ABSTRACT

This chapter explores a seeming paradox in the walking practices of the Batek of Malaysia.1 They are forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers who, at least in Pahang state where I have done all my work, are largely mobile. By ‘mobile’ I mean that the Batek are always on the move, whether from camp to forest and back again in the course of a day’s activities, from camp to camp as they shift locations around their traditional territories, or from forest to the outside as they seek purchased goods, work opportunities, or excitement in local villages and small towns (Lye 1997; 2004; 2005). Even in a sedentary settlement, they move sleeping places and houses around as they do in a forest camp (Lye 1997, 390-428). If anyone can be said to have a walking life, they can.