KSC Seminar Series: Conserving the Green and Beautiful World of the Semai Orang Asli of Malaysia: Issues related to Protecting Semai Linguistic and Biocultural Heritage through an Indigenous Cultural Landscape Designation
Presented by Dr. Karen Heikkila, visiting scholar (library archives): The Semai Orang Asli are a traditionally forest-dependent indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia. Today, their traditional territories are bounded by a forest reserve but the Semai continue to dwell within or just outside the forest periphery, close to roads and towns. This talk introduces what Robert Dentan called 'the green and beautiful world' of the Semai- their way of life, spirituality, relations with non-indigenous people and the contemporary importance of their forested homeland. Semai rights to land in forest reserves will also be considered from the perspective of an indigenous cultural landscape designation: we ask, can forests really remain forests without indigenous people like the Semai to sustain them?
To request accommodations for a disability, please contact the coordinator at least two weeks prior to the event.
