Abstract
In order to make sense of contemporary and ongoing anthropological and sociological research activities at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) it is important to highlight different levels of factors that have shaped and influenced the sort of research agendas and activities carried out by members of the faculty (and also the Institute of East Asian Studies and now known as Institute of Borneo Studies) over the past 20 years. The discussion also reveals the social and political milieu within which research has been carried out and, at the same time, throws light on ways in which the first university in Sarawak has addressed the concerns of society.
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Notes
- 1.
It is important to note here the interchange ability of academics between the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Institute of East Asian Studies especially in the early years of the institute.
- 2.
All references here and later in the chapter are ordered according to date of publication.
- 3.
For example, according to Yahaya Ahmad (2006), ‘Australia refers to its heritage as “place, cultural significance and fabric”, Canada refers to “material culture, geographic environments and human environments”, New Zealand to “place”, and China to “immovable physical remains”, to name a few’. However, as simply defined by UNESCO, ‘heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations’. According to UNESCO’s definition, heritage can be divided into cultural and natural heritage.
References
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Hobsbawm, Eric. 1983. Introduction: inventing traditions. In The invention of tradition, eds. Eric Hobsbawm, and Terence Ranger, 1–14. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Marcus, George E., and Michael M.J. Fischer. 1999. Anthropology as cultural critique: an experimental moment in the human sciences. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Yahaya Ahmad. 2006. The scope and definitions of heritage: from tangible to intangible. International Journal of Heritage Studies 12(3):292–300.
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Bala, P. (2017). An Overview of Anthropological and Sociological Research at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. In: King, V., Ibrahim, Z., Hassan, N. (eds) Borneo Studies in History, Society and Culture. Asia in Transition, vol 4. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0672-2_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0672-2_13
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