Semai Culture



Abstract

In this study we try to explore the concept of “Topic” in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on “Semai Culture” and its relation with “people and primary source of subsistence”. The research also analyzes many aspects of culture of Semai people and tries to gauge its effect on researchers and people living in other part of the world. Finally the research describes various factors which are responsible for “Semai culture”.

Semai Culture

Thesis Statement

The Semai people have a distinctive culture, about the way they create and practice peace. The ways Semai people perceive the world are very unique. I do think that there are many more positive than negative things about this culture. One of the positive things is the way they appreciate the Semai peacefulness and the way they face those challenges to survive as a people. Semai people will respond to powerlessness things through spiritual means. They engage opposition by learning how to be forgiving, by being nonviolent when they are faced with atrocious, more powerful enemies. Semai people do not resort to violence whenever they were challenged by slave raiders, who kidnapped their women and children because they were outgunned. If they had tried to resist, that would have been a suicidal move for them. There are, after all, a nonviolent group of people who have learnt to cope with the terror, generally by flight or surrender. Semai people view conflict as a first step leading up to violence, even slight conflicts are seen as having the potential to destroy the peace within their society.

Introduction

Semai people are known for their aversion and non aggressiveness to violence of any kind among the anthropologists. They live in the forested mountain in the dense area of the Central Malay Peninsula. It is famous for them that Semai husbands do not beat their wives, children's do no fight, parents do not beat their child, any murder or physical assault is unknown in them.

People lived in Southeast Asia, are the forefathers or Semai people and they used to live on gathering, hunting and gardening. Semai people are the remnants of the those people who used to live there, However, over the past few thousands of years, the original inhabitants have gradually replaced to more technologically advanced people from the lowlands. Malay sailing from the Indonesian islands to South, Burmese and Thai descending from the north. Who brought padi-rice agriculture and complex social systems, with them.

Since time immemorial, the rages have been along since the human aggression and it is a debatable topic. Is aggression a bend phenomenon or is it related to human aggression inherently? We human are clearly capable of being rather violent to be aggressive. But this shout not be confused with the claim made by some that we have an innate tendency to be aggressive. Anthropologists have studied societies in which warfare is nonexistent and in which interpersonal violence is a rare occurrence. One such society is a Malaysian group called the ...