Poisoning, sorcery, and healing rituals in Negeri Sembilan

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Michael Peletz, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 1988
• Publisher: Brill
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: 1988 JSTOR
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): https://www.jstor.org/stable/27863920
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde
• Volume: 144
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 132
• End Page: 164
• Keywords: shamanism; Negeri Sembilan; psychological symptoms; reform; human nature; sorcery; poisoning; midwifery; recent history; traditional healers; local society; Islamic nationalism; West Malaysia; Malay; dukun; spirit cults
• Research Categories: History, Asia, Australia, and Oceania; History, Modern; Health Sciences, Mental Health

Abstract

Spirit cults, shamanism, and traditional midwifery are in sharp decline in Malay communities in Negeri Sembilan and elsewhere in the Malay Peninsula (West Malaysia) due to modernizing developments bolstered by Islamic nationalism and reform. Traditional healers {dukun), however, are still in great demand despite long-standing western predictions to the contrary (e.g., Maxwell 1907:306). I suggest that the institution of dukun continues to flourish largely because many dukun specialize in the treatment of poisoning and sorcery, both of which are thought by Malays to be exceedingly common. I also contend that dukun treatments for poisoning and sorcery are especially efficacious and popular because they help patients discern meaning and order in their alarming physical and psychological symptoms, and simultaneously confirm and revitalize patients' views of human nature, local society, and the shape of recent history