropology, archaeology, environmental science, botany, and the use of GIS to investigate, compare, and store information about the present and past human uses of and relationship with the landscape and the natural environment in the Kelabit Highlands. 12 Culturing the Rainforest: The Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak monica ja nowsk i, hu w barton, a nd sa ma n t ha jones You are reading copyrighted material published by University of Chicago Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. 12.1. The Kelabit Highlands You are reading copyrighted material published by University of Chicago Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher.
Austronesian Paths and Journeys, 2021
... ID Code: 7261. Deposited By: Monica Janowski. Deposited On: 01 May 2009 13:58. Statistics. It... more ... ID Code: 7261. Deposited By: Monica Janowski. Deposited On: 01 May 2009 13:58. Statistics. Item downloaded times since 01 May 2009 13:58. View statistics for "Passion or medicine? Radio, research and change in Africa". Repository Staff Only: item control page. ...
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Papers by Monica Janowski