SEMAI OF MALAYSIA Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

SEMAI OF MALAYSIA - Research Paper ExampleThe Semai of Malaysia is droll in a way from other groups or tribes of the Ameri basis society. What stimulate them different be their beliefs, relationship and health issues these aspects have made them to survive for many years in this dynamic world. It is believed that the Semai tribe is what remained from the headmaster ancient populations of South East Asia, who then belong to the Senoi ethnic groups. The lands in Malaysia are fertile and cultivatable this has made the Semai society to practice horticulture- planting runs in their fertile lands. In the recent times, the indigenous club has been made to shift to Malaysia hills and mountains by powerful technologies and peoples.But at times,the Semai community practice a obscure system of arboriculture, shifting cultivations, hunting and gathering. In general they practice hunting and horticultural farming. The main crop that is grown by Semai of Malaysia is rice at times they pl ant arrow roots, grapes and corns in their farms.The Semai community is life history in densely forested mountains. The horticulture they practice is non- mechanized, that is non-intensive form of plant cultivation performed non- repetitively on a plot of land. The Semai people live in Kampangs (close villages) close to their farms and during planting seasons they head back to the forest to go and hunt for the rest of the year. They have low population densities, which has made them to be scattered in different parts of the huge farms and be able to practice shifting cultivation. When such horticultural factors are done, the families are grouped in scattered clusters moving from one location to another. They are known by anthropologists for their behavior which is non- aggressiveness and a version to interpersonal violence of any kind. The relationship is that married men do not batter their wives, nor beat their parents. Children are not allowed to engage in activities like fight s, physical assaults and assassinate which are virtually unknown to the community. In moving the horticulturalists are immobile as forages that may underwrite rearing among is not a strict within their culture as is with forages. Majority of the children help their parents with providing outwear in the fields enhancing productivity (Fix, 1990). The Semai community practice what is referred to as generalized reciprocity which means they can transpose goods and services without having any track or measurements of the exact value of what they have traded with an assumption that the execution will balance itself in some time to come. This act of generalized reciprocity happens between parents and children, or between couples, or in advanced stages involving clans and large kin groups. This is a formal way of exchange that involves total trust and minimal distance between the two parties. For the Semai community, the main reason for eating is to make one feel full and satisfied. The meal to be eaten should allow in starch dish which is preferably rice. take in meat, fowls or fish without any starch is ridiculous to them. The other economic activities include fishing, hunting and gathering. They social function weapons for hunting such as, blow pipes and poisonous darts. They also use rattan (climbing palms in forests) to make binders, polarity building, basketry, fish-traps others .(Norwak & Laird, 2010). 2.1Beliefs and values The Semais beliefs and values are enshrined in their religion, which embraces of belief on the forest and natural spiritualty a kind of animism. Animism involves traditions of thunder god called Enku which is associated with other kind of animals like a small heart and soul less snake, beings working hand in hand with god, dragons that are present during thunder squalls associated with rainbows. Other animals include a flying animal with feathers and those with rounded scales and moist skins living inside or near water supply bodi es (Dentan, 1983).