Endangered Forest, Endangered People

Jacob W. Dearing

Dec. 16th, 2015

Critical Abstract #11

Article author: J. Peter Brosius

Article title: Endangered Forest, Endangered People

Peter Brosius examines the case of the Penan people of the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo and the creation of their narrative by environmentalists. Brosius uses his article to describe the ill representation of the Penan people’s indigenous “knowledge”. This ill representation is due to preconceived general concepts of indigenous peoples and the initiative to produce an attractive narrative that represents the value of these peoples “knowledge” at the cost of validity. The purpose of highlighting these false depictions is they counter the reason of their own existence, which is to represent and preserve the identity of the Penan.

Brosius first gives his findings from work with the Penan people starting with the distinction between east and west Penan communities. While all Penan share the resources of the forest the main distinction other than “subsistence technology, settlement patterns, and social organization” is east Penan resistance toward logging due to the influence of environmentalists.

Brosius then examines the work of Davis and Henley and compares their findings to his own in relation, mainly, to resource management and landscape representations to show the transformation from an “objectivist conception” to an “environmentalist conception”. The overall comparison shows that the work of Davis and Henley is characterized by generalities of indigenous knowledge focusing on the spiritual aspects instead of true systematic resource management practices and understanding of topography through knowledge of river systems. Brosius shows how false representations can then alter the culture itself as publishing of these inaccuracies can reach the people they were built from and influence their creation.

This article is important to my site because it shows how preconceptions and false representation of people and their resource use can have real world implications.