Moken
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Image:Moken kids.jpg Image:Moken boat.jpg The Moken (Mawken or Morgan), are an Austronesian ethnic group with about 2,000 to 3,000 members who maintain a nomadic, sea-based culture. Their Malayic, or proto-Malay language is distinct from the surrounding Malayan languages.
Contents |
[edit] Nomenclature
The Moken refer to themselves as Moken. The name is used for all of the proto-Malayan speaking tribes who inhabit the coast and islands in the Andaman Sea on the west Coast of Thailand, the provinces of Satun, Trang. Krabi, Phuket, Phang Nga, and Ranong, up through the Mergui Archipelago of Myanmar (Burma). The group includes the Moken proper, the Moklen (Moklem), the Orang Sireh (Betel-leaf people) and the Orang Lanta. The last, the Orang Lanta are a hybridized group formed when the Malay people settled the Lanta islands where the proto-Malay Orang Sireh had been living.
The Burmese call the Moken, Selung, or Salone or Chalome.<ref>Anderson, John (1890) The Selungs of the Mergui Archipelago Trübner & Co., London, pp. 1-5</ref> In Thailand they are called Chao Ley (people of the sea) or Chao nam (people of the water). Although these terms are used loosely to include the Urak Lawoi and even the Orang Laut. Thai word is: มอแกน. In Thailand, acculturated Moken are called Thai Mai (new Thais).
The Moken are also called Sea Gypsies, a generic term that applies to a number of peoples in southeast Asia. The Urak Lawoi are sometimes classified with the Moken, but they are linguistically and ethnologically distinct, being much more closely related to the Malay people.<ref>Classification of Urak Lawoi language</ref><ref>Urak Lawoi of the Adang Archipelago, Tarutao National Marine Park, Satun Province, Thailand by Dr. Supin Wongbusarakum December 2005</ref>
[edit] Lifestyle
Their knowledge of the sea enables them to live off its organisms by using simple tools such as nets and spears to forage for food. What is not consumed is dried atop their boats, then used for trade at local markets for other necessities. During the monsoon season, they build additional boats while occupying temporary huts.
Many of the Burmese Moken are still nomadic people who roam the sea most of their lives in small hand-crafted wooden boats called Kabang, which serve not just as transportation, but also as kitchen, bedroom, living area. Unfortunately much of their traditional life, which is built on the premise of life as outsiders, is under threat and appears to be diminishing.
Because of the amount of time spent diving for food, Moken children have accommodated their visual focus to see better underwater.<ref>Gislén, Anna (May 13, 2003) "Superior Underwater Vision in a Human Population of Sea Gypsies" Current Biology 13(10): pp. 833-836;</ref><ref>Travis, J. (May 17, 2003) "Children of Sea See Clearly Underwater" Science News 163(20): pp. 308-309;</ref>
[edit] Governmental control
The Burmese and Thai governments have made attempts at assimilating the people into their own culture, but these efforts have met with limited success. Thai Moken have been permanently settled in villages located in the Surin Islands (Mu Ko Surin National Park<ref>"Mu Ko Surin National Park" National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok, Thailand;</ref>), in Phuket Province, on the northwestern coast of Phuket Island, and on the nearby Phi Phi islands of Krabi province.<ref>Bauerlein, Monika (November 2005) "Sea change: they outsmarted the tsunami, but Thailand's sea gypsies could be swept away by an even greater force" Mother Jones 30(6): pp. 56-61;</ref>
The Andaman Sea off the Tenasserim coast was the subject of keen scrutiny from Burma's regime during the 1990s due to offshore petroleum discoveries by multinational corporations including Unocal, Petronas and others. Reports from the late 1990s told of forced relocation by Burma's military regime of the 'Sea Gypsies' to on-land sites. It was claimed most of the Salone had been relocated by 1997, which is consistent with a pervasive pattern of forced relocation of suspect ethnic, economic and political groups, conducted throughout Burma during the 1990s.
[edit] 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
The islands where the Moken live received much media attention in 2005 during the Southeast Asia Tsunami recovery, where hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in the disaster. As they are keenly aware of the sea, the Moken in some areas knew the tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004 was coming,<ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/18/60minutes/main681558.shtml "Sea Gypsies See Signs In The Waves" 60 Minutes CBS News, 25 December 2005];</ref> and managed to preserve many lives.
However in the coastal villages of Phang Nga province, such as Tap Tawan, the Moken suffered terrible loss of life as well as the devastation to housing and fishing boats that were common with other Moken communities.
[edit] References
<references/>
[edit] External links
- Moken: Sea Gypsies @ National Geographic (Subscription Required)
- Moken: Sea Gypsies @ National Geographic (Tsunami Extra)
- Phuket Magazine: The Moken - Traditional Sea Gypsies
- NationalGeographic.com - Sea Gypsies
- ProjectMaje.org - Burma "Sea Gypsies" Compendium
- Mergui Archipelago Project
- Ethnologue report for Moken
[edit] See also
| Ethnic groups in Thailand |
|---|
| Akha • Bru • Cham • Chinese • Hmong • Karen • Khmer • Khmu • Kuy • Lahu • Lanna (Northern Thai) • Lao • Lawa • Lisu • Lolo (Yi) • Lü (Tai Lü) • Lua • Malay • Mani (Negrito) • Mlabri • Moken • Mon • Nyahkur (Nyah Kur, Chao-bon) • Palaung (De'ang) • Phai • Phu Thai • Phuan • Saek • Shan • So • Southern Thai • Tai Dam (Black Tai) • Tai Nüa • Thai • Urak Lawoi • Yao/Iu Mien |
