ABSTRACT

In this post-Cold War, postcolonial era, the Asia Pacific region is one of many places worldwide undergoing profound cultural change. Indigenous peoples who have been systematically marginalized in their own lands, are regaining their voices as the totalizing colonial or conquering cultures become either embarrassed by their own arrogance in the face of global condemnation of colonial practices, or confronted with indigenous people who refuse, sometimes violently, to see themselves as “primitive” any longer. The Maori of New Zealand, the Orang Asli of Malaysia, the Dayak of Borneo, the rich array of tribal groups in the Yunnan Province of China, and many, many other indigenous peoples will no longer remain on the cultural fringes of their countries.