ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Iban is the largest indigenous ethnic group in Sarawak, Malaysia which made up of approximately one third of the total of Sarawak’s population. During the 20th century, the Iban society had gone through a state of flux where people have to readapt themselves in meeting the demanding challenges of Malaysian nationalism. Drawing upon Barendregt's (2014) 'alternative conceptions of modernity' this paper examines how the Iban reference both a national as well as a local music industry particularly through their use of language as an expression of Iban. As seen in Iban popular music, which are created and used as a propaganda tool for national building. First the paper will examine the meaning of modernity. Then, combining the concept of modernity and historiography methods, tracing the history of Sarawak in analysing the the Iban song lyrics. Hence, the aim of this paper is to interpret the meaning of the lyrics and how the song lyrics in ‘Malaysia Baru’ responded to modernity in the history of Sarawak. This reflects how the Iban people responded to the modernity through the historical processes on the social, cultural, physical, economic and political environments in Sarawak.
Mahmud, A. T. (2007). In Pehin Sri Abdul Taib’s Vision Of A Shared Destiny In Multi-Racial Sarawak. Kuching: The Department of Information Malaysia, Sarawak.
Ajamain, Z. (2015). The Queen’s Obligation & Inter-Governmental Committee Report. Kota Kinabalu: BruConn Sdn Bhd.
Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Barendregt, B. (2014). Sonic Histories in a Southeast Asian Context. In Sonic Modernities in the Malay World: A History of Popular Music, Social distinction and Novel Lifestyles (1930s-2000s) (pp. 1–43). Leiden: Brill.
Barendregt, B., & Zanten, W. van. (2002). Popular Music in Indonesia since 1998, in Particular Fusion, Indie and Islamic Music on Video Compact Discs and the Internet. Yearbook for Traditional Music, 34, 67–113.
Bhambra, G. K. (2007). Rethinking Modernity: Postcolonialism and the Sociological Imagination. New York: Macmillan, Palgrave.
Carlson, B. (2016). Striking the right chord: Indigenous people and the love of country. AlterNative, 12(5), 498–512. http://doi.org/10.20507/AlterNative.2016.12.5.5
Chua, L. (2007). Fixing and Flux: Bidayuh (Dis)engagements with the Malaysian Ethnic System. Ethnos, 72(2), 262–88.
Coleman, J. (1968). Modernization: Political Aspects. In International Encyclopedia of Social Science, Vol. 10, 295–402. Macmillan & Free Press.
Dirlik, A. (2013). Thinking Modernity Historically: Is “Alternative Modernity” the Answer? Asian Review of World Histories, 1(1), 5–44.
Fornäs, J. (1995). Cultural Theory and Late Modernity. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Gaonkar, D. P. (1999). On Alternative Modernities. Public Culture, 11(1), 1–18. http://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-11-1-1
Geschiere, P., Meye, B., & Pels, P. (Eds.). (2008). Readings in Modernity in Africa. London: International African Institute in association with Indiana University Press, James Currey, Unisa Press
Habermas, J. (1991). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a catergory of bourgeois society. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Hall, S. (1995). Introduction. In S. Hall, D. Held, D. Hubert, & K. Thompson (Eds.), Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies (pp. 1–18). Oxford: Polity Press.
Held, D. (1995). The Development of Modern State. In S. Hall, D. Held, D. Hubert, & K. Thopson (Eds.), Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies (pp. 55–89). Oxford: Polity Press Wagner, P. (Ed.). (2006). The language of civil society. New York: Berghahn Books.
Kedit, P. M. (1980). Modernization among the Iban of Sarawak. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka.
Ong, A. (1999). Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Parladir, H. S. (2014). Diaspora Studies in Social Sciences: Modernity, Power and Identity. Journal of Süleyman Demirel University Institute of Social Sciences, 20, 101–125.
Pinar, W. F. (2013). Modernity , technology, nationality. Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices, 7(2), 3–19.
Riggs, F. W. (1967). The Theory of Political Development. In J. C. Charlesworth (Ed.), Contemporary Political Analysis, 317–319. New York: Free Press.
Sarawak Maju Sejak Merdeka. (1974). Kuching: State Government and the Sarawak Foundation.
Sarawak Report (1963-1983). (1984). Malaysian Information Services, Sarawak.
Seth, S. (2016). Is Thinking with ’Modernity Eurocentric? Cultural Sociology, 10(3), 385–398. http://doi.org/10.1177/1749975516637203
Wagner, P. (Ed.). (2006). The language of civil society. New York: Berghahn Books.
In-Text Citation: (Lim, Yow, Durin, & Chelum, 2018)
To Cite this Article: Lim, C., Yow, C.-L., Durin, A., & Chelum, A. A. (2018). Negotiating Modernity and the New Nationhood in IBAN Popular Song Lyrics in 1960s-1970s. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(14), 51–60.
Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode