Abstract
Bailey et al. (1989) and Headland (1987) have recently proposed hypotheses stating that human foragers are unable to live in undisturbed tropical rain forests without some reliance on cultivated foods. The present discussion considers these hypotheses, as well as some of the evidence by which they have been tested. Four conceptual problems in the way these hypotheses have been formulated are identified: (1) assumptions about the relationship between key features of tropical forest ecosystems and human subsistence potential, (2) in-consistencies in the definition of “pure foraging,” (3) adherence to a dichotomy between foraging and agriculture, the result being that conscious and unconscious effects of exploitation on the demographic parameters of key resources is ignored, and (4) problems in defining the significance of ecotones. I consider the case of Penan hunter-gatherers of Borneo, a population which, by virtue of their reliance on the sago palm Eugeissona utilis, contradicts the conclusions of Bailey et al. and Headland. I consider salient aspects of Penan reliance on Eugeissona, and describe how Penan exploitation of this resource may positively effect its availability. This case is seen to provide a challenge to the hypotheses of Bailey et al. and Headland, not only in the extent to which it contradicts their conclusions but, more significantly, in what it reveals about the assumptions upon which their hypotheses are based. This points to the need for greater precision in the definition of future hypotheses about foraging in tropical forests.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bailey, R. C. (1990). Exciting opportunities in tropical rain forests: A reply to Townsend.American Anthropologist 92(3): 747–748.
Bailey, R. C., Head, G., Jenike, M., Owen, B., Rechtman, R., and Zechenter, E. (1989). Hunting and gathering in the tropical rain forest: Is it possible?American Anthropologist 91(1): 59–82.
Barnard, A. (1983). Contemporary hunter-gatherers: Current theoretical issues in ecology and social organization.Annual Review of Anthropology 12: 193–214.
Barrau, J. (1958).Subsistence Agriculture in Melanesia. B. P. Bishop Museum Bulletin No. 219, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Beccari, O. (1904).Wanderings in the Great Forests of Borneo. Archibald Constable and Co., London.
Beddington, J. R. (1979). Harvesting and population dynamics. In Anderson, R. M., Turner, B. D., and Taylor, L. R. (eds.),Population Dynamics. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp. 307–320.
Benjamin, G. (1973). Introduction. In Schebesta, P. (ed.),Among the Forest Dwarfs of Malaya. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur.
Bettinger, R. L. (1980). Explanatory/predictive models of hunter-gatherer adaptation.Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 3: 189–255.
Binford, L. R. (1980). Willow smoke and dog's tails: Hunter-gatherer settlement systems and archeological site formation.American Antiquity 45: 4–20.
Brooke, C. (1866).Ten Years in Sarawak. Tinsley Brothers, London.
Brosius, J. P. (1986). River, forest and mountain: The Penan Gang landscape.Sarawak Museum Journal 36 (57, New Series): 173–184.
Brosius, J. P. (1988). A separate reality: Comments on Hoffman'sThe Punan: Hunters and Gatherers of Borneo. Borneo Research Bulletin 20(5): 81–106.
Brosius, J. P. (1990). Penan hunter-gatherers of Sarawak, East Malaysia.AnthroQuest 42: 1–7.
Burkill, I. H. (1954). Dioscoreaceae. In Van Steenis, C. G. G. (ed.),Flora Malesiana, Ser. 1(4): 293–347.
Caughley, G., and Lawton, J. H. (1976). Plant-herbivore systems. In May, R. M. (ed.),Theoretical Ecology: Principles and Applications. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp. 132–166.
Dunn, F. L. (1975).Rain Forest Collectors and Traders: A Study of Resource Utilization in Modem and Ancient Malaya. Monographs of the Malaysian Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, No. 5.
Dwyer, P. D., and Minnegal, M. (1991). Hunting in lowland, tropical rain forest: Towards a model of non-agricultural subsistence.Human Ecology 19: 187–212.
Endicott, K. (1974).Batek Negrito Economy and Social Organization. Unpublished doctoral dissertation in Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge.
Estioko-Griffin, A. A., and Griffin, P. B. (1975). The Ebuked Agta of northeastern Luzon.Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 3(4): 237–244.
Flach, M. (1977). Yield potential of the sagopalm,Metroxylon sagu, and its realization. In Tan, K. (ed.),Sago-76: Papers of the First International Sago Symposium, “The Equatorial Swamp as a Natural Resource,” Kuching, Malaysia. Kemajuan Kanji Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, pp. 157–177.
Fox, R. G. (1969). Professional primitives: Hunters and gatherers of nuclear south Asia.Man in India 48: 139–160.
Getz, W. M., and Haight, R. G. (1989).Population Harvesting: Demographic Models of Fish, Forest, and Animal Resources Monographs in Population Biology, 27, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Hayden, B. (1981). Subsistence and ecological adaptations of modern hunter-gatherers. In Harding, R. S. O., and Teleki, G. (eds.),Omnivorous Primates: Gathering and Hunting in Human Evolution. Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 344–421.
Headland, T. N. (1987). The wild yam question: How well could independent hunter-gatherers live in a tropical rainforest environment?Human Ecology 15(4): 463–491.
Headland, T. N., and Reid, L. A. (1989). Hunter-gatherers and their neighbors from prehistory to the present.Current Anthropology 30(1): 43–66.
Hildebrand, H. K. (1982).Die Wildbeutergruppen Borneos. Münchner Ethnologische Abhandlungen B and 2, Minerva-Publikation, Munich.
Hoffman, C. L. (1984). Punan foragers in the trading networks of Southeast Asia. In Schrire, C. (ed.),Past and Present in Hunter-Gatherer Studies. Academic Press, Orlando, pp. 123–149.
Huffman, C. L. (1986).The Punan: Hunters and Gatherers of Borneo. UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor.
Holttum, R. E. (1954).Plant Life in Malaya. Longman, London.
Hutterer, K. L. (1974). The evolution of Philippine lowland societies.Mankind 9: 287–299.
Hutterer, K. L. (1976). An evolutionary approach to the Southeast Asian cultural sequence.Current Anthropology 17(2): 221–242.
Hutterer, K. L. (ed.) (1977).Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia: Perspectives from Prehistory, History, and Ethnography. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia No. 13, University of Michigan Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, Ann Arbor.
Hutterer, K. L. (1982).Interaction Between Tropical Ecosystems and Human Foragers: Some General Considerations. Working Paper, Environment and Policy Institute, East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Hutterer, K. L. (1983). The natural and cultural history of Southeast Asian agriculture: Ecological and evolutionary considerations.Anthropos 78: 169–212.
Jochim, M. A. (1976).Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence and Settlement: A Predictive Model. Academic Press, New York.
Jochim, M. A. (1981).Strategies for Survival: Cultural Behavior in an Ecological Context Academic Press, New York.
Kaskija, L. (1988). Carl Huffman and the Punan of Borneo.Borneo Research Bulletin 20(2): 121–129.
Keene, A. S. (1981).Prehistoric Foraging in a Temperate Forest: A Linear Programming Model Academic Press, New York.
Lubchenco, J., and Gaines, S. D. (1981). A unified approach to marine plant-herbivore interactions. I. Populations and communities.Annual Review of Ecology and Syslematics 12, Annual Reviews, Palo Alto, pp. 405–437.
Margalef, R. (1968).Perspectives in Ecological Theory. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
McCurrach, J. C. (1960).Palms of the World. Harper and Bros., New York.
Needham, R. (1972). Penan-Punan. In Lebar, F. M. (ed.),Ethnic Groups of Insular Southeast Asia, Vol. 1: Indonesia, Andaman Islands, and Madagascar. Human Relations Area Files Press, New Haven, pp. 176–180.
Peterson, J. T. (1977). Ecotones and exchange in northern Luzon. In Hutterer, K. L. (ed.),Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia: Perspectives from Prehistory, History, and Ethnography. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia No. 13, University of Michigan Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, Ann Arbor, pp. 55–71.
Peterson, J. T. (1978a). Hunter-gatherer/farmer exchange.American Anthropologist 80(2): 335–351.
Peterson, J. T. (1978b).The Ecology of Social Boundaries: Agta Foragers of the Philippines. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
Pitcher, T. J., and Hart, P. T. B. (1982).Fisheries Ecology. Croon Helm, London.
Rambo, A. T. (1979). Human ecology of the Orang Asli: A review of research on the environmental relations of the aborigines of peninsular Malaysia.Federations Museums Journal 24: 41–71.
Ricker, W. E. (1958).Handbook of Computations for Behavioral Statistics of Fish Populations. Bulletin of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, No. 119.
Roosevelt, A. (1989). Resource management in Amazonia before the conquest: Beyond ethnographic projection.Advances in Economic Botany 7: 30–62.
Rousseau, J. (1990).Central Borneo: Ethnic Identity and Social Life in a Stratified Society. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Ruddle, K., Johnson, D., Townsend, P. K., and Rees, J. D. (1978).Palm Sago: A Tropical Starch from Marginal Lands. University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu.
Sellato, B. J. L. (1988). The nomads of Borneo: Huffman and “devolution.”Borneo Research Bulletin 20(2): 106–120.
Sellato, B. J. L. (1989).Nomades et Sédentarisation à Bornéo: Histoire Economique et Sociale. Etudes Insulindiennes/Archipel:9, Éditions de l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
Tan, K. (ed.) (1977).Sago-76: Papers of the First International Sago Symposium, “The Equatorial Swamp as a Natural Resource.” Kemajuan Kanji Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur.
Townsend, P. (1990). On the possibility/impossibility of tropical forest hunting and gathering.American Anthropologist 92(3): 745–747.
Urquhart, I. A. N. (1957). Some Kenyah-Penan relationships.Sarawak Museum Journal 8 (10, New Series): 113–116.
Whittier, H. L. (1973).Social Organization and Symbols of Social Differentiation: An Ethnographic Study of the Kenyah Dayak of East Kalimantan (Borneo). Unpublished doctoral dissertation in Anthropology, Michigan State University, Lansing.
Winterhalder, B., and Smith, E. A. (1981).Hunter-Gatherer Foraging Strategies: Ethnographic and Archeological Analyses. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Yellen, J. E. (1971).Archeological Approaches to the Present: Models for Reconstructing the Past Academic Press, New York.
Yen, D. E. (1976). The ethnobotany of the Tasaday: III. Notes on the subsistence system. In Yen, D. E., and Nance, J. (eds.),Further Studies on the Tasaday Panamin Foundation Research Series Number 2, Makati, Rizal, Philippines, pp. 159–183.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brosius, J.P. Foraging in tropical rain forests: The case of the penan of Sarawak, East Malaysia (Borneo). Hum Ecol 19, 123–150 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00888743
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00888743