The Sea People of Sulu: A Study of Social Change in the Philippines. by H.

Arlo Nimmo
Review by: Jeremy Beckett
The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Feb., 1974), pp. 343-344
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2052225 .
Accessed: 17/06/2014 14:50

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Association for Asian Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The
Journal of Asian Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.43 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 14:50:15 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
BOOK REVIEWS
afterthe secondworld war (B. J.Boland, The
Struggleof Islam in Modern Indonesia) and
duringthe secondworldwar (Harry J.Benda,
The Crescentand theRisingSun) but no com-
parableaccountforthe periodpriorto the sec-
ond worldwar. With the publicationof Noer's
book, thisgap is filled.His work is clearlythe
best existinggeneralaccountof what is, to my
mind, the most significantphase of Islamic
reformism in Indonesia.
JAMES L. PEACOCK
Universityof North Carolina
The Sea People of Sulu: A Study of Social
Change in the Philippines.By H. ARLO
NIMMO. San Francisco: Chandler Pub-
lishing Company, 1972. Xi, 104 PP. Il-
lustrations,
Bibliography,
Index. n.p.l.
This is a social anthropologicalstudyof the
Bajao, sometimescalled the "sea gypsies",who
live around the southernislands of the Sulu
archipelago. They belong to the widely dis-
persedSamal ethno-linguistic group,but form
a sub-groupat least partlybecause theyare, or
untilrecently were,boat dwellerswho had little
to do withotherpeoplesof theregion.
Nimmo looks at two Bajao populations.
One, living offTawi-Tawi, is still boat dwell-
ing, shifting,and marginalso faras the lifeof
the region is concerned.The other,living off
Sitangkai,has become house dwellingover the
last generation,anchored to one locality,and
significantlyinvolved in the affairsof land
dwellers.He looks to the firstpopulationfor
indicationsof what the second was like before
the change. The comparisonis not exact, for
the Tawi-Tawi Bajao have to go much further
fromland for fishing;however,Nimmo does
not seem to regard this differenceas signifi-
cant.
Among the boat dwellers,the domesticand
everydayeconomic unit is a nuclear family,
perhapswith one or two otherindividual ad-
herents.Space seems to be a factorsince a
biggerboat is harderto maneuver,but every-
day fishingtechniquesdo not need large num-
bers. The familyspends long periods on its
own, but when it returnsto shore it may be
to anyone of fivemooragesaroundTawi-Tawi.
From a practicalpoint of view, it doesn't us-
ually matterwhich.At the moorageis a fluctu-
This content downloaded from 62.122.78.43 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 14:50:15 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
343
ating numberof boats,some of whom will
engagein periodiceconomicand ceremonial
activitiestogether.
Amongthehousedwellers, thedomestic unit
includesa number ofnuclearfamilies (average
four),but each goes its separateway when
fishing. At anygiventimesomeare likelyto
be out. But absencesare less protracted. And
whilea family maytransfer fromone houseto
another, it doesnotmoveto othersettlements.
Thereis onlyone settlement on Sitangkai, and
it is fromherethatthefishare sentto market.
The numberlivingoffSitangkaiis larger
thanat anyone of theTawi-Tawimoorages,
and itsorganization is morecomplex, probably
becauseof Islamization, undertheinfluence of
the land dwellers,deeperinvolvement in a
casheconomy-including fora minority smug-
gling,and participation in local politics.The
panglimasof the boat dwellers,mere arbi-
trators,becomeeffective authorities amongthe
house dwellers,when endowedwith wealth
andthebackingofmayors andgovernors.
Nimmo'sover-riding interest is in kinship,
and he wantsto showthatits principles un-
derlytheorganization ofbothgroupsand have
changedlittle.He makesa carefulbreakdown
of variousgroupings and alliances.A couple
usuallyresideswith,or moorsalongside,the
parentsor siblingsof eitherhusbandor wife.
Thereis somepreference forthelatter, butno
pressing reasonwhyit shouldprevail.Personal
and practical considerationscan be takeninto
account,withoutthe "rules" being broken.
Nimmoequatesthe householdsof Sitangkai
withthe clustersof houseboats("familyalli-
ance units") that moor togetheroffTawi-
Tawi. Each component familyhas a closekin
tiewithat leastsomeoftheothers, buttheat-
tachment is not indissoluble,and othercon-
nections can be foundin otherhouseholds or
boatclusters. Boat dwellersterminate theirat-
tachments eachtimetheychangemoorages.
The Bajao have a termwhichmeansthe
"totalityof ego's relatives"(i.e. his person
kindred),butwhichin Tawi-Tawialso means
"the group of cognatickinsmenor a group of
relatedfamilyallianceunitswho regularly
tie
up at a moorage."Nimmocalls thisthe"lo-
calizedkindred".In practical
terms,itseemsto
meanthepeoplea family toa ceremony,
invites
and thepeoplewho givesomekindof recog-
344 JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES
nitionto a panglima:presumably thetwoare one thingto knowaboutan alternative social
roughly In Sitangkai
coextensive. the"localized order;quiteanotherto becomepartof it.One
kindred"engagesin moreeconomicand cere- would like to know if the Bajao foundthe
monialactivities,and givesseriousheedto its transition as smooth as Nimmoseemstoimply.
panglima.Its boundaries are stillratherhazy, JEREMY BECKEIT
butin certainceremonial situationsat leastit University of Sydney
does seem to emergein contradistinction to
others.One mightexpectit to revealits true
character in disputesand electoral politics,but Father Jose Burgos: Priest and Nationalist.
By JOHN N. SCHUMACHER, S. J. Quezon
Nimmois silenton thesetopics.
mayobjectto the use of City: Ateneo University Press, 1972. XVi,
Kinshipspecialists
273 pp. Distributed through the Cellar
kindredhere,inasmuchas thereis no focal
are related. Book Shop, Detroit.$5.50.
personageto whomall members
Whatwe haveis a network, thelinksofwhich Jesuithistorianshave been among the most
consistof closekin ties,periodically actingas creativescholars working on the Philippines.
a group.But each familycouldactivateother This currentvolume is another contribution
closekin tiesto join others, perhapsall of the of the Ateneo school and should be read by all
groups.Kinshipin a juralsenseis permissive interestedin the archipelago.Twentieth cen-
but not binding,thoughsentimental attach- tury friars/scholars(though none could con-
mentsformedin thedomestic setting maybe. fuse these men with their predecessors)like
Sentiment, convenience and probablychance de la Costa, Cushner and Schumacher have
are all operative.My pointis thatwhilethe turnedto ecclesiasticalhistoryin partbecauseof
Bajao mayuse kinshipto explainand justify accsessto sourcematerial,in partin expiation,
theirassociations,we shouldbe lookingbeyond and in part because theyunderstandcorrectly
In Tawi-Tawi,wherethere thatan examinationof the Church is the sine
it to otherrealities.
is minimalfunctional dfferentiation, personal qua non forgraspingtheSpanishera.
feelings maypredominate. My guessis thatin Central to the Ateneo argumentis the im-
Sitangkaidecisionsare morecomplicated be- plicit claim that the Roman Church was
cause there'smoregoingon and the popula- neitheran enemyof the people nor a reaction-
toa greater
tionis differentiated extent. ary forceopposing Filipino national develop-
Nimmo stateshis basic assumptionto be ment. As Father Schumacher states in this
that"Onlyif thetraditionally sanctioned pat- book, both Friars and seculars(parish priests)
ternscan no longerbe practiced does the so- "were victimsof the structures of the decadent
cietylook elsewhere to perhapsborrowfrom Patronato,where the interference of the gov-
othersocieties."He asserts thatsuchborrowing ernmentnulified all effortsat reformfrom
is uncommonand, like some Britishanthro within the Church, and turned questions ec-
pologists,goes looking for the continuityin clesiasticalin natureinto politicalmatters."It
change.He findsthat"sincetheseeminglynew is maintainedthat the Holy See was sympa-
behaviourin Sitangkai has always been sanc- theticbut powerlessin the nineteenthcentury,
tioned," the change in behavioural patterns because earlierPopes had grantedcenturiesbe-
does amount to structuralchange. The per- foreextraordinary powersto the Spanish kings
sistenceof the "kinship system"is offeredas and theiragents in the Philippines.A patriot-
evidenceforthis,but it seems to me so flexible priestlike Father Jose Burgos is vital to this
as not to be structuralin any significant
sense. argument not only because of his personal
If we see the Tawi-Tawi Bajao as character- qualities,but also because he was both catoalico
ized by familyautonomy,and social and eco- romano and verdadero Filipino. As Father
nomicequality,thendevelopmentsin Sitangkai Schumacher states it, "Burgo was no less a
look muchmorelike structural change.Nimmo nationalistfor being a priest;indeed, in part,
arguesthatthe Bajao have alwayshad a nomi- he was a nationalistbecause he was a priest."
nal allegiance to Sulu datus, some faint ac- FatherBurgoswas unquestionablyone of the
quaintancewithIslam and some notionof their most articulateand brilliantof the ilustrados;
lowly status among land dwellers. But it is he helped articulatethe growingdiscontentof

This content downloaded from 62.122.78.43 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 14:50:15 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions