James Richard Logan and the indigenous peoples of the Malay Peninsula: Image and rhetoric

Diana J. Carroll*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    When James Richard Logan (1819-1869) embarked on bis ethnological study of the indigenous people of the Malay Peninsula, he, like earlier and later scholars, thought of the non-Malays as 'mid tribes', that is primitive savages little changed since the dawn of time. He soon found that the image of the 'wild tribes' was not true to life. This article explores some of the features of his work that set him apart from other British scholars of the Peninsula. Logan was a professional man and not attached to the administration, as the majority of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scholars were. He was not distracted by the political situation, nor did he consider the Malays as exalted owners of the land. Logan viewed the indigenous peoples of the Peninsula as a whole. He endeavoured to trace the origins of the various indigenous races of the Peninsula, believing that identifying factors that had assisted or impeded their arrival would contribute to understanding the world-wide pattern of population movement.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)147-175
    Number of pages29
    JournalRIMA: Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs
    Volume46
    Issue number2
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

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