ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explores the impact of modernization and urbanization on the transformation of ritual traditions through an ethnographic study of indigenous groups in Sabah. She demonstrates how the transformation of ritual traditions in Sabah is deeply intertwined with the changing local socio-economic and political contexts faced by the indigenous peoples and explores the cultural politics of the transformation. The author discusses how urbanization has led to the widespread conversion of indigenous peoples to world religions since the 1970s, leading to demise in the practice of ritual traditions. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett considers as a 'metacultural production' of intangible cultural heritage: consistent with economic development theory, and can be brought into line with national ideologies of cultural uniqueness and modernity. The chapter concludes with some observations on the relationship between the practice of ritual traditions and their efficacy in the face of urbanization and modernization.
