Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

REFIGURATION OF IDENTITIES AND FUTURES IN TIMES OF TRANSFORMATION 123by humans; (3) animal rights activists, however, shouldalso factor into their discourses the important role ofthe cultural and socio-economic forces shaping humananimalrelations. For example, there is really the need togo beyond a simplified construal of the “rights” of thenonhuman animals by first understanding the complexforces shaping human-animal relations in the variedcontexts of Southeast Asia.Temple monkeys (Central Thailand)dissimilarities between humans and animals; (b) villagers(mostly farmers), compared to university graduatestudents, make a stronger divide between humans andanimals in language use, suggesting the importance ofsocio-economic factors in shaping cultural/linguisticpatterns; (c) gender and caste factors are also importantin influencing such patterns—for example, categoriesthat are given importance in the human/animal dividediffer between sexes and castes.Conclusion and recommendationsThere are interesting continuities in the ways SoutheastAsians relate traditionally to animals that are stillobservable in the present. Selected animals, likemonkeys and elephants, have been assigned specialplaces in the social and cognitive domains of variousareas of the region. These animal presences are evenexaggerated and symbolically dramatized with theadvent of state sponsorship and global tourism. Whileperhaps showcasing environmentalist views, buffered bysome eco-friendly aspects of Hindu-Buddhism, thereare also not-so-animal-friendly by-products in presentanimal-relating practices, as they interact with the widerforces of a changing world. In diverse issues relating tohuman-animal relations, a proper appreciation of thescientific ethos might be needed to calibrate traditionalviews and practices to the actual lives of presentanimals. The following points might be considered:(1) an intervention to alleviate the quality of life ofculturally-protected animals (e.g., temple monkeys)should be informed by balancing religious sentimentswith scientific assessments. In the case of monkeys, forexample, the culling or transferring of excess troops toforests might be considered for areas where monkeytroops are overpopulated; (2) many of the relevantproposals of animal rights groups should be openlyconsidered, as some of them are quite humane andpractical, like the neutering of street dogs abandonedI will end, however, on a more philosophical note. Thepaper has highlighted some complex patterns in humananimalrelations in Southeast Asia. Shown are narrativebitsabout ‘our’ lives and identities that go beyondthe humans-among-ourselves stories, recognizing theordinary but important roles of animals in many facetsof social life. One need not be in Sangeh or Lopburi,places that dramatically showcase the social role ofanimals, to see that the everyday lives of humans, andtheir varying constructions of self, are interwoven withthe lives of nonhuman animals. Visioning an alternativeworld needs the knowledge brought by a closer studyof the complex relations humans have with animals, asactive, sometimes irritating, always necessary, agents ofnature.NOTES1See Paluga (2006) for a brief overview of the general themesin human-animal relations in Makilala, Mt. Apo.2My wife and I have been conducting intermittent fieldworkand visits in Mt. Apo, mostly to study macaques, since thelate 1990s; we extended these field studies late last year upto the middle of this year in Indonesia and Thailand. Thefieldwork in Indonesia and Thailand was conducted from16 November 2006 to 20 May 2007, a total of about sixmonths—104 days in Indonesia and 81 days in Thailand.In Bali, we stayed in the village of Sangeh for one-anda-halfmonths (25 December 2006 to 9 February 2007)to do ethological observations on Balinese macaques atthe Sangeh Monkey Forest and to do village surveys andinterviews on human attitudes to monkeys and otheranimals. We also conducted field and ocular visits inareas with animals held to be sacred (e.g., birds, snakes,monkeys, bats) that also have developed into touristattractions: at Uluwatu, Tanah Lot, Alas Kedaton, Petulu,Ubud Monkey Forest and Goa Lawah. In Thailand,we stayed for some weeks (1 March to 20 May 2007)to do field observations and conduct interviews mostlyin tambon (administrative unit) Klong Noi, Ban TongTuang, Surat Thani province, and at some tambon withinand near Tasala City, Nakhon Sri Thamarat province.Asian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows