Religion

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The Bajau people are a Muslim tribe known as sea gypsies of Muslim by the sea. They were forces to see the see due to oppression by other Muslim tribes. When you walk the streets of Davao City you might experience a tapping on your back by a begging Bajau. They were known by other Muslim tribes as “palap” or “Tumaan” (God forsaken); the Bjau developed an inferiority complex about their class within the Muslim tribes

Claims to religious piety and learning are an important source of individual prestige among the coastal Bajau, and the title of salip/sarip (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad) are shown special honor in the local community. Some of the Bajau lack mosques and must rely on the shore-based communities such as those of the more Islamized Аrabic or Malay peoples. The Ubian Bajau, due to their nomadic marine lifestyle, are much less adherent to orthodox Islam, and practice more of a Syncretic folk hybrid, revering local sea spirits, known in Islamic terminology as Jinn.

 Almost all Bajau today claim to be Sunni Muslim. They believe that among their people are direct descendants of the prophet Mohammed
Yet many — predominantly the seafaring, nomadic Bajau — retain spiritually based religious practices that pre-date any major religion. In their religion designated spirit mediums communicate with the spirit world in ritual ceremonies of celebration, worship and exorcism — in which, for example, spirit boats are sailed into the open seas to cast the offending spirit away from their community. They also worship the God of the sea, Omboh Dilaut. 


Sources
 
Christian Reichel/ Ranty Islam
     2013 We're No Longer Able to Understand Our World http://www.dw.de/were-no-longer-able-to-understand-our-world/a-16730817 accessed April 21

The Messenger: The Sea Gypsies http://www.pfwb.org/clergy/documents/Messenger/July-August2010.pdf
http://gamma.sil.org/silewp/2011/silewp2011-009.pdf accessed April 21

Media Framing

“First impressions were of awe,” says photographer Adam Docker. “You feel like you have arrived in some long lost tribe only ever seen on [BBC documentary] Planet Earth or read about in a Jules Verne book.” Docker, who took these stunning photographs, recounts his first visit to a Bajau sea gypsy village on the island of Borneo, not far from the town of Semporna in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Surrounded by crystal-clear turquoise water, coral, and dazzling sea life, the cluster of huts on stilts perched out on the ocean look astounding.

The uniqueness of the Bajo tribes has encouraged many people to learn more about the origin, lifestyles, customs, art and traditional culture of this tribe. Indonesia's young filmmaker, Kamila Andini, has even made a film elevating the lives of the Bajo tribe in the natural Wakatobi setting. "The Mirror Never Lies" is the title of the film and the film went on to win an award at the Bandung Film Festival (FFB) in May 2012. Kamila Andini was also named best director FFB for this film. Without a doubt, the existence and uniqueness of the Bajo tribe is an amazing addition to the rich ethnic and cultural diversity of Indonesia. 

Waddington, R.
   2003, The Bajau. The Peoples of the World Foundation, The Peoples of the World Foundation. Electronic Document,
      http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Bajau, accessed April 21.

Subsistence and Globalization

Subsistence

A Bajau Fisherman Spearfishing

The Bajau's main source of food is the sea; they get by by fishing. A child learns to swim around 2-3 years old, learns to paddle a boat at five and begins diving at six. The children have their eardrums popped in order to get them used to the underwater pressure of diving deep. However, there are many more advanced Asian cultures who are taking up the fish around them. With so much traffic in their fishing area, it becomes difficult for the people to capture food. The other Asian areas, such as Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, parts of Indonesia and Korea, force the Bajau to go out farther into the ocean to fish as the others take over because their coral reefs have already been depleted. Other areas like Taiwan come into their territory with illegal boats and may even try bomb fishing. Bomb fishing is the use of dynamite and/or cyanide to create a bomb which is thrown in to the ocean and kills multiple fish at once. The traditional way of hunting is net fishing, spear gun fishing, hook fishing and diving for pearls and sea cucumbers. Some Bajau break tradition and fish bomb, but it is very dangerous and illegal and potentially fatal.

Bajau Creating a homemade fishing bomb

The Bajau People (interview)








 

To spread the word about the dangers of fish bombing and to stop the overfishing and to handle other problems, a radio broadcast is sent out. They use technology in order to communicate with one another on serious issues.

Sources:
Christian Reichel/ Ranty Islam
     2013 We're No Longer Able to Understand Our World http://www.dw.de/were-no-longer-able-to-understand-our-world/a-16730817 accessed April 17, 2013

Marianne Kearney
     2009 Indonesia's Sea Gypsies Struggle to Survive http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2007-12-27-voa11/402414.html accessed April 17, 2013
Kaye, Melati and Orland, Brian
     2012Indonesia's Last Nomadic Sea Gypsies http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/10/20121027184859926.html accessed April 17, 2013
The Aquatic Ape
     2013 Speargun Fishing in Phillipines- an Ecological Living http://theaquaticape.org/# accesed April 17, 2013

Pictures (in order):
http://www.shockmansion.com/wp-content/myimages/2011/01/tn_Untitled-24.jpg

Population

-Due to the highly dispersed number of individuals within the tribe, an exact population is not known for sure. Although, the approximate population off all Sama peoples around the Sulu Sea is said to be around 116,000.

-They are currently the second largest group of Indigenous people in Sabah, the region they are believed to have first come from.

-Because of there nomadic lifestyle, many of the Bajau people are spread across the Indonesian archipelago and have even reached areas of neighboring countries including Thailand and The Philippines. 

Sources:

Wonderful Indonesia

     2013 The Bajau: The Story of the Sea Gypsies around Sulawesi and Across Indonesia

     http://www.indonesia.travel/en/destination/321/togean-island/article/239/the-bajau-the-story-of-the-      sea-gypsies-around-sulawesi-and-across-indonesia   Accessed April 14, 2013

The Joshua Project
     2013 Badjao, Bajau of Philippines  http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=18873
      accessed April 13, 2013

Geographic Location

The Bajau, Sama, or Badjao, people are primarily settled in the coastal regions, and the surrounding ocean, of Southeast Asia. To understand their geographic roots it it is important to note that political boundaries are less than a century old; meaning that an exact country of origin of these people is not known for sure. Although, it is accepted that they inhabited a number of different countries in the Southeast Asia region, specifically The Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The Bajau people are considered to be from Sabah, Malaysia more specifically. In addition, due to there nomadic lifestyle on the sea, most settlements within this tribe do not stay in one place for very long.

The distinction betweens the subgroups within these peoples, all considered to be Sama people, must be made in order to correctly locate them.

The Sama Dilaut, or Badjao, are classified as the nomadic, ocean-going Sama who spend much of there lives on the ocean, especially traveling across most areas of the Sulu Sea, until just recently as they are beginning to shift to building homes on the coastlines of The Philippines and Malaysia.

While the Sama Dilaya are found to live in more inland areas of Malaysia and Indonesia. With a large portion of their population residing in Sulawesi, an island in Indonesia.

Sources:

Sinama.org
     2013 The Bajau, the Badjao, the Samals, and the Sama People http://sinama.org/about-sama-people/the-bajau-and-sama-people/ accessed April 14, 2013

The Peoples of the World Foundation
     2013 The Bajau People http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Bajau accessed April 15, 2013

Names

The “Sea Gypsies”

-Bajau, Badjau, Bajo, or Sama; each name refers to the same group of people. The Bajau, who prefer to be named Sama (meaning “we”), have many names, but they generally have to do with their aquatic culture.

- Bajau or Badjao, when translated, means “man of the seas,” and “Diluat” refers to the ocean as in “living on the sea” and is added at the end of Sama or Bajau (i.e. Sama-Diluat or Bajau- Diluat). They are not fans of the name term Badjao but they accept it because it is how the higher authorites, such as government and political officials, refer to them.

They divide themselves into two alternate categories: the land-oriented and the sea- based which are known as "sea gypsies." The land- oriented, called Sama Dilaya or Sama Diliya, are generally associated as the Sama. Meanwhile, the Sama Dilaut (sea- based) are accredited as the Bajau. Because they are all generally called the Bajau people in Malaysa, their sea or land orient seperates them: the land Bajau, or Bajau Darat, and the sea Bajau, or Bajau Laut. In indonesia, they are called Bajo.

There are many sub-groups of the Bajua tribe, specifically land- oriented, and they distinguish themselves by the name of their islands in which they reside or their dialect.

Because many of the Sama people refer to themselves by location, the indigenous group may become offended when referenced by the wrong name. To stay on the safe side it is best to call them Sama.

An offensive name, given to them by the Tausug, is Siyamal.
They are also called palauor lumaan by neighbors; the term means "Godforsaken." It was given to them due to the fact they lived on water instead of land.

Sources:
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.
     2013 Sama. Electronic document. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/49401/Sama accesed
          March 27 2013.
Sinama.org
     2013 The Bajau, the Badjao, the Samals, and the Sama People http://sinama.org/about-sama-people/the-bajau-and-sama-people/ accessed April 8, 2013The Aquatic Ape
     N.d. Bajau Laut http://theaquaticape.org/sea-nomads/ny-sida-test/ accessed April 8, 2013
Wikipedia
     2013 Bajua People. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajau_people accessed April 8, 2013

Background Information

The Bajau tribe, also known as the Sama people, are a nomadic group of individuals who have settled in areas of Indonesia, Malaysia, and The Philippines. The Bajau people were mostly settled on the coastlines or oceans in homes built on stilts, or often boats built by themselves.

Almost all Sama people today classify themselves as being Sunni Muslim. They believe their ancestors and themselves to be descendants of Mohammed himself. 

On one side of the Bajau tribe, the Sama Dilaut, the people have based their entire lives around the ocean and the many resources that it has to offer. But, around 200 years ago, the Sama Dilaya began to form settlements on strictly land and develop skills in agricultural practices such as farming and tending cattle.

Although not all recent Bajau people are skilled divers, the seafaring tribe known as the Sama Dilaut are known to be extremely experienced divers capable of holding their breath up to 5 minutes and descending to depths as far as 100 ft.

Sources:

Peoples of the World Foundation
     2013 The Bajau Tribe http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Bajau accessed April 10, 2013

Change

The location of origin and the location the tribe resides now is a part of the change that is occurring for the tribe as they moved from the island of Borneo to different areas such as Malaysia. The storytelling (folklore) of the Bajau from their heritage is not being told as it is not being passed on from one generation to another. Being a water-based community, living near the water, they are now moving closer inland and adopting the qualities and lifestyle of the land-based communities. They are also changing their prized handmade lipa-lipa boats, which are revered and thought greatly of in the culture with celebrations using the boats, to that of commercially used, mass-produced boats, most of them still use this but they are starting to change that as well.

Waddington, R.
   2003, The Bajau. The Peoples of the World Foundation, The Peoples of the World Foundation.                   Electronic Document,
      http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Bajau, accessed March 27.

War

The Bajau people have been fighting for independence since the 1970's and caused many of the people to leave and relocate to other nations such as the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. They have been going against the Muslim activists in the nation that are causing murders, kidnappings, and battling with Philippine military forces.

 
The Joshua Project
   2013 Badjao, Bajau of Philippines. Electronic Document,
http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=18873, accessed April 13.

Gender Roles

Depending on  the region, Bajau men and women participate different gender roles.  The Bajau who have migrated on land participate in farm work divide the work equally between the men and women.  The men are in charge of smithing, boat building, and interisland trade.   In comparison, the women weave and make market pottery.  On the other hand, the Bajau community who live on the water divide fishing between the men and women.  The men are in charge of gathering fish while women gather.

The Gale Group Inc
      1996  Bajau. Electronic Document,
              http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3458000757.html#, accessed April 21, 2013.



Impang, Fernando   

       2010  People-in-Country-Profile.  Electronic Document, http://www.joshuaproject.net /people-profile.php?peo3=18873&rog3=RP, accessed April 21, 2013.

Technology

The houses are all handmade by the people.  There are three different  types of houses of the Bajau.  One of the types is the Bajau who live on the coast.  Their houses are built on stilts approximately three meters above the water with a single room and kitchen.  The other houses are connected by small bridges and planks.  Another type of of house is by the Bajau who live on land which is just regular houses. the last type of house by the Bajau is houseboats.  These houseboats vary but are most typically double dugout canoes.  Each boat has the core family and sometimes a few other people.  There have been houseboats with engines in them as introduced by technology from trading with others in the region.  The term tumpuk means clusters which is used to describe households grouped together.

Technological advances have slowly changed the Bajau community since the 1950's.  The introduction of explosives, nylon netting and motorized boats have helped to improve the Bajau ways of getting food.  The actually technology used is still pretty primitve since the fishing is still done with lanterns, spears and handlines.  Diving for food is done with goggles and a handmade spear. Fish is preserved with salting or drying.

The Industrial Arts are a big factor in the Bajau community  Trade and craft production include boat building, pottery making, weaving, blacksmithing, kajang mats, roofing, pandanus mats, sunhats, shell bracelets, woodcarving, carpentry, etc.

Human Planet Series

     2011  Bajau-the real waterworld people.  BBC.  Video.  http://youtu.be/r_FUlHngPqQ, accessed April 21, 2013.

Clifford, Sather
      1996  Bajau. Electronic Document,
              http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3458000757.html#, accessed April 21, 2013.