Suchergebnisse

This article analyzes the generational politics of smartphones in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in the context of Bornean history and contemporary Sarawakian political economy. We respond to a global north bias in the standing literature on smartphone media and suggest approaches to improve representation of global south perspectives. Concretely, we propose three programmatic maxims as a methodological guide to incorporate perspectives and concerns from the global south more fully. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in Sarawak, we demonstrate the value of these suggestions by framing smartphones in the perspective of Bornean history as tools for maintaining instrumental social networks more than exchanging information across spatial disjunction. These tools are used differently by young urbanites and older rural populations. This leads us to show how Pokémon Go refracts generational conflicts by becoming the cultural touchstone of the changing political economic conditions of Malaysian urbanization.

AbstractThis paper examines the role of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as a booster of employment opportunities in Sarawak, highlighting the importance of TVET as a catalyst that promotes individuals' chances to gain employment, with the ultimate goal of improving their socioeconomic living conditions and overall development. As a case study focusing on Tabung Ekonomi Gagasan Sarawak (TEGAS) TVET programmes and applying the qualitative research methodological approach, this paper gathered and analysed raw data from research participants and concluded that (1) TVET plays significant roles in facilitating individuals' or groups' employment chances, especially within tech‐based industries, and (2) employments are rewarded with remunerations and thus facilitate individuals' socio‐economic developments.

The communities' ability to control heritage has been questioned and analysed in a broader perspective of socio-cultural cohesion and power. However, a research gap exists regarding the capabilities developed by the indigenous communities to collectively empower themselves by appropriating external resources such as research and development projects. To address this gap, we investigate the Kelabit socio-political configuration related to food heritage through the lens of the anthropology of brokers. The empirical basis of this contribution includes participant observation of the 11th edition of the Bario Food and Cultural Festival (Borneo, Sarawak, Malaysia) as well as semi-structured interviews with the Kelabit community members – local, diaspora and counter diaspora – and representatives of tourism and heritage. Overall, our findings unveil networked food heritage practices with outside agents and notably national and global academic institutions. Consequently, the analysis reveals the trans-identity capabilities of the Kelabit migrants in interfacing the local community with a range of stakeholders - and more specifically research networks – thereby adopting the role of cultural brokers. In doing so, the Kelabit people contribute to the intricate co-production of the definition of the Kelabit food heritage.

This article describes an action-research pilot project to provide opportunities for the remote Kelabit community in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for sustainable human development. The project aims to establish a telecentre as a place for the community to use ICTs. Although many in the community have heard about computers, they have not seen or used them. In Phase 1 of this project, a team of University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) researchers were involved in the collection of base-line data to provide a socio-economic profile of the community, to establish existing patterns of communication and computer awareness and finally to determine the current attitudes towards computers in Bario's secondary school (SMK Bario). Findings indicate that due to Bario's relative isolation, community members cited their relatives to be the main source of information and face-to-face communication as the major channel of communication, and that a majority of school teachers had a positive attitude towards using ICTs. Recommendations for future directions in promoting the utilization of ICTs to lead to the establishment of a telecentre are discussed.

Hew Cheng Sim: Urbanization in Sarawak. - S. 1 Goy Siew Ching ; Low Kuek Long: Gender, wages and labour migration. - S. 21 Baer, Adela: Women and health. - S. 42 Crabtree, Sara Ashencaen : Madness and the hegemony of healing : the legacy of colonial psychiatry in Sarawak. - S. 71 Ling How Kee: Elderly women's experiences of urbanization. - S. 88 Hew Cheng Sim: Like a chicken standing on one leg : urbanization and single mothers. - S. 104 Bala, Poline: From highlands to lowlands : Kelabit women and their migrant daughters. - S. 120 Hew Cheng Sim: Conclusion. - S. 140