May 22, 1926 |
Dyaks |
Stirling and Hedberg both use this older English spelling for “Dayak,” a general name given to a large number of ethnic groups of interior Borneo. The term, which means “interior or inland person” in some Borneo languages, was originally used in a derogatory sense by Muslim coastal groups. Generally denoting the agricultural peoples of Borneo, it excludes the Malay or Muslim coastal groups, who were first converted to Islam in the sixteenth century. See Chapter 5: “Dayak” (pp. 146-171) in Beyond the Java Sea: Art of Indonesia’s Outer Islands by Paul Michael Taylor & Lorraine V. Aragon. (New York & Washington D.C., Harry N. Abrams & National Museum of Natural History, 1991). |