Mermaids and Crocodiles in Borneo and West Africa.
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
Mermaids and Crocodiles in Borneo and West Africa. |
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Author :
Kathleen O’Brien Wicker |
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Abstract:
The island of Borneo in Southeast Asia has been exposed to a variety of cultural influences over the centuries due to the migration of peoples, trade and colonization. This has been the case in Borneo for a longer period and to a greater extent even than in West Africa, which has been subject to foreign incursions through migration, trade and colonization as well. The mermaid is one example of a foreign cultural representation which has been introduced into the traditional cultures of both Borneo and West Africa, but with quite different results, which I will explore in this paper. I will also touch briefly on the relationship of the mermaid to the crocodile, a traditional figure in both cultures, since the role the crocodile assumes in Borneo may at least partially explain the differences between the appropriation of the mermaid here and in West Africa. I begin this paper with a brief summary of the introduction and uses of the mermaid in traditional, Christian and Islamic cultures in West Africa. The body of the paper will discuss the examples of mermaid representations that I have found in Borneo during the summer of 1997 and also a few examples of crocodile mythology and other stories of transformation among peoples from different cultural traditions on the island. In the conclusion, I provide a set of preliminary observations on the mermaid tradition in Borneo and a comparative analysis of the uses of mermaid and crocodile representations in Borneo and in West Africa.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Kathleen O’Brien Wicker. (1998). Mermaids and Crocodiles in Borneo and West Africa. The Sarawak Museum Journal, LIII (74): 19-36 |
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References
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