﻿CONTOURS 
  OF 
  CULTURE 
  IN 
  INDONESIA 
  

  

  By 
  Raymond 
  Kennedy 
  

   Yale 
  University 
  

  

  [With 
  12 
  plates] 
  

  

  The 
  islands 
  of 
  Indonesia 
  are 
  of 
  exceeding 
  interest 
  to 
  the 
  ethnologist 
  

   for 
  a 
  variety 
  of 
  reasons. 
  This 
  is 
  an 
  ancient 
  area 
  of 
  human 
  habitation, 
  

   where 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  man 
  runs 
  back 
  to 
  its 
  very 
  beginnings. 
  Java 
  Man 
  

   stands 
  at 
  the 
  head 
  of 
  Indonesian 
  genealogy, 
  and 
  he 
  lived 
  hundreds 
  of 
  

   thousands 
  of 
  years 
  ago. 
  Since 
  then, 
  countless 
  waves 
  of 
  migrants 
  have 
  

   moved 
  into 
  the 
  islands. 
  The 
  ancestors 
  of 
  the 
  primitive 
  Tasmanians 
  

   and 
  Australians, 
  the 
  Oceanic 
  Negroes 
  of 
  Melanesia, 
  and 
  the 
  Polyne- 
  

   sians 
  of 
  the 
  Pacific 
  all 
  trod 
  the 
  soil 
  of 
  the 
  Indies 
  in 
  long-past 
  ages. 
  

   The 
  texture 
  of 
  history 
  is 
  deep 
  here, 
  deeper 
  than 
  almost 
  anywhere 
  else 
  

   on 
  earth. 
  

  

  Another 
  remarkable 
  fact 
  about 
  the 
  Indies 
  is 
  that 
  these 
  historical 
  

   levels 
  have 
  been 
  caught 
  in 
  action, 
  as 
  it 
  were, 
  and 
  preserved 
  until 
  the 
  

   present 
  day. 
  The 
  various 
  tribes 
  of 
  the 
  islands 
  now 
  exhibit 
  in 
  their 
  

   cultures 
  virtually 
  the 
  entire 
  range 
  of 
  civilizations 
  which 
  have 
  existed 
  

   in 
  the 
  past. 
  They 
  represent 
  a 
  living 
  reconstruction 
  of 
  the 
  cultural 
  

   progression 
  that 
  has 
  taken 
  place 
  in 
  the 
  area. 
  The 
  way 
  of 
  life 
  of 
  the 
  

   nomadic 
  Kubu 
  of 
  Sumatra 
  and 
  Punan 
  of 
  Borneo 
  is 
  probably 
  a 
  fairly 
  

   intact 
  survival 
  of 
  general 
  conditions 
  in 
  the 
  archipelago 
  20,000 
  years 
  

   ago, 
  and 
  other 
  isolated 
  groups 
  preserve 
  ancient 
  patterns 
  of 
  culture 
  in 
  

   the 
  same 
  manner. 
  The 
  Batak 
  and 
  Gayo, 
  now 
  pushed 
  back 
  into 
  the 
  

   mountainous 
  interior 
  of 
  Sumatra, 
  show 
  the 
  kind 
  of 
  life 
  prevailing 
  

   much 
  more 
  widely 
  in 
  old 
  times; 
  and 
  the 
  Mentaweian 
  and 
  Niassan 
  

   peoples 
  of 
  the 
  remote 
  islands 
  off 
  Sumatra's 
  west 
  coast 
  present 
  a 
  living 
  

   picture 
  of 
  an 
  even 
  earlier 
  period. 
  The 
  Minangkabau 
  of 
  Sumatra 
  offer 
  

   a 
  good 
  approximation 
  to 
  the 
  culture 
  all 
  the 
  later 
  Malays 
  possessed 
  

   when 
  they 
  first 
  entered 
  the 
  Indies. 
  The 
  Balinese 
  civilization 
  of 
  today 
  

   is 
  a 
  replica 
  of 
  the 
  life 
  of 
  the 
  medieval 
  Hindu-Javanese, 
  before 
  Moham- 
  

   medanism 
  swept 
  over 
  Java 
  in 
  the 
  fifteenth 
  century. 
  Thus 
  the 
  pres- 
  

   ent 
  range 
  of 
  cultures 
  in 
  Indonesia 
  is 
  a 
  kind 
  of 
  living 
  museum, 
  giving 
  

   a 
  composite 
  view 
  of 
  the 
  development 
  of 
  civilization 
  in 
  the 
  area. 
  

  

  1 
  Reprinted 
  by 
  permission 
  from 
  The 
  Far 
  Eastern 
  Quarterly, 
  November 
  1942. 
  

  

  513 
  

  

  