“I Lost My Head in Borneo”

“I Lost My Head in Borneo”: their understanding of the joke and thus Tourism and the guard their indigenousness and their status as human beings. I also argue that their use Refashioning of the of their headhunting heritage is a means of Headhunting Narrative in responding to the threats to their identities , posed by the Malaysian state, which, in the process of globalization and nation building, has interpolated them into a Malaysian iden- Flory Ann Mansor Gingging tity, an identity that they seem to resist in Indiana University, Bloomington favor of their regional ones. This paper looks USA at what tourism’s refashioning of the headhunting narrative might suggest about Abstract how Sabah’s indigenous groups respond to their former colonization by the West and Although headhunting is generally believed how they imagine and negotiate their identi- to be no longer practiced in Sabah, Malay- ties within the constraints of membership sia, it is a phenomenon of the past that still within the state of Malaysia.1 exists in the collective consciousness of in- digenous groups, living through the telling and retelling of stories, not just by individu- spent a large part of my growing-up als, but also by the tourism industry. The years in Tamparuli, a small town near headhunting image and theme are ubiqui- the west coast of Sabah, a Malaysian I 2 tous in the tourist literature and campaigns. state in northern Borneo. A river divides They are featured on postcards, brochures, the town proper and the compound on and T-shirts (a particular favorite shows an which my family and I lived, so sojourns orangutan head with the caption “I lost my to the other side—to tamu (weekly mar- head in Borneo”). One popular tourist des- ket), to the shops, and to the library re- tination, Monsopiad Cultural Village, has quired the use of one of two bridges. The even named itself after a legendary first was a suspension bridge for pedes- headhunting warrior. trians, and the other, only a few minutes While Sabah’s headhunting past has away, a concrete structure for automo- taken on a commercial value, I argue that it biles also used by those on foot. Of the has also taken on a cultural and political one two, my friends and I considered the ce- that seems to resonate with contemporary ment bridge to have the more fascinat- needs and sensibilities, especially among the ing history. We were told that during its state’s indigenous communities. I propose construction, humans were hunted and that the tongue-in-cheek invocation of their severed heads were placed within headhunting by the tourism industry repre- its foundations. The reason: the build- sents one way in which Sabah’s indigenous ers, we were told, apparently believed people counter the outside world’s designa- that the spirits of the heads would for- tion of them as the Other; that is, by parody- tify the bridge and would help to guard ing their headhunting past, they demonstrate it from calamities.

Cultural Analysis 6 (2007): 1-29 ©2007 by The University of California. All rights reserved 1 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

As a child, I delighted in hearing and company of the tourism industry. Images telling stories about sagaii (headhunters) of headhunting in the tourist literature and took special pride in knowing that in Sabah are plentiful. They are on post- our very own Tamparuli Bridge was part cards, in brochures, and on T-shirts, and of headhunting lore. But as I became one tourist destination, Monsopiad Cul- older, stories about headhunters and my tural Village, which is especially popu- headhunting past became less fantastic. lar among overseas visitors, has named Despite the occasional semi-serious itself after a legendary Kadazan warrior warning that a headhunter was on the and headhunter, and has made explicit loose, I, and most others around me, gen- use of the headhunting narrative as a erally believed that headhunting, a way of organizing its offerings.6 phenomenon of the past shared by many of the state’s thirty indigenous groups, Fig.1 was no longer in practice.3 As I got older, I began to be aware of the economic and political struggles that indigenous people in my state face. Since becoming part of Malaysia in 1963, Sabah, a former British colony, had never had a chief minister who was both in- digenous and non-Muslim. Conse- quently, when in 1984, Joseph Pairin Kitingan, a Dusun lawyer, became the 1 first non-Muslim native to assume this position, being indigenous suddenly meant something to me.4 It was also around the same time that I remember feeling a new attraction to the macabre and exotic elements of my culture—one In my opinion, making headhunting of them being headhunting. Without such a visible icon of tourism in Sabah is quite knowing it, I was invoking those an example of what Michael Herzfeld aspects of my culture that were poten- calls “cultural intimacy,” which he de- tially embarrassing as a way of respond- scribes as “the recognition of those as- ing to the threat I felt towards my own pects of a cultural identity that are con- Dusun-ness. For me, headhunting sidered as a source of external embarrass- ceased being just a part of history and ment but that nevertheless provide in- became, in the most personal way, a part siders with the assurance of common of my heritage—an expression of my in- sociality” (Herzfeld 1997, 3). Monsopiad digenousness. 5 Cultural Village is one site where I sug- Of course I was not alone in my real- gest cultural intimacy is performed. I ization of the value of headhunting as a believe that the Village’s strategic asso- marker of indigenousness—I was in the ciation with headhunting (and the unfa-

2 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

vorable connotations that it might carry) Borneo’s shore recorded his impres- is an instance of how native people in sions of what he had seen (Saunders Sabah have recognized that by assum- 1993, 271). ing agency over their culture, and espe- cially by embracing their Otherness, they Saunders’ argument is clear: modern- find a common ground—in the present day visitors to Borneo arrive with expec- case, a headhunting past—with which tations that have been formed by early to respond to outside attacks on their in- literature about the island and its people. digenousness. 7 It was not until the late nineteenth century that the British gained control Headhunting as a response to the so- over Sabah, but the region as a whole had cial imagination of Borneo received European visitors before that I have already suggested that time. They came in various capacities— “headhunting tourism” in Sabah might as diplomats, business people, and ex- be seen as one way in which indigenous plorers—and their contacts with, and people counter the outside world’s imag- reports about Borneo not only contrib- ining of themselves as the Other. In this uted to general knowledge about the is- section, I argue that early travel accounts land, but also helped to create an image of Borneo have, in part, created this “Oth- of the place and its people in the Euro- erness”; that is, these accounts have con- pean mind. Saunders suggests that, in tributed to how the island and its native fact, many of the images of headhunt- groups are perceived. Thus, I will now ers, orangutans and long houses now turn to a brief discussion of how early associated with the island are products literature about the region, written of these early accounts (Saunders 1993, mainly by European travelers, has 271). played a role in the “invention” of The first Englishman to write about Borneo; an invention that has lived on his travels in Borneo was Daniel in tourist literature, and, in my opinion, Beeckman, who went on business to an invention to which the invocation of Banjarmasin, the present capital of South headhunting in the tourism industry in Kalimantan, in 1714. His accounts of life Sabah is responding. Of this notion, his- in Banjarmasin were often astute; none- torian Graham Saunders makes the fol- theless his characterization of the orang- lowing observation: utan as being like a human—that, in- deed, one originated from the other—has Travellers to Borneo today arrive with advanced the idea of a wild Borneo, to certain expectations. They carry with which current tourism campaigns still them an idea or image of Borneo, an allude: image which tourist brochures have conveyed, authorities have culti- The monkeys, apes, and baboons are vated. What an image is [is] the cul- of many different sorts and shapes; mination of a process that began but the most remarkable are those when the first European traveller to they call Orang-ootans, which in their

3 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

language signifies men of the woods: what I am going to tell you about these grow up to be six foot high, they Borneo and its people, I hope you will walk upright; have longer arms than have learned that the “wild man from men, tolerable good faces (hand- Borneo” is not such a bad fellow af- somer I am sure than some Hottentots ter all (Mershon 1922, 13). that I have seen), large teeth, no tails nor hair, but on those parts where it Thus, we see that while Mershon’s pur- grows on humane bodies; they are pose for writing her book appears to be very nimble footed and mighty noble, her portrayal of the people of strong; they throw great stones, sticks, Borneo is nevertheless rather unflatter- and billets at those who offend them. The natives do really believe that ing. these were formerly men, but meta- However, I do not think it is useful to morphosed into beasts for their blas- analyze Mershon’s and Beeckman’s re- phemy (Beeckman 1718, 37). ports in terms of their language or even their veracity; rather, I believe they must The notion of a Borneo that was primi- be seen as those belonging to observers tive, where men were apparently rou- whose accounts were colored not just by tinely transformed into apes, as their personal biases, but also by the in- Beeckman’s account above suggests, tellectual climate within which they continued to be reinforced by works wrote. As Saunders states, “they inter- such as Elizabeth Mershon’s book, With preted what they saw and accommo- the Wild Men of Borneo, which was pub- dated what they observed to their own lished in 1922. In general, Mershon, the prejudices, to their own cultural values, wife of a Seventh-day Adventist mission- to their own intellectual world” ary posted in , is fairly sym- (Saunders 1993, 285). In so doing, how- pathetic in her portrayal of Sabah’s na- ever, they created, developed, and repro- tive people, but her designation of them duced an image of Borneo as a place that as “the wild men of Borneo” is telling of is undomesticated and mysterious; a the impact of a centuries-long depiction place where wild men live as one with of the people of Borneo as—using her nature. Indeed, in a paper that anthro- term—wild. The book begins as follows: pologist Victor King presented at the Borneo Research Council meetings in Borneo! What does the name suggest in 1992, he argued that to your minds? The first thing prob- one reason why cultural tourism in ably is the “wild man from Borneo.” Borneo is an important component in the From my childhood days until I ar- marketing of the region as a tourist des- rived in Borneo, all I knew about the country was that was where the wild tination is the perception of its people as men lived, and I always imagined “exotic” and “unknown,” notions that he that they spent most of their time run- says have purposely been encouraged ning around the island cutting off among Western audiences and which he people’s heads. Strange to say, even calls “obvious tourist assets” (King 1992, to this day, many people have the 3). same idea. Before you finish reading

4 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

The current emphasis in Sabah on serves in literature promoting nature eco-tourism and the rhetoric used to pro- tourism may also be applied to mote its natural offerings also contrib- “headhunting tourism” in Sabah. Tour ute to the notion of a wild Borneo. The sites such as Monsopiad Cultural Village Sabah Tourism Board’s most visible cam- help to mediate between tourists and paign is in fact titled “Eco-Treasures from Sabah’s headhunting past. Presented Mountain High to Ocean Deep” and alongside displays of traditional food, strongly features two of the state’s most drink, medicines, dance, music, and well-known “eco-treasures,” Mount structures, the forty-two skulls exhibited Kinabalu, the tallest peak in Southeast at the Village are further divorced from Asia, and Sipadan Island, widely recog- their initial association with murder and nized as one of the world’s top diving violence—in essence, they lose some of spots and best places to witness marine their “savage” quality, making an en- life.8 The campaign also highlights, counter with them perhaps more palat- among others, such attractions as able. Kinabalu Park (the park on which Mt. But thinking about eco-tourism and Kinabalu stands), the Danum Valley “headhunting tourism” in terms of the Conservation Area, and the Sepilok Or- wild/tame dualism that Markwell pro- ang-utan Sanctuary. poses allows us to come to what I be- The extent to which “eco-treasures” lieve to be a more important point: the have been identified as important tour- self-conscious downplaying of an other- ist assets by the state seems to indicate wise rather unsavory phenomenon of that the state subscribes to the same no- indigenous history demonstrates an un- tion of Borneo expressed in early ac- derstanding of the value of Otherness counts about the island—that it is an among those in the tourism industry and uncultivated and timeless place. 9 At the those in the indigenous population in same time, however, as Kevin Markwell general. In my opinion, what seems to notes in his essay “‘Borneo, Nature’s be articulated in Sabah’s tourism indus- Paradise’: Constructions and Represen- try is a response of its native groups to tations of Nature within Nature-based the social imagining of themselves as Tourism,” the campaign employs a sub-human, with an existence over- rhetoric that suggests a wildness that is whelmed by their geographies. It is domesticated—in essence, a negotiable through the headhunting narrative as it wildness. He says, “The use of a selec- is told at Monsopiad Cultural Village and tive number of animal species to repre- in tourism promotion that they under- sent nature in a specific way (e.g. the or- stand their identities as they have been ang-utan) and the relative ease with constructed through discourse. In re- which the wild can be conquered indi- sponse, they parody their headhunting cate that in tourism, nature is represented histories, benefiting not just economi- as a ‘wild/tame’ dualism which appeals cally, but as the collective histories be- to most tourists” (Markwell 2001, 258). come a symbol of their prowess as an I believe the dualism Markwell ob- indigenous people, politically as well.

5 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

Thus their ostensible acquiescence to an Prior to 1963, Sabah was the British “untamed” past should be seen as an act Crown Colony of North Borneo, having performed expressly to counter their first come under the control of a British designation as the Other, a designation firm in 1877. It became a protectorate in that is, in large part, the result of colo- 1881, and finally a Crown Colony in 1946. nial presence in the region. But it was the sultan of Sulu from whom In the following section, I look briefly the British North Borneo (Chartered) at Sabah’s political history, in particular, Company, the trading syndicate that first the points of contention at play in its re- managed the region, had to obtain con- lationship with the Malaysian state. In cessions—a fact that makes a necessary addition, I will explore how local re- and relevant point: historically and cul- sponse to, and interpretations of, these turally, native Sabahans perhaps have points of contention are symbolically more in common with those groups in enacted in tourism. their immediate geographical area than with those in West Malaysia.11 A brief look at Sabah’s political history Aside from being part of a national construction in which the dominant cul- In the preceding section, I have tried to ture—Malay and Muslim—has rela- demonstrate that the invocation of tively little in common with their own, headhunting in tourism in Sabah can be indigenous Sabahans’ reluctance to align seen as symbolic of an indigenous re- themselves with their West Malaysian sponse to a hegemony that is more glo- counterparts may have had economic bal in nature. In this portion of my pa- promptings. Many Sabahans hold the per, I argue that it is also representative federal government responsible for the of a rejection of powers closer to home— state’s backwardness: they blame it for those belonging to the Malaysian state. usurping their wealth (Sabah is rich in The tendency for Sabahans, particularly natural resources) and using it to develop indigenous ones, to align themselves the federal territories and the states on culturally and politically with Sabah, the peninsula. In a political profile of rather than with Malaysia, is not a new Malaysia, Damien Kingsbury posits that phenomenon. Indeed, there has been a the opposition of Sabah and to history of contention between Sabah and the notion of the Federation of Malay- the federal government. Malaysia was, sia, in 1963 and presently, was and is after all, created out of what Craig based on the allocation of income (more Lockard terms “a marriage of conve- will be said about the formation of the nience” when the British suggested that Federation later in this paper). Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei Kingsbury says that both Sabah and join the Malayan Federation; the federa- Sarawak contribute more to the federal tion that had obtained independence income than they receive and states that from the British in 1957 and had unified the words “‘fairness,’ ‘justice,’ and the territories on its peninsula as a way ‘equality’ were commonly used, often by of terminating colonial rule over those the , when talking regions (Lockard 1998, 224).10

6 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

about their grievances against the fed- pendent news agency, Tanak Wagu (a eral government” (Kingsbury 2001, 276). pen name meaning “young man” in There is reason to believe that KadazanDusun) remarks: Sabahans see the Malaysian state as a threat not only to their fiscal well-being, Information Minister Abdul Kadir but to their indigenity—and the climate Sheik Fadzi’s decision not to allow KadazanDusun programmes on tele- of recent and contemporary politics dem- vision is certainly against national onstrates their fear. In the early 1980s, integration and cultural develop- Joseph Pairin Kitingan, a Dusun lawyer, ment. It is also an insult to the formed Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) or the KadazanDusuns when he said—as Sabah United Party, an opposition party reported by Sabah’s Daily Express on largely made up of, and supported by, August 7 [2004]—that such indigenous Sabahans. He led his party programmes would only promote to ultimately win the Sabah general elec- racial segregation. tions of 1984; a victory that was seen as (www.malaysiakini.com). enormous and important because since becoming part of Malaysia in 1963, the Tanak Wagu clearly feels that it is the state had never had a non-Muslim KadazanDusun as a people—and not KadazanDusun leader.12 just their language—that has been Although indigenous people on the slighted by the Information Minister’s peninsula and on Borneo are designated move. His closing statement comments on what he sees as the bigger problem, not only as citizens of Malaysia but also i.e. the federal government’s general dis- as , or children of the soil, in- dicating a special status that includes the regard for the culture and religion of the indigenous groups living in the East in both East and West Malaysia 14 (though not other who have Malaysian region. He says: come from non-Malayan lands such as I also remember a recent debate on China and India), many of the indig- the appointment of the prime minis- enous people in both Sabah and Sarawak ter. One side said that a bumiputera view this designation with cynicism, feel- should hold the prime minister’s ing that the special rights and benefits post. Well, what they actually meant that accompany this status apply specifi- was that a Malay Muslim should hold cally to the Semenanjung Malays (the the post. This is because Malays on the peninsula), rather than to KadazanDusuns and Dayaks [the themselves (Winzeler 1997, 8).13 biggest indigenous groups in Sarawak] are bumiputera, too, but we A ban in 2004 on KadazanDusun pro- don’t see much hope in someone from gramming on television is another ex- these two communities holding the ample of the sort of imposition that post (Ibid). Sabah’s indigenous groups feel from the government. Bumiputera Sabahans’ re- Tanak Wagu’s distrust of the federal gov- action to this ban appears to be strong. ernment as it relates to the protection of Writing on Malaysiakini.com, an inde- indigenous rights is, in my opinion, rep-

7 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

resentative of local views on the matter, Ongkili states, “The failure of the and it is perhaps a distrust that has mo- Bornean federation proposals of the tivated the aptness of many a bumiputera 1950s was itself evidence that Sarawak, Sabahan to associate himself or herself Brunei and Sabah were each inclined to with the state of Sabah, rather than the hope and work for their own separate nation. independence, even if the ideal of nation- Local Sabahans’ distrust of the Ma- hood might take until the year 2000 or laysian government has existed since longer to achieve” (Ongkili 1985, 161). before the inception of the Malaysian In other words, although people in Sabah nation. When Prime Minister Tunku and Sarawak eventually agreed to be- Abdul Rahman announced the idea of come part of Malaysia (Brunei opted to an expanded Malaya that would include back out), their earlier feelings on the Singapore, Brunei, Sarawak, and British matter suggest a reluctance to relinquish North Borneo in 1961, his proposition identities that seemed more tied to their was initially rejected by local leaders in indigenousness, and the region in gen- British North Borneo, some of whom eral. It is an attitude that seems to have were hoping for separate independence. reappeared not just in contemporary When an influential local leader, Donald politics, but in other arenas as well, such Stephens, who later became Sabah’s first as tourism.15 chief minister, remarked that joining the The economic, cultural, and religious Federation would inevitably lead to differences that bumiputera in Sabah feel domination by peninsular Malays, he between themselves and their counter- was, in fact, expressing a common view parts on the peninsula have necessarily among indigenous Sabahans. However, informed both local and national poli- because of the persuasive powers of the tics, and what has been dubbed Malayan Prime Minister and Lee Kuan “Kadazan nationalism” has, in fact, been Yew, the Singapore Prime Minister, a movement of sorts existing since Sabah and Sarawak conceded, and when Sabahan bumiputera entered Malaysian the Federation of Malaysia came into politics in 1963. Stephens, who was a being in 1963, British North Borneo be- Eurasian of partly indigenous descent, came a member state (Andaya and was one of the first to become an advo- Andaya 2001, 282-287). cate for the Kadazan. According to an- In his 1985 book Nation-building in thropologist Shamsul A. B., however, the Malaysia, 1946-1974, the late federal government saw Stephens’ chief- KadazanDusun historian and politician ministership from 1963 to 1965 as “an James P. Ongkili writes that the reluc- attempt to seek an unacceptable level of tance of Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei to autonomy,” and he was replaced by join the Malaysian Federation—and their Datuk Mustafa, a Muslim Sulu chief and wish for separate independence—had a leader of the Muslim Dusun (Shamsul been foreshadowed by the failure of a A. B. 1998, 31).16 The mid-1980s, with colonial attempt in the 1950s at unifying the formation of the Kadazan-dominated them under a Bornean federation. PBS and the party’s subsequent ten-year

8 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

rule, saw Kadazan nationalism played hoc assemblage of beliefs and practices out more emphatically (Shamsul A. B. held by diverse populations” (King 1993, 1998, 32).17 109). However, within the context of To be sure, some of the impositions tourism, a national culture can only ex- that the federal government has made ist in the abstract, for the most market- and continues to make may be a neces- able forms of cultural distinctiveness, sary part of the process of defining a na- according to Robert Wood, are, ironically, tional culture—a dilemma that formerly “the lifestyles and artifacts of sub-na- colonized places like Malaysia face in tional ethnic groups—which are often nation building. Tourism, being an in- considered ‘backward’ by the dominant dustry inevitably implicated in such a ethnic majority” (Wood 1997, 6). process, can be a particularly useful site But the alleged backwardness of for analysis. In Malaysia, the creation of Malaysia’s ethnic minorities is not sim- a ministry that combines both tourism ply a tourism marketing tool; rather, my and culture is not a move that merely study suggests that in Sabah, indigenous seeks to find a niche in the international people consider their “backwardness” tourist market—it also has a national (as implied by the invocation of purpose. The Ministry’s website states headhunting in tourism) as an important its objectives as follows: marker as well as an assertion of a bumiputera-ness distinct from, but equal To develop the Malaysian National tothe dominant culture. A similar senti- Culture in accordance with the Na- ment can be observed in Anne Schiller’s tional Culture Policy towards account of her experience among the strengthening national unity, to pre- Ngaju Dayak of Central Kalimantan serve and control the national iden- tity as well as enrich the life of hu- during a National Geographic Television manity and spirituality that is bal- filming of a tiwah (death ) ceremony. anced with socio-economic develop- She notes that religious activists hoped ment; and that the filming of a ritual that recalls vio- lence and human sacrifice would attract To develop the tourism industry to international attention to the Ngaju become a main industry in the Dayak culture, and as a result, further country’s economy by spurring its their quest for political autonomy growth based on the elements of Na- (Schiller 2001, 33). What both the tional Culture (www.mocat.gov.my/ Kalimantan and Sabah cases suggest, ministry). then, is that the seeming willingness of indigenous groups to be exoticized in But the “Malaysian National Culture” tourism and in media, both industries promoted in a country in which ethnic that are concerned with representation, diversity is a reality (hence the official is symbolic of their rejection of a national ideology, rukunegara, or harmony of the identity, signaling, in effect, a preference state) must necessarily be a composite for a local, regional one. culture, what King describes as “an ad

9 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

Headhunting narratives lected mainly as a sign of one’s prowess Although early historical accounts vary (Evans 1922, 160). Such a function of in their observations of the meanings headhunting is reflected in Owen associated with headhunting as it was Rutter’s account of headhunting among practiced in Borneo, it seems clear that the Murut in The Pagans of North Borneo at least among some indigenous groups (1929). According to Rutter, a district it held a significant place in their social, officer in North Borneo for five years, cultural, religious, and economic sys- heads were at one time taken in order to tems, perhaps explaining, in part, its con- appease the spirits so as to bring luck to tinued manifestations in local, everyday or avert disaster from a community’s discourse. Historian James Warren crops. That function had, however, given (1981), for instance, tells us that the slave way to the sort that Evans observed— trade in the Sulu Zone during the eigh- the taking of heads in the context of war teenth and nineteenth centuries, which or feuds. In other words, although involved the trade of persons from all headhunting had formerly been carried over Southeast Asia, fulfilled the de- out in order to ensure a village’s spiri- mand among certain interior groups in tual and agricultural well-being, it was Borneo by providing captives—and now observed as a way of attaining so- heads—to be used in sacrifices. His cial power. study suggests that the taking of heads People in my family have also appar- for religious reasons was an important ently had near encounters with sagaii practice among some Bornean groups; (headhunters). Recently, my father told so important, it appears, that they pro- me about the time his mother and older cured humans through the slave trade. brother came into close contact with one. Such a demand, in essence, made head- In 1941 or 1942, in their village of Tungaa, taking not just a cultural phenomenon, my uncle and my grandmother, who was but an economic one as well. pregnant with my father at the time, Early ethnographies by scholar-ad- were on their way to draw water from a ministrators during the British rule also well located in an area fairly removed give us another look at headhunting as from the village center. On the way there, it was practiced or conceived among the they had to walk past a sulap, or a small island’s native groups. One of these bamboo hut without walls where rice scholar administrators was Ivor H. N. farmers could guard their paddy crop. Evans whose 1922 book, Among the Harvest season had come and gone, Primitive Peoples of Borneo, covers his brief however, and the sleeping man in dark stay in North Borneo as a cadet in 1910. clothes my grandmother and uncle saw 18 While he observed that headhunting in the sulap did not appear to be a paddy among the Dusun carried with it some farmer. In fact, he did not even look like “undercurrent of meaning,” that is, they a local person. That he looked foreign, believed human heads had the power to that he had a sword tied to his waist, and endow their daily lives with blessings, that it was, in my father’s words, Evans also noted that heads were col- “headhunting season,” led my grand-

10 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

mother to surmise that the man was a their alleged captors were from Brunei. headhunter, and that, based on past ac- But in my observation, the “embarrass- counts, he was most likely from nearby ment” presently associated with Sarawak and was there to collect heads headhunting appears to be rather more to prove his bravery to his future wife abstract in nature. In other words, it and her family. seems that people in Sabah do not nec- As my grandmother and uncle were essarily feel personally embarrassed by about to leave the well, my grandmother the idea that their forefathers hunted noticed that the man they had seen in heads; rather, within tourism and other the hut was walking towards them. My contexts, they capitalize on the notion father told me that this confirmed her that because a headhunting past might suspicions that the man was, indeed, a be viewed as a potential source of em- headhunter, as headhunters were known barrassment, it can provide them with a to search out their victims near wells due provocative means of asserting their to their usually isolated locations. Per- uniqueness as a people. ceiving the danger they were in, my One tourist site in Sabah which has grandmother and uncle walked away as seemed to draw on Sabah’s headhunting quickly as they could, cutting through histories is Monsopiad Cultural Village. the paddy fields. They reached their Although it is by no means the first to home without incident. use the state’s headhunting histories While headhunting is generally as- within the context of tourism, I believe sumed to no longer be in practice today, the Village is the only tourist site that has rumors about headhunters still do circu- developed an entire park around the late, for example, as I have discussed headhunting theme. Located in the vil- earlier, when the construction of a new lage of Kuai, which is just outside Sabah’s bridge is underway. A few years ago, capital city of Kota Kinabalu, the park for instance, local people blamed the was opened in 1996 and is owned and mysterious disappearance of several vil- managed by direct descendants of lage boys in Sabah on a new bridge con- Monsopiad, a warrior and headhunter struction in neighboring Brunei—it was who is said to have roamed the land on said that people involved in that project which the Village now stands over 250 were in search of heads, which they be- years ago. lieved would guard and strengthen the According to the Village’s website, the bridge’s foundations. story of Monsopiad is roughly as follows: From the accounts above, we see that as a young man, Monsopiad vowed he there seems to be some degree of reluc- would protect his village of Kuai by find- tance to be associated with headhunting: ing every robber and beheading him. As my grandmother, for instance, felt that the years passed, he continued with his the man she thought to be a headhunter self-imposed mission and in time, no was not local, that he was from neigh- robber dared to approach his village. But boring Sarawak. And those discussing Monsopiad became obsessed and would the missing boys in Sabah surmised that incite fights with other men, which then

11 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

gave him an excuse to kill and behead exoticizing” is clear as well. “Learn ev- them. The villagers became afraid of him erything you always wanted to know and decided that he had to be eliminated, about headhunting!” its website prom- and he died at their hands. But grateful ises (Ibid). And of the House of Skulls, a for all Monsopiad had done for their Village brochure (also posted on its offi- well-being, the villagers forgave him and cial website) says the following: “Visit erected a monument in his honor (www. the legendary house that displays the monsopiad.org). forty-two skulls of Monsopiad’s victims

Fig. 2.

That the Village capitalizes on the pro- and a thigh bone of the giant Gantang vocativeness of headhunting is apparent, and gain an insight into the past pagan first and foremost, in its very use of the era of the ” (Ibid). In- story of Monsopiad as a basis for the deed, the House of Skulls or the siou di narrative it wants to tell about the mohoing is the highlight of a tour of the KadazanDusun people. That it does so Village. Constructed out of bamboo in in a manner that is rather “self- the traditional Kadazan style, it is the

12 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

dwelling place of forty-two human ties, the practice of headhunting itself is skulls, which are hung in a row on a long portrayed as an aspect of the “past pa- pole among the rafters. These skulls, gan era of the Kadazan people” (www visitors are told, were heads belonging monsopiad.org). In other words, as the to powerful warriors before they became story is told at the Village, Sabah’s Monsopiad’s conquests, hence the term headhunting past is something that the that is assigned to them now, Kadazan people share, something that “Monsopiad’s headhunting trophies” can potentially connect them as one of (Ibid).19 Sabah’s ethnic groups. At the Village,

Fig. 3.

then, one sees the enactment of the no- But while the Village is ostensibly put- tion of “cultural intimacy” proposed by ting Monsopiad’s former notoriety to Herzfeld (1997). For while Monsopiad ample and strategic use, I think it is im- Cultural Village, and the tourism indus- portant to note the framework within try in Sabah in general, make use of— which Monsopiad’s story is told, for al- and at times exaggerate—aspects of the though the narrative clearly centers on state’s cultures that are deemed poten- the warrior and his headhunting activi- tially embarrassing externally (e.g.

13 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

headhunting), what they also seem in- The model that Hoskins offers is a terested in communicating is that it is useful way of thinking about how as- these very aspects which provide a com- pects of a culture’s history gain currency mon ground for, and legitimacy to, within the context of tourism, and recalls Sabah’s indigenous groups. Observed a similar argument that Barbara in cadence with past and present politi- Kirshenblatt-Gimblett makes in her piece cal milieus, the “refashioning” of the “Theorizing Heritage” (1995), in which headhunting narrative within tourism in she proposes that heritage is “a new Sabah hence seems to reflect a general mode of cultural production in the consensus among certain of Sabah’s na- present that has recourse to the past” tive groups: that Otherness, strategically (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1995, 369). The invoked and appropriated, provides functions that the headhunting narrative them with an instrument for addressing has appeared to assume in tourism in external threats to their identities. contemporary Sabah (i.e. as a response by indigenous people to outside imagi- Conclusion nations of themselves, as well as an ex- In the introduction of Headhunting and pression of their inclination towards a the Social Imagination in Southeast Asia regional, rather than a national, identity) (1996), Janet Hoskins asserts that in or- can thus be seen as a demonstration of der to expand the notion of headhunting Kirshenblatt-Gimblett’s theory of heri- as a symbolic medium, one should con- tage; that is, as tourism campaigns and sider the distinction between the practice tour destinations such as Monsopiad of headhunting and the trope of Cultural Village endow headhunting headhunting. Hoskins distinguishes with a metaphorical quality through the each as follows: the practice of process of exhibition, they transform it headhunting is a phenomenon of history, from a thing of the past into heritage. “a form of ritual violence once wide- But it is perhaps what “thing” of the spread”; and the trope of taking heads is past that is transformed into heritage that a phenomenon of the present, a meta- is of more salience in the case at hand. phor used “to imagine new historical Why headhunting? Historical records conditions in which heads might be suggest that while headhunting was in- taken” (Hoskins 1996a, 37). In a chapter deed practiced in Sabah, it appears that in the same volume, in which Hoskins it was only prevalent among certain writes more specifically about her own groups, and even then, headhunting work on the eastern Indonesian island seemed to have been a relatively rare of Sumba, she expands on this point and occurrence, not an everyday-everyman proposes that conceived as a trope, one. And it is hardly unique to Sabah’s headhunting enters the realm of heritage, indigenous groups. The volume a realm where the literal taking of heads Hoskins has edited, which looks at the might no longer exist, but where its origi- practice in Brunei, the Philippines, and nal meanings remain somewhat intact various parts of Indonesia, is only one (Hoskins 1996b, 218). of many that can testify to that. Yet,

14 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

headhunting—if one assumes that tour- what they are by design, as demon- ism is a quite accurate gauge of the po- strated by the Quebec case, reminds one litical aspirations of a people—seems to of the concept of “selective tradition,” provide, at least for some of Sabah’s in- which Raymond Williams addresses in digenous members, a sort of distinctive- Marxism and Literature (1977). People ness, a measure of difference from oth- look to the past, Williams argues, to ers, or perhaps more accurately, from the “ratify the present and to indicate direc- Other (that is, the West) and other groups tions for the future” (Williams 1977, 116). in the region whose histories and cul- In other words, the transformation of tures they perceive to be incongruent history into heritage, of practice into with their own. However, to desire dif- trope, is informed by how a group per- ference necessarily implies an alliance ceives of its present realities. with a community with similar interests, The self-conscious selection of an el- and in my thinking, indigenous people ement of a culture’s history to articulate in Sabah have used headhunting as a a political stance recalls an assertion means of creating and maintaining a Pertti J. Anttonen makes about how kind of imagined cohesiveness with oth- people construct their identities through ers in the state and region as a whole for symbolic means. In Tradition through whom headhunting is significant, liter- Modernity (2005), Anttonen states: ally or metaphorically. In short, the trope of headhunting functions for some of Whenever people make public pre- Sabah’s native communities as at once a sentations of their identity and show marker of unlikeness and likeness, a rep- allegiance through cultural represen- resentation of how they view themselves tations, they foreground some par- in relation to those around them in com- ticular aspects and background oth- ers, which makes the presentation of plex ways. self always argumentative in nature. What seems to be happening in Sabah Having a cultural identity …means brings to mind Richard Handler’s dis- the production of images and repre- cussion of the nationalist movement in sentations through actions that have Quebec and his observation of an “in- argumentative goals in the transfor- vention of tradition” that is selective. In mation of relations. As such argu- an article Handler co-wrote with Jocelyn mentative production of relations, Linnekin, “Tradition, Genuine or Spuri- cultural identity is fundamentally ous” (1984), they say the following about political in nature, an issue of estab- lishing, controlling and fighting over public folkloric presentations of Quebe- the meaning of symbols, exercising cois everyday life: “Only certain items power, creating hierarchies and con- (most often, those that can be associated testing them (Anttonen 2005, 108). with a ‘natural,’ pre-industrial village life) are chosen to represent traditional In short, according to Anttonen, to national culture, and other aspects of the choose a symbol with which to identify past are ignored or forgotten” (1984, 280). one’s personal or group identity is to also The notion that cultural symbols are acknowledge and defend one’s political

15 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

convictions and associations. Viewed as theme at Monsopiad Cultural Village. such, headhunting tourism in Sabah is But it is the trope of headhunting that thus argumentative because it articulates has, in my mind, appeared to be more how certain of the state’s communities useful both culturally and politically. define their indigenousness. It is argu- Marginalized groups in Sabah, many of mentative because it contests existing whom share a headhunting past, have notions of their cultural and political re-written the headhunting narrative in identities. And it is argumentative be- their favor, becoming co-authors of a cause it is a response to the Malaysian cause that seeks, in Hoskins’ words, “to state, to the project of nationhood—in seize an emblem of power, to terrify one’s essence, it is a response to modernity. opponents, and to transfer life from one When I asked a friend of mine, her- group to another” (Hoskins 1996a, 38). self an indigenous Sabahan, what she Thus re-imagined, the headhunting nar- thought of the use of the headhunting rative emerges as a tool useful in work- imagery and narrative in tourism pro- ing towards change and equality. motion in our home state, her reply was quick and to the point: “Embarrassing Notes but cool.” In a subsequent email, she All pictures by Wendell Gingging, used by explicated her response, saying, "It's be- permission. yond comprehension that I have ances- 1 While "headhunting tourism" is the focus tors that might have been headhunters. of this paper, it is but one aspect of cultural At the same time freakish ancestors to- tourism in Sabah, which also features, tally distinguish you from the rest of the among many other things, home-stays, vis- global population, so it's secretly thrill- its to tamu (weekly market), and attendance ing as well. I love seeing the slightly at various festivals. Additionally, it should raised eyebrows reaction I get when I tell be noted that eco-tourism in the state is as someone new I'm from Borneo.”20 My significant—if not, more significant—an in- friend’s response to my question is, I dustry. think, characteristic of the ambivalence 2 Malaysia consists of two parts: West Ma- that many bumiputera Sabahans have laysia on the Malay peninsula and East Ma- about the matter; that is, while they ap- laysia on the island of Borneo, on which preciate the risk of assuming a Brunei and Indonesia's Kalimantan are also “headhunting identity,” they also recog- located. West Malaysia holds eleven of the nize its worth as a symbol of their “cool- nation's thirteen states, as well as its capital, , and its administrative cen- ness.” tre, Putrajaya. East Malaysia, which is sepa- As a phenomenon of history, rated from peninsular Malaysia by about 400 headhunting is still invoked and valued miles of the South China Sea, includes the in complex ways among many indig- states of Sabah and Sarawak. enous Sabahans, as in the form of stories 3 The multi-ethnicity that typifies Malaysia that I heard as a child and that children as a whole—its population is made up of continue to hear today, or in the narra- Malays, Chinese, Indians, and indigenous tive that is the underlying unifying peoples—is also true of the indigenous com-

16 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

munities in Sabah. They comprise more than The tourism industry was identified as a thirty ethnic groups speaking over fifty lan- leading sector to assist in the national eco- guages and eighty dialects. The nomic recovery. Sabah, with its many natu- KadazanDusun, the largest indigenous ral assets and tourism icons such as Mount group, live primarily on the west coast and Kinabalu, its beautiful beaches and islands, the interior portions of the state. Other its unique flora and fauna, its pristine groups include the Rungus, Murut, Bajau, rainforest and renowned wildlife conserva- Orang Sungei, and the Muslim tion centres, has all the ingredients to become (Tongkul 2000, 6). a major tourism destination in this region" (www.sabah.gov.my/mocet/ministry- 4 In this piece, I use the labels Kadazan, Dusun, and KadazanDusun somewhat in- objective.htm). terchangeably. Although the Kadazan and 10 Singapore joined the Federation but pulled Dusun are closely-related ethnic groups, out in 1965 due to political differences and many who belong to them tend to identify became an independent nation. As for themselves as one or the other. Since becom- Brunei, the sultan felt he was being asked to ing an officially-recognized designation in concede too much power and declined the the 1990s, however, the term KadazanDusun invitation to become part of the new Malay- has come into general use. sia. 5 Additional research on the other indig- 11 According to recent reports, the current enous communities in Sabah, some of which Sultan of Sulu has renewed his territorial are listed in note 3, will enrich and perhaps claim over Sabah and is asking that Malay- complicate the analysis offered here on the sia hand over the state. The Sultan has also basis of my experience among the Kadazan/ said that he will bring Manila to the Interna- Dusun. tional Court of Justice to settle the matter. In 6 See note 4. 1962, when preparation for the new Federa- tion was underway, President Macapagal of 7 Additional research on the other indig- the Philippines opposed it (the Federation) enous communities in Sabah, some of which on the grounds that the inclusion of North are listed in note 3, will enrich and perhaps Borneo (Sabah) could not be legally upheld. complicate the analysis offered here on the According to the Philippine claim, the 1878 basis of my experience among the Kadazan/ transfer of the territory of North Borneo from Dusun. the sultanate of Sulu (now part of the Phil- 8 The Sabah Tourism Board is a semi-private ippines) to the British was in the form of a agency working under the aegis of the state's lease rather than a sale (Andaya and Andaya Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Environ- 2001:, 86). ment. 12 See note 4. 9 In his welcome address to visitors of his 13 It is important to note also that the appli- Ministry's official website, Sabah's former cability of the bumiputera designation to the Minister of Tourism, Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat, , an indigenous people living in identifies eco-tourism in the state as playing the interiors of the Malayan peninsula, seems an important role in rebuilding the nation's to be ambiguous because while the Malay- economy, especially in the wake of the Asian sian government sometimes seeks to include economic crisis of 1997. He states: "With them in this category, according to Winzeler, the…economic crisis…tourism has become it does not offer them the special economic an important economic sector for Malaysia. and educational benefits of the Malays as

17 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

well as the native groups in the East Malay- 19 Besides the House of Skulls, Monsopiad's sian states (Winzeler 1997, 8). legacy is also displayed in one of its most 14 Unlike their counterparts on the peninsula, visible attractions, the gintutun do mohoing many bumiputera in both Sabah and Sarawak or the stone monolith. Standing at four practice , not . It should be meters, this massive stone is an imposing noted, however, that the Bajau, one of the presence in the middle of the compound. It main ethnic groups in Sabah, are tradition- is said to have been placed in its position by villagers with the help of or ally Muslim. Kadazan high priestesses and other un- 15 Another point of contention between the known forces in the spirit world after being federal and Sabah governments has to do commanded by Monsopiad to build a monu- with the Twenty-Point Agreement, a list of ment in his own honor. guarantees to which Sabah and Sarawak That the Village sees itself as just as much were entitled when they joined the Malay- about skulls and headhunting as it is about sian Federation in 1963. Over the years, Kadazan culture seems apparent from its those advocating for Sabah's autonomy have other offerings and its stated goals. Accord- cited the federal government's failure to ing to its website, the Village perceives its honor Sabah's rights under the Agreement, principal purpose as follows: "The mission for instance, in matters relating to immigra- and objective of the Cultural Village is to tion; the special position of indigenous become a living museum, a showcase of groups; tariffs and finance; as well as the KadazanDusun culture, and a unique attrac- Borneonisation of public service positions tion for travelers to Sabah, be they interna- (i.e. appointing East Malaysians to govern- tional [visitors] or Malaysians" (Ibid). To this ment jobs). end, visitors who go to the kotos di Monsopiad 16 Donald Stephens served as Sabah's chief or Monsopiad Main House, for instance, can minister twice, from 1963 to 1965 and for a see exhibits featuring implements one would few months in 1976. His second tenure was expect to find in a traditional home, such as cut short by his death in a plane crash. jars of rice wine, rice sifters, as well as local Donald Stephens was also known as fruits and medicines. Enacters are also on Mohammed , a name he took hand within the Main House (and at the after embracing Islam in 1971. other structures as well) to demonstrate the 17 It might be worth noting at this point that carrying on of daily work within a typical in Malaysia, anyone who adheres to Islam, KadazanDusun household, such as the speaks the , and observes preparation of rice and other traditional Malay culture is considered to be Malay, re- foods, the making of lihing (the local rice gardless of ethnicity. wine), as well as handicrafts. Aside from live enactments of KadazanDusun daily life, a 18 The complete title reads: Among Primitive tour of the Village includes the chance to Peoples in Borneo: A Description of the Lives, participate in the dancing, a taste of lihing, Habits & Customs of the Piratical Headhunters as well as a go at blow-pipe shooting and of North Borneo, with an Account of Interesting betel-nut chewing. Objects of Pre-historic Antiquity Discovered in 20 the Island. After its publication in 1922, Evans Charmaine Siagian, email message to au- continued to study and write about the thor, March 20, 2005. Dusun, producing in 1953 an ethnography entitled The Religion of the Tempassuk Dusuns of North Borneo.

18 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

Works Cited King, Victor T. 1993. Tourism and Cul- A. B., Shamsul. 1998. Debating about ture in Malaysia. In Tourism in Identity in Malaysia: A Discourse South-East Asia. Michael Analysis. In Cultural Contesta- Hitchcock, Victor T. King, and tions: Mediating Identities in a Michael J. G. Parnwell, eds. Lon- Changing Malaysian Society. don: Routledge. Zawawi Ibrahim, ed. London: ___. 1992. Tourism in Borneo: General ASEAN Academic Press. Issues. In Tourism in Borneo: Pa- Andaya, Barbara Watson and Leonard pers from the Second International Y. Andaya. 2001. A History of Ma- Conference, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, laysia. 2nd ed. Honolulu: Univer- Malaysia, July 1992. Victor T. sity of Hawai’i Press. King, ed. Borneo Research Anttonen, Pertti J. 2005. Tradition through Council Proceedings Series, Pro- Modernity: Postmodernism and the ceedings Number Four. Nation-State in Folklore Scholar- Kingsbury, Damien. 2001. South-East ship. Helsinki: Finnish Literature Asia. South Melbourne, Austra- Society. lia: Oxford University Press. Evans, Ivor H. N. 1922. Among Primi- Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara. 1995. tive Peoples in Borneo: A Descrip- Theorizing Heritage. Ethno- tion of the Lives, Habits, and Cus- musicology (39) 3:367-380. toms of the Primitive Headhunters Lockard, Craig. 1998. Popular Musics and of North Borneo, with an Account Politics in Southeast Asia. Hono- of Interesting Objects of Prehistoric lulu: University of Hawai’i Press. Antiquity Discovered in the Island. Markwell, Kevin. 2001. ‘Borneo, London: Seeley, Service & Co. Nature’s Paradise’: Construc- Limited. tions and Representations of Handler, Richard and Jocelyn Linnekin. Nature within Nature-based 1984. Tradition, Genuine or Spu- Tourism. In Interconnected rious. Journal of American Folklore Worlds: Tourism in Southeast Asia. (97) 385:273-290. Peggy Teo, T. C. Chang and K. Herzfeld, Michael. 1997. Cultural Inti- C. Ho, eds. Amsterdam; New macy: Social Poetics in the Nation- York: Pergamon. State. New York: Routledge. Mershon, Elizabeth. 1999. With the Wild Hoskins, Janet. 1996a. Introduction. In Men of Borneo. Kota Kinabalu, Headhunting and the Social Imagi- Sabah: Natural History Publica- nation in Southeast Asia. Janet tions (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd. First Hoskins, ed. Stanford, CA: published by the Pacific Press Stanford University Press. Publishing Association, USA, in ___. 1996b. The Heritage of 1922. Headhunting: History, Ideology, Ongkili, James P. 1985. Nation-building and Violence on Sumba, 1890- in Malaysia, 1946-1974. 1990. Ibid. Singapore, New York: Oxford University Press.

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Rutter, Owen. 1929. The Pagans of North Asian and Pacific Societies, Michel Borneo. London: Hutchinson & Picard and Robert E. Wood, eds. Co. Publishers Ltd. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Saunders, Graham. 1993. Early Travel- Press. lers in Borneo, In Tourism in South-East Asia. Michael Websites Hitchcock, Victor T. King, and Beeckman, Daniel. 1718. A Voyage to and Michael J. G. Parnwell, eds. Lon- from the Island of Borneo. London, printed don: Routledge. for T. Warner and J. Batley. Accessed Schiller, Anne. 2001. Talking Heads: through Eighteenth Century Collec- Capturing Dayak Deathways on tions Online. Film. American Ethnologist (http://galenet.galegroup.com/ 28(1):32-55. servlet/ECCO?c=1&stp=Author&ste Tongkul, Felix. 2000. Traditional Systems =11&af=BN&ae=T144361&tiPG=1&dd= of Indigenous Peoples in Sabah, Ma- 0&dc=flc&docNum=CW102199228&vrsn laysia: Wisdom Accumulated Through Generations. =1.0&srchtp=a&d4=0.33&n=10&SU=0LR , Sabah: PACOS H&locID=iuclassb). Accessed 7 April (Partners for Community 2005. Organisation, Sabah). Warren, James Francis. 1981. The Sulu www.malaysiakini.com. Accessed 10 Zone, 1768-1898: The Dynamics of December 2004. External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of www.mocat.gov.my/ministry. Accessed a Southeast Asian Maritime State. 11 April 2005. Singapore: Singapore University Press. www.monsopiad.com. Accessed 10 De- Williams, Raymond. 1977. Marxism and cember 2004. Literature. Oxford: Oxford Uni- versity Press. www.sabah.gov.my/mocet/ministry- Winzeler, Robert. 1997. Introduction. In objective.htm. Accessed 11 April 2005. Indigenous Peoples and the State: Politics, Land, and Ethnicity in the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo. Robert L. Winzeler, ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Southeast Asia Studies. Wood, Robert E. 1997. Tourism and the State: Ethnic Options and Con- structions of Otherness. In Tour- ism, Ethnicity, and the State in

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Responses

Beth A. Conklin from public displays. The issue has sur- Vanderbilt University, faced with less urgency and under dif- USA ferent circumstances in Britain and else- where in Europe. Flory Ann Mansor Embarrassing But Cool Gingging’s account of the Monsopiad Cultural Village in Sabah, Malaysia adds s I write this, I’ve recently re- a fascinating case to the panoply of cross- turned home from Oxford and cultural differences. Pair this with Steve Athe Pitt-Rivers Museum’s gala Rubenstein’s (2004) insightful account of opening for its new modern wing. The taking Shuar friends to see tsantsa on dis- featured speaker, Michael Palin (of play at New York City’s American Mu- Monty Python fame, now a television- seum of Natural History and you have explorer and major patron of the mu- material for a marvelous teaching mo- seum), praised the “wonderful eclectic ment. displays” and the “spirit of discovery” These shifting cultural-historical re- they inspire. As I listened to Palin, I was lations to displays of indigenous heads standing two cases away from the recall the tropes of disappearing native museum’s most popular attraction, the bodies and assertions of native agency exhibit of tsantsa, shrunken enemy heads through headhunting that run through made by the Shuar and other Jivaroan the film Bontoc Eulogy, Marlon Fuentes’ peoples of western Amazonia. (1996) provocative exploration of Fili- The shrunken heads are a magnet for pino-American identity, historical visitors to the Pitt-Rivers; an encounter “truth” and representation (see Homiak with them seems to occupy a charmed 2000). Fuentes traces colonial power place in many a British memory of dynamics through a story of his Igorot childhood’s spirit of discovery. So it was warrior grandfather’s journey from a not surprising that controversy flared last tribal village to perform at the St. Louis spring when a (false) rumor spread that Exposition of 1904. The fictional jour- the Pitt-Rivers might take the heads off ney ends with the film maker standing display. Critics derided what they la- in front of a glass case at the Smithsonian beled as arrogant political correctness in- that contains preserved Igorot brains. terfering with an institution that is “a na- The celebration of headhunter iden- tional treasure” (see French 2007 and tity in Sabah is a striking contrast to other blog comments). trends in indigenous cultural politics and Sensitivities about human remains in post-colonial criticism. Body-mutilating museums and research collections are and life-taking practices such as canni- old hat in the U.S., where NAGPRA (the balism, infanticide, and headhunting Native American Graves Protection and pose thorny challenges to ethnographers Repatriation Act of 1990) and other and indigenous intellectuals: how to ac- changes in curatorial policies have led knowledge native practices of which out- to widespread de-accessioning and dis- siders disapprove without contributing appearance of indigenous body elements to more negative “othering?”

21 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

The two common responses are to trauma by emphasizing their ritual con- emphasize the flimsy factual basis for text and religious and symbolic mean- claims about unsavory non-western ings. practices and/or to sanitize accounts of Gingging’s account suggests that them. Cannibalism is a perennial favor- some native activists see other alterna- ite target for ethnicity-cleansing. In- tives. By embracing images of violent spired by William Aren’s (1979) sugges- agency as a mark of their autonomy from tion that people-eating may never have the dominant culture, the been a socially accepted practice but just KadazanDusun of Sabah assert their in- racist propaganda, the extreme version dependence from state control and from of the impulse to erase the stigma of can- the homogenizing bumiputera national- nibalism from non-western cultures cul- ist identity that includes Muslim Malays. minated in the academic proposal to As Gingging acknowledges, this works erase cannibalism itself from the record only from the safe distance that locates of human behavior by claiming that no such practices in an ancestral past dis- one ever really did it. (See Gardner 1999 tant from contemporary Sabah self-iden- for a dissection of the cannibalism-denial tity. The idea that a pagan headhunting position.) As Arens (1998) notes, this past may be common ground around claim was embraced more enthusiasti- which diverse non-Muslim groups can cally in 1980s-90s literary and cultural rally resonates with a point that Alcida studies than in . In a review Ramos (1998) and others have empha- of recent cannibalism studies, Shirley sized in pan-indigenous movements: Lindenbaum (2004:475) suggests that that native activists’ self-representations scholarship has matured to a point where are directed not only to non-indigenous we might finally be ready shed the eth- publics, but also to establish solidarity nocentric baggage that has burdened with other indigenous people. both colonial mentalities and the post- This is a fascinating variation on a colonial critics who assume that canni- global theme. As native people grapple balism must be savage and therefore with the need to make “room” for them- unreal. selves in a crowded world (Turner Most ethnographers, myself included 1992:14; Clifford 2000), they try to carve (Conklin 1995, 2001), who have written out spaces for innovative, indigenous about anthropophagy as a social prac- ways of being modern by mobilizing tice have tended toward the relativizing discourses that are (at least partially) in- approach that Frank Lestringant dependent of state control, yet consistent (1997:12) calls “culturalist,” which tends with the need to enhance native access “to idealize the violent act of eating, to to economic resources and political sup- shift the noise of teeth and lips towards port. To do so, they employ diverse dis- the domain of language.” Like the ex- courses, ranging from the universalist planatory labels that surround the Pitt- claims of human rights and environmen- Rivers’ shrunken heads, ethnographic talism, to assertions of localized ties to representations mute violence and land, culture-specific spirituality, and

22 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

mystical knowledge beyond the ken of (the Smithsonian, museums of natural science as well as the state (Conklin history, perhaps even the venerable Pitt- 2002). Rivers) may have purged themselves of These are positive images. But Sabah indigenous remains, indigenous muse- use of the headhunting warrior as their ums like those of the Shuar and Sabah logo (www.monsopiad.com) and origin will find that in the competition for space narrative recalls other indigenous experi- in ethnic cultural politics, capitalizing on ments with more aggressive stereotypes. the display of such remains is still a time- In Brazil, belligerent warrior stances honored way to get ahead. worked well at times for Xavante and Kayapo activists, especially under the Works Cited military dictatorship when the indig- Arens, William. 1979. The Man-Eating enous causes were one of the only “safe” . New York: Oxford Univer- issues around which citizens could ar- sity Press. ticulate criticism of the government _____. 1998. Rethinking Anthropophagy. (Ramos 1998). In more democratic con- In Cannibalism and the Colonial texts when support from image-sensitive World. Edited by Francis Barker, NGOs became a major resource, aggres- Peter Hulme, and Margaret sive imagery has tended to backfire, slip- Iversen. New York: Cambridge ping too easily into old stereotypes of University Press. savagery, backwardness, or irrelevant buffoonery (Conklin and Graham 1995). Clifford, James. 2000. Taking Identity Poli- tics Seriously: the Contradictory, Gingging acknowledges that there Stony Ground. In Without Guar- are risks in the Monsopiad gambit, but antees: Essays in Honour of Stuart one wishes for more ethnographic in- Hall. Edited by Paul Gilroy, sight into what these risks might be. Lawrence Grossberg, and An- How do people negotiate the pressures gela McRobbie. London: Verso to perform “tradition” in some contexts Press. and “modernity” in others? Does the lone Sabah individual quoted in this ar- Conklin, Beth A. 1995. “Thus Are Our ticle represent the views of all when she Bodies, Thus Was Our Custom:” characterizes ancestral headhunting as Mortuary Cannibalism in an “embarrassing but cool?” And what ex- Amazonian Society. American actly does “cool” mean here? Ethnologist 22(1):76-102. Then there are the skulls themselves, _____. 2001. Consuming Grief: Compas- forty-two enemy heads strung up for sionate Cannibalism in an Amazo- tourists to photograph. Are the people nian Society. Austin, TX: Univer- whose kin inhabited those skulls con- sity of Texas Press. cerned with their present treatment or _____. 2002. Shamans Versus Pirates in not? Gingging’s account suggests the the Amazonian Treasure-Chest. tantalizing possibility that some years American Anthropologist 104: from now when the centers of empire 1050-1061.

23 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

_____ and Laura R. Graham. 1995. The Turner, Terence. 1992. Defiant Images: Shifting Middle Ground: Ama- The Kayapo Appropriation of zonian Indians and Eco-Politics. Video. Anthropology Today 8(6):5- American Anthropologist 16. 97(4):695-710. French, Andrew. 2007. Should Shrunken Heads Stay in Museum? Oxford Times Online, 14 February 2007. http://www.theoxfordtimes. netdisplay.var.1191233.0. should_shrunken_heads_stay_ in_museum.php Fuentes, Marlon. 1996. Bontoc Eulogy [video]. Produced by Indepen- dent Television Service (ITVS). Gardner, Don. 1999. Anthropophagy, Myth, and the Subtle Ways of Ethnocentrism. In The Anthropol- ogy of Cannibalism. Edited by Lawrence R. Goldman. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey. Homiak, John P. 2000. The Body in the Archives: A Review of Bontoc Eulogy. American Anthropologist 102:887-891. Lestringant, Frank. 1997. Cannibals: The Discovery and Representation of the Cannibal From Columbus to Jules Verne. Tranlated by Rosemary Morris. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Lindenbaum, Shirley. 2004. Thinking About Cannibalism. Annual Re- view of Anthropology 33:475-498. Ramos, Alcida Rita. 1998. Indigenism: Ethnic Politics in Brazil. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. Rubenstein, Steven. 2004. Shuar Mi- grants and Shrunken Heads Face to Face in a New York Museum. Anthropology Today 20(3):15-19.

24 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

Cristina Bacchilega about the region, written primarily by University of Hawai'i-Manoa European travelers, has played a role in USA the 'invention' of Borneo; an invention that has lived on in tourist literature, and . . . an invention to which the invocation know nothing about Borneo, except for of headhunting in the tourism industry what this essay by Flory Ann Mansor in Sabah is responding." Here Gingging IGingging has taught me. "'I Lost My addresses a type of colonial and coloniz- Head in Borneo': Tourism and the Re- ing cultural production that I am famil- fashioning of the Headhunting Narrative iar with from my research about Hawai'i, in Sabah, Malaysia" argues that, in where I live as a settler-teacher and today's tourism industry in Malaysia, scholar. In writing about the early 20th- KadazanDusuns, the most prominent century beginnings of Hawai'i's touris- indigenous group in the state of Sabah tic representation as "tropical paradise," in Borneo, put their headhunting past on I identify "legendary Hawai'i" as an display parodically to overturn their co- imaginary space "constructed for non- lonial relegation to a subhuman category Hawaiians (and especially Americans) to — and also to assert their distinctiveness experience, via Hawaiian legends, a and possibly their right to indepen- Hawai'i that is exotic and primitive while — dence from a Malaysian national iden- beautiful and welcoming" (5). That this tity. The essay foregrounds the promotion of "legendary Hawai'i" was KadazanDusuns' agency in their "refash- built on early Euro-American travel- ioning" of headhunting for the benefit ogues to the islands, and took place not so much of tourists, but of the indig- shortly after the forced annexation of enous people themselves: the Hawai'i to the United States in 1898, so- Monsopiad Cultural Village is a "tourist lidifies its legacy in the western social destination" but one where the tourist's imaginary. Furthermore, it does so spe- visit can "contribute directly to the con- cifically at the expense of Native Hawai- servation of one of Malaysia's rich cul- ians, who have, however, then and now, tural heritages and traditions" produced counter-narratives of Hawai'i (www.monsopiad.com/Welcome.html). as an indigenous, "storied place." I was so ignorant that even the I gather that the "invention" of Borneo headhunting association with Borneo by European travelers produced a kind had not readily been accessible to me. of primitivism that is different from the What does "learning" from this essay "soft primitivism" associated with Ha- then mean? What kind of a position waiians (Desmond and Smith), but in should or can I take in responding pro- both cases the narratives of "wild men" fessionally—as a folklorist and cultural and "hospitable women" respectively, critic—to the essay? How to respond to have been replicated by the tourist in- it without putting into play a different dustry to produce in Westerners the de- kind of ignorance? sire to visit faraway islands. Neverthe- One section of Gingging's essay less, even about Hawaiians who, as Na- briefly discusses "how early literature

25 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

tive scholar and activist Haunani-Kay a long history in the region and in Trask has noted, are consistently imag- Hawai'i (Silva). ined as sexually inviting, feminized, and But it is Lyons's careful reading of this smiling "natives," literary tourists, such colonial archive that I am thinking about as Mark Twan, would pose the question the most in forming my response to of cannibalism. As with headhunting in Gingging's essay, partly because like Borneo or South-East Asia more broadly, Lyons, I am a settler whose position is "cannibalism" in Oceania brings excite- necessarily different from Gingging's, ment—the frisson of fear—to the tourist's who is writing as a member—be it a encounter with the exotic, as long as that diasporic one—of the KadasanDusun hostility is safely confined to an histori- people. Lyons shows the scope of cal or imagined past. histouricism, as it includes Charles War- In his book American Pacificism: ren Stoddard, Jack London, Fred O'Brien, Oceania in the U.S. Imagination, Paul Margaret Mead, and Annie Dillard. The Lyons convincingly draws a line of con- result is chilling: "Most of the canonical tinuity between travel writing and tour- U.S. writers about Oceania were literally ism in ways that foreground their com- tourist boosters, and, especially in the plicity as histouricism—where indig- twentieth century, were constituted as enous history is misrecognized for the native informants to metropolitan read- sake of an exoticism that serves Euro- ers in part by writing directly for the tour- American economic and ideological in- ist industry" (Lyons 20). The authority of terests. Particularly resonant in relation these widely circulated narratives sus- to Gingging's argument is Lyons's dis- tains a "willed and stunning ignorance/ cussion of cannibalism in literary tour- ignoring of Oceanian priorities" (2) spe- ism (as still practiced by, for instance, cifically in American cultural produc- Paul Theroux) and of "cannibal tours," tions of Oceania, an active "ignoring of whereby tourists are taken "to places Oceanian epistemologies, political insti- where the Islanders are supposed to have tutions and forms of cultural and intel- until yesterday, by native admission (or lectual tradition and performance" (8-9). practical joking), practiced a fantasmal It is this authority, as Charles Briggs has 'cannibalism' (generally in the next vil- shown, that some anthropologists have lage over)" (129-130). Lyons also unwittingly defended by denouncing insightfully analyzes literary indigenous "invention" of traditions. "antitourism"—"an alternative mode of National, touristic, and even aca- seeing, always concerned with the ma- demic interests have a deep investment terialist conditions obscured by Pacificist in this kind of ignoring because, as we writing" (22)—in the works of Albert know, it is the grounds on which the ex- Wendt, Sia Figiel, Teresia Teaiwa, and pert subject builds her/his authority. My many other Oceanian writers who docu- lack of knowledge about Borneo's his- ment contemporary indigenous resis- tory and diverse ethnic groups does not tance to Euro-American takeover, a re- mean that I am not to some extent impli- sistance that politically and culturally has cated in the Western "invention of

26 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

Borneo"; nor does it excuse me from at kind that Haunani-Kay Trask condemns least attempting to refrain from repro- for prostituting Hawaiian culture; Gaye ducing this kind of ignorance in my Chan and Andrea Feeser blame for turn- scholarly but not "expert" response. It is ing Waikiki, a previously self-sustaining one thing as an outsider and settler for community, into a haven of capitalist me to write about "legendary Hawai'i" development and exploitation; and John in an effort to re-orient myself, and oth- Zuern de-romanticizes by focusing on ers, towards recognizing our collective workers' lives in the hotel industry. At ignoring of the epistemologies and his- the same time, I would not be alone in tories that I would not pretend to "know," rejecting the proposition that there is no but that I am actively trying to learn agency for Hawaiians putting their heri- about and from. And it is another for me tage on display, for instance, through to respond to Gingging's assertion of an hula: well-respected halau perform in a indigenous response that subverts the range of settings, and maintain control "invention" of Borneo's "wild men." over what to share or not with different I did find Gingging's discussion of audiences; irony and parody have a long- indigenous agency at work in the term role in the history of hula perfor- Monsopiad Cultural Village in Sabah to mance (Diamond; Imada). Thinking be informative and significant. I also about Monsopiad Cultural Village from found her discussion of the tension be- Hawai'i, where the Polynesian Cultural tween Malaysian national identity and Center is a foremost tourist attraction, I the KadazanDusun indigenous self- want to ask for more information about identification very interesting, especially the Village in relation to what Gingging as it is played out in relation to moder- identifies as the more developed indus- nity. The Monsopiad Cultural Village is try of (eco)tourism in Malaysia. How are owned and run by Monsopiad's descen- the two economies connected? How dants and has no support from the na- many hotels sponsor the tour to the tional government. I learned a lot from Monsopiad Cultural Village? What per- the essay, and I know I will draw on it to centage and kind of tourist will go to the question touristic representations of Village? Who has designed their website Borneo's headhunting narratives when and packages? I encounter them. That, in itself, is a The Monsopiad Cultural Village in- meaningful step away from ignorance, corporates headhunting legend and not only of Borneo but of an indigenous material displays into what the website perspective on Borneo. refers to as a "living museum," the pur- I do have a lot more questions. Some pose of which is to educate visitors and of them stem from my experience with a "to document, revive, and keep alive the different kind of colonial history, an ex- culture and traditions" of the Kadazan perience in a different region and place. people. In Global Villages: The Globaliza- The kind of tourism I am more familiar tion of Ethnic Display, a documentary with in Hawai'i is large-scale video produced by Tamar Gordon and transnational corporate tourism, of the Bruce Caron, several "ethnic theme

27 Flory Ann Mansor Gingging

parks" in China and Japan are viewed as everyone in the Village—including the contributing to a "global genre . . . run women—identifies with "headhunting" by governments and corporations politi- as a form of "cultural intimacy." I'd like cally intent on shaping public narratives to know how the decision was made to of ethnic minorities and foreign nation- build this Village around the "House of als in the context of the nation-state." One Skulls," which the website tells us was of these parks is explicitly modeled on "already a prominent tourist attraction the Polynesian Cultural Center in since 1979." But part of the point of the Hawai'i. One aim of the documentary is KadazanDusun people "refashioning the to show how the performances and ac- headhunting narrative" is that it is up to tivities of ethnic minorities, such as the them to establish what the parameters Wa, are mediated in Chinese ethnic parks for "front" and "back" of their display are, by market considerations and tourists' for asking questions, rather than answer- expectations of "spectacle." Gordon states ing them. In addition to working with that these parks are "controlled fantasy different media, Gordon's and environments" where "tourists and per- Gingging's projects as well as their posi- formers participate in the production of tions as researchers are different. heritage" and of the "unity of the nation- Gingging's focus is on the re-visionist state." When Gordon and Caron docu- perspective and parodic practice of her ment the representation in the Yunan own people, especially what it means to Park of the Mosuo, a matrilineal group, them. If I want to learn from her and as spectators we see how verbal state- them, I must also be aware of how my ments by the male spokesperson and the questions may not be of interest to, or silent behavior of the women do not nec- even in the interest of, Gingging and her essarily match: another form of media- people. I've posed questions, but have I tion that seeks to mask gender tensions earned the right to have them answered? within the group itself. The other side to In writing this response, I've considered this observation is that Gordon, who has more this kind of problem and others like no connection with the ethnic groups it. When I ask to know more about the displaying their heritage at the Yunan or KadazanDusun people and the the "Windows of the World" parks, con- Monsopiad Cultural Village, however ducts much of her research by relying on worthy my intentions may be, which "ig- translators when interviewing perform- norance" is at work? How can this "will ers. Whether that gets her to some "au- to know" not carry out a colonizing thenticity" or even to a response that is scholarly agenda if my "homework" is not staged is questionable—especially elsewhere? And can ignorance of and the given the transparency of translation in ignoring of non-Western priorities oper- the documentary—but a range of views, ate in complete separation from one an- for instance among Wa performers in other? This is one of the mind-turning different parks, is represented. reflections with which I was left as part I'd like to know more about tourists' of the process of engaging with engagement in the Monsopiad Cultural Gingging's indigenous troping of the Village experience. I'd like to know if "headhunting narrative."

28 “I Lost My Head in Borneo”

Notes Lyons, Paul. 2005. American Pacificism. Though their views do not necessarily New York: Routledge. match mine, I'd like to thank Dawn Silva, Noenoe. 2004. Aloha Betrayed: Na- Morais, who is working on life writing tive Hawaiian Resistance to Ameri- and Malaysian national identity, and can Colonialism. Durham, N.C.: Nadia Inserra, who is writing about the Duke University Press. cultural translation of Southern Italian Smith, Bernard. 1985. European Vision and folk dance in the US, for conversations the South Pacific: A Study in the that helped me shape this response. History of Ideas. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. Works Cited Trask, Haunani-Kay. 1993. 'Lovely Hula Bacchilega, Cristina. 2007. Legendary Hands': Corporate Tourism and Hawai'i and the Politics of Place: the Prostitution of Hawaiian Tradition, Translation, and Tourism. Culture. In From a Native Daugh- Philadelphia: University of ter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Pennsylvania Press. Hawai'i. Revised ed. Honolulu: Briggs, Charles L. 1996. The Politics of University of Hawai'i Press, 136- Discursive Authority in Research 147. on the 'Invention of Tradition.' www.monsopiad.com. Accessed 6 De- 11(4): 435– cember 2007. 469. Zuern, John. 2005. Ask Me for the Chan, Gaye and Andrea Feeser. 2006. Moon.http://www.uiowa.edu/ Waikiki: A History of Forgetting ~iareview/mainpages/new/ and Remembering. Honolulu: aug05/images/zorn.gif University of Hawai'i Press. Desmond, Jane C. 1999. Staging Tourism: Bodies on Display from Waikiki to Sea World Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Diamond, Heather. 2008 (forthcoming). American Aloha: Cultural Tourism and the Negotiation of Tradition. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Gordon, Tamar. 2005. Global Villages. Documentary video. Tourist Gaze Productions. Imada, Andria L. 2004. Hawaiians on Tour: Hula Circuits through the American Empire. American Quarterly 56(1): 111–149.

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