小コミュニティの社会位相空間論 : マレーシア潮州人漁村にみられるリズム・テンポ・メロディー

Abstract

Malaysian society is a typical plural society of several ethnic groups, of which the Chinese constitute the second largest. The society is an aggregation of ethnically homogeneous communities. Chinese communities in rural area are of two types : new villages and nonnew villages. The new villages were organized under governmental control in the 1950s and have urban characteristics. The nonnew villages which predate them were formed around Chinese religious buildings (miao) and primary schools. The Teochiu fishing village where 1 lived for about one year and five months from October 1980 is of the nonnew type. In this village community can be found sociotopological spaces consisting of activities and relationships of villagers determined by situations in particular physical spaces in the village. I will demonstrate that there are two sorts of changes in these sociotopological spaces. One involves the fundamental rhythms which are observed cyclically in the year, the month and the day. The other is made up of noncyclical changes, namely, rites of passage, abnormal situations and intervention by outsiders in the village. With respect to fundamental rhythms, three sociotopological subspaces are important. These are the spaces of fishing activities formed by adult men, the Chinese religious space formed by women, and the Chinese primary school, where children learn about the outside world. Of the rites of passage, the funeral rite is most important. The village as a whole transforms into an abnormal state during this rite. Abnormal situations such as shortage of water and fire tend to make the village a corporate body. When outsiders, for example, Teochiu outsiders, non-Teochiu Chinese, Malays and Indians come to the village, the village reacts as if it has biological immunity. Outsiders are considered as antigens, and villagers who have wide networks outside the village and rich experiences with such outsiders act as antibodies. By these villagers' efforts, the influences of outsiders in the village are minimized.