Sunday, June 29, 2008

Day 1 Sarawak Cultural Village and local fishing village

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Here's where we learn about cultural commodification.

Commodification means to sell something. In this case, the culture of various Sarawak tribes is being used to attract tourist dollars. For example, you can pay 10RM to try out these costumes and pose like the Ibans. Do you think that will be insulting to their culture? Imagine some Ang mohs visiting Singapore trying out the baju kurong and making silly poses with it. Will it offend you? DSC_0055

On the other hand, we cannot deny that we learnt something about the culture right? Such theme parks, although abit fake at times, actually play an educational role. Some professors argue that such performances help maintain the culture and make the locals proud of their traditional practices.

DSC_0063Recall how happy the Penan man was to show us how to use the blowpipe? And how happy the longhouse chief was when we showed an interest in their culture?

 

 

 

 

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Local fishing village

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How is this place different from Kuching?

The built environment  Buildings, facilities

The industry
Office/service vs fishing

Globalisation
Are there Macdonald's around?

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Cost of living

On the right: By products of the small-scale fishing industry- belachan and dried shrimp.

 

Take-away message
Is cultural commodification that bad?

How is the city different from rural areas in terms of development. Why?

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