Research Interests

Selected Publications

Courses

Other Activities

Robert K. Dentan

Office Hours

Tuesday and Thursday: 1:00 - 3:30

Research Interests

Cultural anthropology, social organization, ecology, ritual; Southeast Asia, Africa

Selected Publications

(in press) How the Androgynous Bird God Brought Agriculture to Semai of West Malaysia: Discipline, Hard Work and Subordination to the Cycle of Time. In Pierre Le Roux, Christian Coiffier and Bernard Sellato, eds., Les Messagers Divins: Aspects Esthetiques et Symboliques des Oiseaux en Asie du Sud-Est. Aix-en-Provence/Marseille: Presse de l’Universite de Provence; and Paris: Editions Seven Orients.

(in press) Ethnocide Malaysian Style: Turning Aborigines into Malays. In Legislating Modernity, Christopher Duncan, ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press (with Kirk Endicott).

(in press) Review of Maarit Laitinen Marching to Zion: Creolisation in Spiritual Baptist Ritual and Cosmology. Research Series in Anthropology, University of Helsinki. Suomen Antropologi.

2004 Cautious, Alert, Polite and Elusive: The Semai. of Central Peninsular Malaysia. In Kemp, Graham, and Douglas Fry, eds. Keeping the Peace: Conflict Resolution and Peaceful Societies around the World, pp. 167-184. New York & London: Routledge.

2003 Cautious, Alert, Polite and Elusive: The Semai of Central Peninsular Malaysia. In Kemp, Graham, and Douglas Fry, eds., Keeping the Peace: Conflict Resolution and Peaceful Societies around the World. Routledge, New York

2003 Freedom and Responsibility among Semai. Paper presented to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program, University of Pittsburgh/Bradford (12 Nov.).

2003 Freedom and Responsibility. Seminar directed for the Interdisciplinary Studies Program, University of Pittsburgh/Bradford (12 Nov.).

2003 Cain and Abel:(Non)Violent Responses among Two Cognate Southeast Asian Peoples. Paper presented at Annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association ( 20 November).

1992 The Rise and Maintenance and Destruction of Peaceable Polity, in Aggression and Peacefulness in Human and Other Primates, ed. J. Silverberg and J. P. Gray (New York: Oxford Univ Press), 214-270.

1986 Ethnographic Considerations in the Cross-Cultural Study of Dreaming and Lucidity, in Sleep and Dreams: A Sourcebook, ed. J. L. Gackenbach (New York: Garland), 317-358.

1986 The Semai: A Nonviolent People of Malaysia, rev. and enl. ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston).

1984 Techniques and antecedents: a response to Gieseler. Lucidity Letter 3 (2&3):5-7. Now on-line at: http://www.sawka.com/spiritwatch/techniqu.htm and http://www.keene.edu/library/orangasli/dentan.cfm

Undergraduate Courses Offered

APY 105-DEN | Intro to Anthropology
APY 265-DEN | People of Southeast Asia
APY 475-DEN | Ecology and Cultural Adaptations

Graduate Courses Offered

APY 519-DEN | Ecology and Cultural Adaptations

Other Activities

• Trustee of Fund for Urgent Anthropological Research
• Director of Musicians United for a Superior Education
• Trustee of Orang Asli Fund