Book Cover
E-book
Author Boomgaard, P., 1946-2017

Title Frontiers of fear : tigers and people in the Malay world, 1600-1950 / Peter Boomgaard
Published New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, ©2001

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xii, 306 pages) : illustrations, maps
Series Yale agrarian studies series
Yale agrarian studies.
Contents Introduction -- Meeting the tiger and the other big cats -- The tiger : friend or foe? -- Man-eating tigers -- Ancestors for sale : bounties for the big cats -- Hunting and trapping -- Tiger and leopard rituals at the Javanese courts, 1605-1906 -- The ancestral tiger : from protection to punishment -- Devouring the hearts of the people : the weretiger -- The rise, decline, and fall of the tiger -- Living apart together
Summary For centuries, reports of man-eating tigers in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore have circulated, shrouded in myth and anecdote. This fascinating book documents the "big cat"--Human relationship in this area during its 350-year colonial period, re-creating a world in which people feared tigers but often came into contact with them, because these fierce predators prefer habitats created by human interference. Peter Boomgaard shows how people and tigers adapted to each other's behavior, each transmitting this learning from one generation to the next. He discusses the origins of stories and rituals about tigers and explains how cultural biases of Europeans and class differences among indigenous populations affected attitudes toward the tigers. He provides figures on their populations in different eras and analyzes the factors contributing to their present status as an endangered species. Interweaving stories about Malay kings, colonial rulers, tiger charmers, and bounty hunters with facts about tigers and their way of life, the book is an engrossing combination of environmental and micro history
Bibliography Includes chapter notes (pages 239-263), bibliographical references (pages 265-291) , and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Tiger -- Southeast Asia -- History
Human-animal relationships -- Southeast Asia -- History
NATURE -- Animals -- Big Cats.
HISTORY -- Asia -- Southeast Asia.
Human-animal relationships
Tiger
Tijgers.
Southeast Asia
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780300127591
0300127596
0300085397
9780300085396
1281741027
9781281741028
9786611741020
661174102X
Other Titles Tigers and people in the Malay world, 1600-1950