Senoi

Senoi
Sengoi / Sng'oi

A Senoi man serving hikers as a guide at Mount Korbu, Perak, Malaysia.
Total population
(60.000[1])
Regions with significant populations
Malaysia
 Malaysia 60.000[2]
Languages
Semai, Temiar, Jah Hut, Semaq Beri, Mah Meri, Che Wong, Temoq, Malay
Related ethnic groups
Semai, Temiar, Mah Meri, Jah Hut, Semaq Beri, Cheq Wong, Orang Asli

The Senoi (also spelled Sengoi and Sng'oi) are a set of Malaysian Hunter-gatherers classified as Orang Asli or the indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. They are the most numerous of the Orang Asli classification and widely distributed across the peninsula. The Senois speak various branches of Aslian languages which in turn a branch of Austroasiatic languages, many of them are also bilingual in the national language, Malaysian.

Demography

The Senoi tribes live in the central part of the Malaya Peninsula,[3] and consist of six different groups, the Semai, Temiar, Mah Meri, Jah Hut, Semaq Beri and the Cheq Wong and have a total population of about 60,000.[4]

Language

The Senois speak various sub-branches of Aslian languages. The Aslian languages are divided into several branches namely Jahaic, Semelaic, Senoic and Jah Hut. Most Senois speak a branch of Semelaic, Senoic and Jah Hut branches. Almost all Senoic and Semelaic branches are spoken by Senoi peoples (with the exception of Lanoh which is classified as Semang but speak a branch of Senoic languages and Semelai which is classified as Proto-Malay but speak a branch of Semelaic languages. Jah Hut language is an isolate within Aslian languages.

History

Local guards from the Senoi tribe at Fort Kemar, one of a chain of posts in the heart of the central mountain range of Malaya. 1953

Their ancestors are believed to have arrived from southern Thailand about 4,500 years ago.[5]

During the Malayan Emergency, the guerrilla war fought from 1948 to 1960 a small fighting force, the Senoi Praaq was created, which is now part of the General Operations Force of the Royal Malaysia Police.

Lucid dreaming

Kilton Stewart, who had travelled among the Senoi before the Second World War wrote about the Senoi in his 1948 doctoral thesis[6] and his 1954 popular book "Pygmies and Dream Giants". This work was publicised by Parapsychologist Charles Tart and pedagogue George Leonard in books and at the Esalen Institute retreat center, and in the 1970s Patricia Garfield describes use of dreams among Senoi, based on her contact with some Senoi at the aborigine hospital in Gombak, Malaysia in 1972.[7]

Later researchers were unable to substantiate Stewart's account and in 1985 G. William Domhoff argued[8][9] that the anthropologists who have worked with the Temiar people report that although they are familiar with the concept of lucid dreaming, it is not of great importance to them, but others have argued that Domhoff's criticism is exaggerated .[10][11] Domhoff does not dispute the evidence that dream control is possible, and that dream-control techniques can be beneficial in specific conditions such as the treatment of nightmares: he cites the work of the psychiatrists Bernard Kraków [12][13] and Isaac Marks [14] in this regard. He does, however, dispute some of the claims of the DreamWorks movement, and also the evidence that dream discussion groups, as opposed to individual motivation and ability, make a significant difference in being able to dream lucidly, and to be able to do so consistently.

References

  1. ↑ "POPULATION STATISTICS",
  2. ↑ "POPULATION STATISTICS",
  3. ↑ Map, Keen State College
  4. ↑ "POPULATION STATISTICS",
  5. ↑ "ECONOMIC PATTERNS OF NEOLITHIC LIFE", The Encyclopedia of Malaysia
  6. ↑ "Magico-Religious Beliefs and Practices in Primitive Society - a Sociological Interpretation of their Therapeutic Aspects", LSE
  7. ↑ Creative Dreaming, Patricia Garfield, Ph.D.
  8. ↑ In The Mystique of Dreams: A Search for Utopia Through Senoi Dream Theory
  9. ↑ "Senoi Dream Theory: Myth, Scientific Method, and the Dreamwork Movement", G. William Domhoff, March 2003]
  10. ↑ Revisiting the Senoi Dream Theory:The Bad Logic of Sir G. William Domhoff, Strephon Kaplan-Williams
  11. ↑ Do Senoi practice "Senoi dream theory"?", G. William Domhoff
  12. ↑ B. Krakow, R. Kellner, D. Pathk, and L. Lambert, "Imagery rehearsal treatment for chronic nightmares," Behaviour Research & Therapy 33 (1995):837-843
  13. ↑ B. Krakow et al., "Imagery rehearsal therapy for chronic nightmares in sexual assault survivors with posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized controlled trial," JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association 286 (2001):537-545
  14. ↑ Isaac Marks, "Rehearsal relief of a nightmare," British Journal of Psychiatry 133 (1978):461-465.

Bibliography

See also

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