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College Archives & Special Collections: Orang Asli Archive

Overview

The Orang Asli Archive (OAA) is a repository for published and unpublished documents, films, tapes and other recordings relevant to Orang Asli peoples and cultures. The Orang Asli are the indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia and comprise about 17 to 20 different groups. The OAA aims to facilitate research in Orang Asli studies by preserving documentary materials and making them available to researchers. The archive, a part of the Keene State College Special Collections, include books, periodicals, scholarly research, government documents, journalistic accounts, reports, field notes, correspondence, theses and academic studies from scholars in the field of Orang Asli research. Maps, photographs, slides, videotapes and audiotapes are also collected. The OAA also has a sharing agreement with the Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) to provide each other with copies of important documents whenever possible.

Development of the OAA was made possible through the efforts of Rosemary Gianno, Professor of Sociology/Anthropology at Keene State College and by A. Baer, adjunct professor at Oregon State University, and a generous grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc.

The Orang Asli Archive Endowment has been established to support the work of the archive. To contribute contact us at Orang Asli Archive, Mason Library / Keene State College, 229 Main Street / MS 3201, Keene, New Hampshire, USA, 03435, email: archivist@keene.edu, phone: +1(603)496-5355.

Featured Links

  • Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia -- a bibliography of Orang Asli sources by Lye Tuck-Po.  
  • A Glimpse of Orang Asli Life at Tasik Chini -- Peter A. van der Helm’s web site with photographs of life in the Orang Asli community of Tasik Chini near the mountain called Gunung Chini in the state of Pahang.
  • Bood -- The word “Bood” is a term of the Western Semai (a gentle, aboriginal people who live on the Malay peninsula) and translates roughly as “reluctant or shy.”

  • The Burma ‘Sea Gypsies’ Compendium -- was written in June 2004 by Project Maje, an independent information project on Burma’s human rights and environmental issues. There are interesting parallels between the “Sea Gypsies” of Burma and the Orang Seletar of Malaysia.

  • Center for Orang Asli Concerns -- COAC’s new web site, featuring Info on the Orang Asli, Orang Asli initiatives, Papers on the Orang Asli, Image galleries, and the COAC book catalogue. All images are by Colin Nicholas unless otherwise stated.

  • Magick River -- a rainbow alliance of individuals with diverse talents, promoting ecospiritual activities and community arts projects that involve the Temuan – who for countless generations have guarded the rainforests and sacred sites of Pertak, Ulu Selangor, their ancestral home.

  • The Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia -- by Colin Nicholas, Center for Orang Asli Concerns. An overview, history, and discussion of concerns of the Orang Asli.

  • Peaceful Societies -- a reference and news resource about societies around the world that have developed highly peaceful social conditions.

  • People of the Lake & Forest: The Semelai of Tasek Bera -- by Rosemary Gianno. The exhibition was jointly created by the Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, and the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery Keene State College.

  • Sagong Tasi and Orang Asli Land Rights in Malaysia: Victory, Milestone or False Start? -- Article by Cheah Wui Ling, published in the electronic journal, Law, Social Justice and Global Development (2004/2).

  • Temiar Web -- the Temiar are one of many groups of Orang Asli that live in Malaysia. The Temiar are an easy going peaceful people, and like many minorities in countries around the world, are slowly being pushed from their homelands by international timber companies, hydraulic power companies, and the Malaysian governments attempts to settle them out of the forest into reservations.