Been pondering on this for quite sometime now. How is a Dusun defined? One who speaks the language, practice the culture, or biologically of the ethnic group, any one or a combination of those? That would put many Dusuns in an awkward position, I reckon. For one thing, many of the younger generations (post 70s?) don't speak the language anymore. Should I put, deprived of the language because of reasons such as political and social? Because the parents went to school and decided that the mother tongue was not good enough for their children, as it won't open doors to knowledge, or it was not prestigious enough?
Interestingly, many of the non-speakers manage to preserve some aspects of the culture like drinking the traditional rice wine, and being able to sing Dusun songs well. Since it's not their fault that they don't speak the language, I do admire these people. (albeit limitedly- it would be hard to admire a person who is too intoxicated in their quest of 'preserving' the culture, huh?) So, I guess these culture-practising, non-speakers deserve to be Dusuns.
And what about biological make-up? Perhaps that is the most handy Dusun identification. Since in the place where the Dusun people are, ethnic group is a compulsory identification, one's birth cert is sure to have this little tag. But does that make a Dusun? Maybe...
4 comments:
We share the same view. Read.
Hehe...must run in the family huh?
....everything you wrote and that includes this: those indigenous people that lives in Sabah that has been stamped as so [unless there are others in the World!]...
Azamain, yes, I think you are right that it concerns the other indigenous groups in Sabah too (but I don't write about them because I have no first hand experience to write of them :-)), and yes, this phenomenon also reflects many other minority groups all over the world (try do a google on 'language shift/change' for more info).
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