The Dialectical Primatologist by Nicholas Malone

Author:Nicholas Malone [Malone, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General
ISBN: 9780429556913
Google: Zqw_EAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-10-24T03:58:21+00:00

4Waves of change

Insights from Java, Indonesia

An ocean without its unnamed monsters would be like a completely dreamless sleep.

(John Steinbeck)

The banteng (Bos javanicus), or wild forest cattle, was meant to be locally extinct within the Sancang Forest Nature Reserve. Yet one appeared to me, at midnight, as I camped within the spiritual heart of this revered forest on the south coast of West Java. Stirred by the sound of clumsy hooves on stone cobbles, I peered towards the river’s edge. The moon illuminated a dark, massive frame atop distinctive, white-stockinged legs. We both froze for a moment until the rustling of my tent triggered the rustling of vegetation as the beast retreated. Was this individual the last of its kind in this threatened landscape? Was it an apparition? In this forest, where karuhun (ancestors) are routinely conjured by spiritual intermediaries called kuncen, perceptions and possibilities are expanded. Still other spirits will remain nameless here, as per their penchant for taking human souls. Over the course of several years at Sancang, I focused my attention on the endangered silvery gibbon (Hylobates moloch), and in particular the three groups that ranged directly above some of the most sacred sites (keramat) in the forest. These sites are the object of frequent pilgrimage by those seeking to connect with the supernatural powers of the spiritual realm. The gibbons took a variable degree of notice to the mix of locals, researchers and pilgrims below. It was in this context that I set out to understand the behaviour and ecology of this vanishing ape, and to test basic socioecological hypotheses about the emergence of their distinctive social system. However, I was busy filling my notebooks with experiences, stories and myths that seemed at first to be tangential, but would later play a significant role in shaping my thoughts about the efficacy of primate research and conservation activities in Java.

Organising and implementing projects in Indonesia requires considerable patience and perhaps a bit of good fortune. A person can have control of the former, but is of course subject to the fickleness of the latter. Interestingly, many of the spiritual tourists I have met at sacred sites in Java expressed the desire to change their luck. Escaping the dynamics of a bad relationship, breaking a run of unsuccessful financial decisions or a change of fortune in matters related to health are all reasons that have been shared with me as an underlying motivation for their pilgrimage. While I have personally experienced my fair share of “fortunate” moments in Java (Figure 4.1), I have had countless opportunities to develop my proficiency in remaining patient.1 While it is true that many such opportunities are induced by Indonesia’s legendary bureaucratic structures (arguably designed to test the resolve and composure of foreign researchers), patience is also a requisite component of anthropological research, generally speaking. In the Indonesian archipelago specifically, mysteries woven into the sheer complexity of the biogeography, cultural and linguistic diversity, colonial histories and ecologies can be slowly untangled through a combination of patience and persistence.

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