AYA KAWAI

INSTITUTION

Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

ACADEMIC FIELD & RESEARCH

I specialize in anthropology. I have been carried out research on navigation and the recognition and use of flora and fauna among the Batek people, hunter-gatherers living in Peninsular Malaysia. My central research interest has recently been on social relationships of the Batek people: how they organize and negotiate their social relationships as their way of life shifts due to environmental changes. The Batek belongs to “Orang Asli,” an ethnic group representing non-Malay indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia. I also study the Orang Asli as a whole.

RESEARCH FIELD (FIELD SITE, LOCATION OF RESEARCH)

Hunter-gatherers in the tropical forests of Malaysia, Orang Asli

MAIN PUBLICATIONS/PAPERS

• Kawai A. “Orang Asli” Encyclopedia of Southeast Asian Culture. Nobuta T. (Ed.) Maruzen Publishing, pp. 126-127, 2019. (Japanese)
• Kawai A. Development of land tenure system and ethnicity in Peninsular Malaysia: The case of the Lebir valley, Kelantan. Malaysian Studies Journal 7: 116-139, 2019. (Japanese)
• Kawai A. Navigation in the rainforest: The case of the Batek in the upper Lebir river watershed, Malaysia. People and Culture in Oceania, 34: 1-23, 2018.
• Kawai A. “Re-examining the indigenous peoples’ knowledge” A Research on Production and Transformations of Indigenous Knowledge under Globalization (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Project 227). Odani S. (Ed.) Chiba University Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, pp. 9-39, 2014. (Japanese)

COMMENTS

I will watch what I eat during fieldwork