DIVINE MESSENGERS: Bird Symbolism and Aesthetics in Southeast Asia

Is there a special relationship in Southeast Asia between humans and birds? Indeed, birds play here an important role in cosmology, beliefs, social structure, funerals, and ritual technology, which cannot be dissociated from economic productions: agriculture, fishing, harvesting, hunting, handicraft and trade. The bird in Southeast Asia is to be understood first as part of an essential symbolic couple: the snake and the bird, which represent, respectively, masculinity, seniority, the underground and aquatic worlds, rainy seasons; and femininity, the sky, the dry season, and juniority, i.e., dependent people. In a region characterized by alternating monsoons and, often, by a cultural bi-polarity, most societies have elaborated a dualistic conception of the universe, and sometimes a ternary conception: two expressions of a same original godhead. A trinity made of two main elements (the elder and younger brothers) and a third one (the wife) dominates throughout almost all of Southeast Asia, where the opposition between elder and younger is general and relevant in most kinship and marriage systems. Here, perhaps more than elsewhere in the world, the social position of women is privileged, if not primordial. While the bird, very often, is a metaphor for a maiden, its taking flight is always assimilated to that of the soul of the dead, the beginning of a new life, and so, always, a symbol of hope.

Contributors:

A collection of contributions in French or in English by:

Lorraine V. Aragon (University of North Carolina, USA),
Helga Blazy (Universität zu Köln, Germany/Allemagne),
Pascale Bonnemère (CNRS, France),
Peter Boomgaard (KITLV, The Netherlands/Pays-Bas),
Jean Boulbet (EFEO, France),
Josiane Cauquelin (LASEMA, France),
Anne-May Chew (Université de La Sorbonne, France),
Robert K. Dentan (State University of New York at Buffalo, USA),
Gregory Forth (University of Alberta, Canada),
Donald & Joan Gear (South Africa/Afrique du Sud),
Itie van Hout (KIT Tropenmuseum, The Netherlands/Pays-Bas),
Bernard Koechlin (CNRS, France),
Corneille Jest (CNRS, France),
Pierre Le Roux (IRSEA, France),
Ghislaine Loyré de Hauteclocque (IRSEA, France),
Guy Lubeigt (CNRS, France),
Albert Marie Maurice (France),
Nguyen Tung (CNRS, France),
Bernard Pot (IRSEA, France),
Oliver Raendchen (Humboldt Universität,Germany/Allemagne),
Clifford Sather (Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia),
Bernard Sellato (CNRS, France),
Jean-Christophe Simon (IRD, France),
Vishvajit Pandya (Institute of Information and Communication Technology, India/Inde).

Geographical area:

Southeast Asia is here understood as stretching from India to China, and south towards the Pacific. It thus includes not only Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, but also the Andaman Islands (India), Madagascar, Papua-New Guinea, Taiwan, and Nepal.

Preface by Jean LARIVIERE (Scientific Adviser of the Foundation Ushuaia-Nicolas Hulot pour la Nature et l'Homme, Vice-President of the French Section of the International Union for Nature Conservation)

Published with assistance from the Maison Asie-Pacifique (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Université de Provence), in partnership with IRASEC (Institute for Research on Contemporary Southeast Asia).


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