Raiding, Trading, and Feasting: The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms by Laura Lee

Junker
Review by: Thomas Gibson
The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 61, No. 2 (May, 2002), pp. 778-779
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2700369 .
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778 THE JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES

continuing"hegemonyof male views"(p. 262) among womenwho, if not avoiding

politicaltalk altogether,tooktheirpoliticalcues fromhusbandsand sons.
As in the essayson Malaysia, those on Indonesia also discuss some political
trajectories-such as gender-that do not fit within a social model focusing
exclusivelyon ethno-religious Vedi R. Hadiz wondersifthere-emergence
distinctions.
ofa labormovementthatstartedin the 1990s will devolvealongethno-religious party
as it did in the 1950s, but he sees littleevidenceforthisso far.Against
affiliations
the backdrop of recent ethnic and religious unrest,Mohtar Mas'oed, S. Rizal
Panggabean,and Muhammad Najib Azca examine the historyof Yogyakartato
determinewhy a climate of toleranceand civilityhas developedthere.A reform-
mindedleadershipgroundedin a traditionalsultanate,and the factthatYogyakarta
is a universitycityattractingstudentsfromacrossthearchipelago,theyconclude,are
among the factorsthat have encourageda cosmopolitan,pluralisticlocal culturein
thatcity.
Hefneris carefulnot to presumethat democraticparticipationand a vibrant
public sphereare teleologicalgivens. This collectionof essaysprovidesinsightful
snapshotsofcontinuingand uncertain-indeed,sometimescountervailing-processes
of change: Islamic resurgence,urbanizationand the growth of a middle class,
electronicinformation flows,and nationalisticpride. It is not easy to draw lessons
fromany one country'shistoryand experiencethat apply to the othertwo. These
essaysshow us, rather,threecomplexand increasingly differentiatedsocietieswhere
the statestrugglesto containthe pressuresforand argumentsabout change.It is a
timelyand usefulcomparison.
RITA SMITH KIPP
Kenyon
College

Raiding,Trading,and Feasting:The PoliticalEconomy

ofPhilippineChiefdoms.
By LAURA LEE JUNKER. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999. x,
477 pp. $46.00 (cloth).

This monographis an ambitiousattemptto synthesize existingarcheologicaland

ethnohistoricalsources on prehispanicPhilippine chiefdomsto reconstructthe
developmentof complexpolitiesin the regionoverthe last two thousandyears.The
developmentof long-distancetrade in prestigegoods was centralto this process.
Junkerhas conductedarcheologicalfieldwork at Tanjay in Negros fortwentyyears
familiarity
and so has a good first-hand withthedata. She uses Tanjay to good effect
in severalof herchapters.
Junkeralso hopes to contributetowarda general theoryof the evolutionof
chiefdoms.In this she clearlyidentifiesherselfwith an archeologicalmind-set,as
opposed to that of historicalor linguisticscholars,who tend to searchforhighly
particularisticaccountsof originsand transformations.She attemptsto walk a fine
line betweenculturalevolutionists,who have been accused of reducinghistorical
developments everywhere in theworldto a singlemodel,and historicalparticularists,
forwhom nothingis to be gained fromcomparisonat all. Thus, whilearguingthat
the largestprehispanicPhilippinepolitiesfituniversalisticdefinitionsof chiefdoms,
she also notesthatin SoutheastAsia, chiefdomshad certainfeaturesthatset themoff
fromthose elsewherein the world. These include the lack of descent-basedkin
groupings,lack ofa territorial This procedureof
focus,and weakverticalintegration.
definingSoutheastAsian kinshipsystemsand culturesin termsofwhattheylack in
 BOOK REVIEWS-SOUTHEAST ASIA 779

comparisonto otherpartsof theworldwill be familiarto anthropologists (remember

"loose structure"and "bilateralkinship"?).
The patternof the book is to outlinecertainfeaturespredictedby the chiefdom
model and thento examinethe evidencefortheirexistenceduringvariousphasesof
Philippineprehistory. In chapter1, Junkerdrawson archeologicalworkon IronAge
Europeand West Africato buttresshermodel. Chapter2 includesa usefulsurveyof
sourcesforthe prehispanicPhilippines.Part 2 of the book looks at the internal
evolutionof stratified societies.She coversthe fragility of politicalstructuresbased
on personalisticalliances(chapter3), leadingto an oscillation,or cycling,fromsimple
and complexpolitical structures(chapter4). Chapter5 examinesthe evidencefor
social rankingas definedin the evolutionistmodel,concludingthattherewas more
room forachievinghigh statusin the Philippinesand elsewherein SoutheastAsia
thanwas typicalforchiefdomsin otherpartsof the world.Chapter6 examinesthe
archeologicalevidenceforincreasingsocial differentiation. The bestevidenceis from
Junker'sownsitein Tanjay,Negros,showinga significant increasein accessto foreign
prestigegoods throughout thesociety,withan increasingly complexand finely graded
hierarchy amonghouseholds.
Part3 examinestherelationship betweenforeigntradeand internalstratification.
Chapter7 looks at the long-distanceporcelaintradewithChina,whichbegan at the
end of the firstmillenniumC.E. Powerand prestigeincreasingly came to dependon
ensuringa steadysupplyof forestproductsfromthe hinterlandand the abilityto
ensurea safeharborto foreignmerchants.Chapter8 looks at the hinterland, whose
peoples were culturallyand linguisticallydistinct and impossible to subjugate
militarily.Ancient tradingpatternswere intensifiedand centralizedas Chinese
demand for forestproduce increased.Chapter 9 looks at the evidence for the
development ofcraftspecialization.Chapter10 looksat theexchangeofprestigegoods
amongallied elites.This was particularly importantin a partof the worldin which
politicalpowerdependedso greatlyon fluidties ofalliance.Prestigegoods had long
beenproducedand exchangedlocally;theappearanceofmassivequantitiesofChinese
tradeporcelainsfed into this systemand helped intensify it. Chapter11 looks at
competitivefeastingin the Philippines,long a staple of ethnographicaccountsof
SoutheastAsia. Again,thefifteenth and sixteenthcenturiessaw an increasein theuse
of feastingfoodsboth by chieflycentersand throughoutthe population.The model
indicatesthatincreasedcompetitive feastingoughtto correlate withincreasedwarfare,
but Junkernotesthe evidenceis still limitedin the case of the Philippines.Chapter
12 turnsto the evidenceforlarge-scaleinterpolity conflict.There are signs of the
emergenceof a specialized warriorclass in the fifteenth century.Warfarewas
conductednotforterritorial aggrandizement, but to captureslaves,disruptrivaltrade
centers,and obtainhumansacrifices.
The historicalpicturethatemergesis one in whichcomplexpolitiesdeveloped
on the northwestcoastsof Luzon and Mindoroin the tenthand eleventhcenturies
when Chinesetradeflowedprimarilythroughthe South China Sea to Champa and
Sri Vijaya,and on the islandsof the Sulu archipelagoand Mindanaoin the fifteenth
and sixteenthcenturieswhentheJavaSea was a moreactivetradecenters.Shiftsin
externaltradepatternsled to the growthand decayof local centers.On the whole,
Junker'scarefuluse ofgeneralevolutionary modelsappearsjustifiedin thatit allows
her to identifywhatwas unique to the Philippinesbetween1000 and 1500 C.E., as
much as whatit shareswithothercultureareasat a similarlevel ofcomplexity.
THOMAS GIBSON
University
ofRochester