Manuscript Collection OA-3,  .75 linear feet

Biography:
Robert K. Dentan received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in American Studies in 1958 followed by a Ph.D. in Anthropology at Yale in 1965. He is currently a Full Professor of Anthropology (and formerly of American Studies) at the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB). His fieldwork in Malaysia spans a thirty-year period, beginning in 1961 and continuing through 1993 and has principally involved work with the Semai along with the Btsisi. His specializations include ethnography, cultural ecology, hierarchical and egalitarian forms of social organization, ideology, cognition and worldview, deviance and labeling, ethnicity, nonviolence, altered states of consciousness and economic development. Between 1970 and 2000 he has presented over seventy lectures, conference papers and presentations, including many with an Orang Asli subject matter. His most recent conference paper was a March 2000 lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies and was titled "Modernization, Spiritual Development and the Systematic Elimination of Orang Asli from Malaysian Life: Islamicization as Political Ethnocide". Dentan is the author of numerous reviews, journal articles, book chapters, and several books and monographs including The Semai: a Nonviolent People of Malaysia that was first published in 1968. He is the recipient of a number of awards, honors and research grants and has been active as a reviewer, faculty advisor and committee member on the UB campus. He also has served in several administrative positions at UB: as Director of Graduate Studies in American Studies in 1970 and from 1977-1981; as Chair of American Studies between 1981-1984 and as Director of U.S. Studies between 1986-1987; and as Acting Chair of American Studies in the summer of 1987. He has also been a faculty member of the Anthropology Department at Ohio State University and has taught in China. He was the founder of the Orang Asli Fund and is a Trustee of the Fund for Urgent Anthropological Research.

Scope and Content Note:
The Robert K Dentan (RKD) papers document an anthropologist's work with the Orang Asli peoples of Malaysia. The current archive holdings are a fraction of RKD's entire collection and at this date are comprised of his field notes, manuscripts, and catalogs along with published materials; some that are by other authors.

The field records include an early manuscript on the Semai language titled Preliminary Field Notes on the Semai Language (series 1, folder 1), edited in 2003 and now available online (Series 2, digital file). Series 1 also includes several digital files containing compilations of field notes on different subjects (series 1, digital files).

Medical Ideas and Practices Among the Jah Hut of Malaya, by Ivan Polunin, (series 2, folder 1) is based on Polunin’s work in Malaysia in the late 1950’s. Materia Medica of the Jah Hut by Robert K. Dentan (series 2, folder 2) is based on two solo trips to Malaysia by Dentan and a third trip he made to Sungai Kol with Ivan Polunin. This manuscript is the product of Dentan’s conversations in Malay with Jah Hut collaborators. The original copy of this work is located at the American Museum of Natural History. The Robert K. Dentan catalog (series 2, folder 3) is a copy of the catalog held at the Peabody Museum, Yale University. A retyped copy is available as a digital file. Semai Folk Ornithology: Preliminary Notes by R. Dentan will be part of an upcoming publication.

The Sengoi (Sakai) First Primer (series 4: folder 1) is from RKD's personal collection of publications. Stewards of the Green and Beautiful World: A Preliminary Report on Semai Arboriculture and it's Policy Implications (series 4, folder 2) is a copy of a chapter, coauthored by Dentan, from Dimensions of Tradition and Development in Malaysia. The Semai-Malay Ethnobotany: Hindu Influences on the Trade in Sacred Plants (series 4, folder 3) is a copy of a paper published as part of the Akass Heritage Paper Series in 1999.

The Semai Web-page, a series of on-line documents and photographs authored by RKD, is no longer available over the Internet however the full text of selected files from the web site are linked below (series 4).

Copyright:
Please check with the archivist for copyright information concerning the Robert K. Dentan Papers.

Robert K. Dentan (1936- )
Papers 1950, 1963-2004

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