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{{infobox ethnic group|
{{Infobox ethnic group|
|group=Mlabri
|group=Mlabri
|image=[[File:Mlabri.png|300px]]
|image=[[File:Mlabri.png|300px]]
|population=~400 (est.)
|population=~400 (est.)
|popplace=[[Laos]], [[Thailand]]
|popplace=[[Laos]], [[Thailand]]
|rels=[[Christianity]],<ref>{{cite book | author = Chongwarothai, Methiphat & Moyadi, Pannachat | title = Social Changes and Lifestyle of Mlabris in Tambol Mae Khaning, Amphur Wiangsa, Nan Province | url = http://ird.stou.ac.th/Researchlib/uploads/2557_030/บทที่%204.pdf | publisher = Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University | location = Bangkok | year = 2014 | page = 67}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.doa.go.th/pvps/images/stories/fund/community7.pdf |title= Mlabri (Tong Lueang) |author=|date=|work= Thai Department of Agriculture |publisher=|accessdate= 13 July 2019 }}</ref> [[Animism]]<ref>https://www.ethnologue.com/language/mra</ref>
|rels=[[Christianity]],<ref>{{cite book | author = Chongwarothai, Methiphat & Moyadi, Pannachat | title = Social Changes and Lifestyle of Mlabris in Tambol Mae Khaning, Amphur Wiangsa, Nan Province | url = http://ird.stou.ac.th/Researchlib/uploads/2557_030/บทที่%204.pdf | publisher = Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University | location = Bangkok | year = 2014 | page = 67}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.doa.go.th/pvps/images/stories/fund/community7.pdf |title= Mlabri (Tong Lueang) |author=|date=|work= Thai Department of Agriculture |publisher=|accessdate= 13 July 2019 }}</ref> [[Animism]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/mra|title=Mlabri}}</ref>
|langs=[[Mlabri language|Mlabri]], others
|langs=[[Mlabri language|Mlabri]], others
|related=
|related=
}}
}}
The '''Mlabri''' ([[wikt:มลาบรี|มลาบรี]]) or '''Mrabri''' are an ethnic group of [[Thailand]] and [[Laos]], and have been called "the most interesting and least understood people in Southeast Asia".<ref>Schliesinger, Joachim, ''Ethnic Groups of Laos, vol. 2'', {{ISBN|974-480-036-4}}, p. 187</ref> Only about 400 or fewer Mlabris remain in the world today, with some estimates as low as 100. A [[Hill tribe (Thailand)|hill tribe]] in northern [[Thailand]] along the border with [[Laos]], they have been groups of nomadic [[hunter-gatherer]]s. Those in Thailand live close to the Hmong and northern Thai. Those living in Laos live close to other ethnic groups.
The '''Mlabri''' ([[Thai language|Thai]]:[[wikt:มลาบรี|มลาบรี]]) or '''Mrabri''', also called the '''Phi Tong Luang''', are an ethnic group of [[Thailand]] and [[Laos]], and have been called "the most interesting and least understood people in Southeast Asia".<ref>Schliesinger, Joachim, ''Ethnic Groups of Laos, vol. 2'', {{ISBN|974-480-036-4}}, p. 187</ref> Only about 400 or fewer Mlabris remain in the world today, with some estimates as low as 100. A [[Hill tribe (Thailand)|hill tribe]] in northern [[Thailand]] along the border with [[Laos]], they have been groups of nomadic [[hunter-gatherer]]s. Those in Thailand live close to the Hmong and northern [[Thailand|Thai]]. Those living in Laos live close to other ethnic groups.


==Nomenclature==
==Nomenclature==
The name ''Mlabri'' is a Thai/Lao alteration of the word ''Mrabri'', which appears to come from a Khmuic term "people of the forest". In [[Khmu language|Khmu]], ''mra'' means "person" and ''bri'' "forest". They are also known locally as ''Phi Tong Luang'' (Thai: ผีตองเหลือง, Lao: ຜີຕອງເຫລືອງ) or "spirits of the yellow leaves", since they abandon their shelters when the leaves begin to turn yellow.
The name ''Mlabri'' is a Thai/Lao alteration of the word ''Mrabri'', which appears to come from a Khmuic term "people of the forest". In [[Khmu language|Khmu]], ''mra'' means "person" and ''bri'' "forest". They are also known locally as ''Phi Tong Leuang'' (Thai: ผีตองเหลือง, Lao: ຜີຕອງເຫລືອງ) or "spirits of the yellow leaves", since they abandon their shelters when the leaves begin to turn yellow.

==Fact of The words "[[Yumbri]]" and "[[Mlabri]]"==
"Mlabri" is exactly not from [[khmuic]] language, there is no words "mla" and "Mra" in Khmuic language. Khmuic people call them-self "[kɨm.hmuʔ]" which means human such as person/s or people. [kɨm.hmuʔ]" is used to contrast things and animals, and also used as the name of the Khmuic ethnic. In Khmuic, "[gon]" is also means human, person/s or people, it is used to refer to general person/s or people. Ex: 1. [gon ɟɛʔ ci:n] or [gon ci:n] means Chinese person/s or people. 2. [gon ɟɛʔ tʱɑ̯i̯] or [gon tʱɑ̯i̯] means Thai person/s or people. 3. [gon wia:ŋcan] means Vientiane people and so on. In Khmuic, the word "[ɟɛʔ]" is used to refer to people of other ethnics or minorities ex: [ɟɛʔ ci:n] means Chinese. 2. [ɟɛʔ tʱɑ̯i̯] means Thai. and uses "[tmɔi:]" to refer to there own Khmuic people in different clans or the same clan that live in different residences (different villages, different cities, different countries). Old Khmuic peaple in Sayabouly province said that in the past they called Yumbri ethnic in general as "[ɟɛʔ jumbri:]" or "[ɟɛʔ briʔ]. When referring the people of Yumbri they called "[gon ɟɛʔ jumbri:]" or "[gon jumbri:]"; "[gon ɟɛʔ briʔ:]" or [gon briʔ] (least used). Khmuic people have never called Yumbri as "tmoi", or never used "tmoi" with Yumbri, only "[ɟɛʔ]" is used with Yumbri, this is because Yumbri is not Khmu. They old people also said that Khmuic and Yumbri language are different, Khmuic people could not understand Yumbri language. Yumbri people often traded with Khmu, they brought honey, wax, rattan to exchange rices, tobacco, still, and salt from Khmu. Yumbri adults who often traded with Khmuic people learned, spoke and could understood basic Khmuic; and ofcause Yumbri was influenced by Khmuic language which they borrowed some Khmuic words. Do be mind that "bri" in "[jumbri:]" is mid tone; but "briʔ]" in "[ɟɛʔ briʔ]" is high tone. This is even confuse with Khmuic people; it also made [[Bernatzik]] confuse, and That is why he wrote and pronounced as [jumbriʔ]. Bernatzik might thought that the last syllable "bri" must came from Khmuic word "[briʔ]" which means forest. During the time Bernatzik took expedition in 1936-1937 (published in German in 1938) he said that Yumbri people called them-self "Yumbri" and that they did not like people from other ethnics or minorities called them "Mlabri". So, the dominant word "Mla" must come from other languages. As for word "Mra" and "Ma" are newly invented by few authors if not one who are not stand in neutral. The later researchers said that Yumbri called them-self "Mlabri"; this must be fake or bias information. If during 1963 Yumbri poeple really called them-self Mlabri, then it must be any other researchers or authors who did not want Yumbri called them-self "Yumbri", and they might tried to teach and persuade Yumbri people to call them-self Mlabri. From the time Bernatzik made a research on Yumbri in 1936 until a new research of other new researchers and authors in 19963 it was about 27 years; it is long enough to make the ways of lives of Yumbri people change in some levels. The obvious things to prove that new researchers and authors are not stand neutral is that they try to modified some Yumbri words to make it closely related and resemble to Khmuic words; then try to speak using those words with Yumbri people to make them familiar and use it eventually. In the present day we have seen and heard some writings and videos presented Yumbri culture as Khmuic culture especially some Lao-Tai authors and writers. Some Lao-Tai people who do not like Khmu enthusiastically want Yumbri to be Khmu and vice versa, there are a lot of reasons why they do that. It is so long to explain it here but I would like to express a few phenomenon that, in Laos, there are a lot of relics and ancient cultures discovered. Some Lao-Tai people do not want you to say and write that those relics belong to Khmu. Yumbri is backward and They want you to say that Khmu is Yumbri and that Khmu is people of forest that just spread out not so long. In order to make writing creditable, they even persuaded a foreigner author or researcher of a university of a country in southern hemisphere to write down that Khmu just spread out during the third century BC from the land of present day Oudomsay province, and can not produce those relics. They modified some legends to made them closely related to their nation and made it far away from Khmu. They try to do every tings even fake information to make people believe that the home land of Khmu is situated in Odoumsay. They did this because there are some important relics discovered in Huaphan and Xiangkhuang provinces such as stone poles in Huameuang district of Huaphan province and stone jars in Xiangkhuang province. They don't want people to believe that Huaphan and Xiangkhuang provinces are the homeland of Khmuic ancestors. A thing that is very obvious is that, when their media present ethnics and minorities living in Huaphand and Xiengkhuang provinces to public, they just introduce Lao-Tai and Hmong, they omit Khmu. Some Lao-Tai authors of Laos even wrote that Khmu stole their brown drum culture from them. In fact Khmuic people have used brown drums in rituals or ceremonies since the ancient time until present day; but there is no any evidence and nobody saw that [[Tai-Kadai]] have ever used brown drums.


==Genetics==
==Genetics==
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==Lifestyle==
==Lifestyle==
The Mlabri traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle. They moved frequently, and had no permanent houses, instead making temporary shelters from palm leaves and bamboo-string. They wore only a loin-covering of bark or cloth, though most Mlabri now wear factory-made clothes gained by trade with other hill tribes. They are hunter-gatherers, with most of their food coming from gathering. Women give birth alone in the forest and infant mortality used to be very high.
The Mlabri traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle. They moved frequently, and had no permanent houses, instead making temporary shelters from palm leaves and bamboo-string. They wore only a loin-covering of bark or cloth, though most Mlabri now wear factory-made clothes gained by trade with other hill tribes. They are hunter-gatherers, with most of their food coming from gathering. Women give birth alone in the forest, and infant mortality used to be very high.


The Mlabri have few regimented social ceremonies, and are said to have no formal religious system, though they believe in forest spirits and other nature spirit. Marriages are made with simple request; there is no bride-price. The dead are buried near where they expired, and the tribe moves on.
The Mlabri have few regimented social ceremonies, and are said to have no formal religious system, though they believe in forest spirits and other nature spirit. Marriages are made with simple request; there is no bride-price. The dead are buried near where they expired, and the tribe moves on.
Line 26: Line 23:
In 1938, Austrian anthropologist [[Hugo Bernatzik]] published an ethnography of the "Yellow Leaf People" which contained his brief observations of the tribe in the early 20th century.
In 1938, Austrian anthropologist [[Hugo Bernatzik]] published an ethnography of the "Yellow Leaf People" which contained his brief observations of the tribe in the early 20th century.


Since the 1990s, the Mlabri in Thailand have settled into more permanent villages in [[Phrae]] and [[Nan Province|Nan]] provinces. The houses they live in are made of cinderblock and wood, with metal roofs and even electricity. Mlabri children have started going to public schools, and their health care has improved.[https://www.academia.edu/33433584/The_Demographics_of_a_Village_of_Recently_Settled_Hunter-_Gatherers_in_Thailand] It was reported in 2013 that the Mlabri's suicide rate has risen.<ref>Long, Mary, Eugene Long, and Tony Waters (2013) "Suicide Among the Mla Bri Hunter-Gatherers of Northern Thailand." ''Journal of the Siam Society'' (v. 101). [https://www.academia.edu/4777783/Suicide_Among_the_Mla_Bri_Hunter-Gatherers_of_Northern_Thailand_by_Mary_Long_Eugene_Long_and_Tony_Waters]</ref> Mlabri villages have some economic activity. While still hunting and gathering, the Mlabri now engage in highland farming and hammock weaving, besides working as day laborers.
Since the 1990s, the Mlabri in Thailand have settled into more permanent villages in [[Phrae]] and [[Nan Province|Nan]] provinces. The Thai government has declared the forest areas where they used to live to be state-owned forest reserves and discourages any Mlabri from returning there.<ref name=suicide/> The houses in the permanent villages that the Mlabri now live in are made of cinderblock and wood, with metal roofs and even electricity. Mlabri children have started going to public schools, and their health care has improved.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Waters |first1=Tony |last2=สุขเสน่ห์ |first2=บุญยืน |title=The Demographics of a Village of Recently Settled Hunter- Gatherers in Thailand |url=https://www.academia.edu/33433584 |journal=Journal of the Siam Society |language=en}}</ref> It was reported in 2013 that the Mlabri's suicide rate has risen.<ref name="suicide">Long, Mary, Eugene Long, and Tony Waters (2013) "Suicide Among the Mla Bri Hunter-Gatherers of Northern Thailand." ''Journal of the Siam Society'' (v. 101). [https://www.academia.edu/4777783/Suicide_Among_the_Mla_Bri_Hunter-Gatherers_of_Northern_Thailand_by_Mary_Long_Eugene_Long_and_Tony_Waters]</ref> Mlabri villages have some economic activity. While still hunting and gathering, the Mlabri now engage in highland farming and hammock weaving, besides working as day laborers.


One of the Mlabri settlements in Nan Province is under the patronage of Princess [[Sirindhorn]].
One of the Mlabri settlements in Nan Province is under the patronage of Princess [[Sirindhorn]].


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
Line 46: Line 43:


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.mlabri.org/ MlaBri People] - page with photographs of Mlabri people.
* Long, Eugene, Mary Long, and Tony Waters. The Demography of a Settled Hunter Gatherer Group in Thailand." Journal of the SIam Society (v.105) 2017.[https://www.academia.edu/33433584/The_Demographics_of_a_Village_of_Recently_Settled_Hunter-_Gatherers_in_Thailand]
* Long, Eugene, Mary Long, and Tony Waters. The Demography of a Settled Hunter Gatherer Group in Thailand." Journal of the SIam Society (v.105) 2017.[https://www.academia.edu/33433584/The_Demographics_of_a_Village_of_Recently_Settled_Hunter-_Gatherers_in_Thailand]
*Long, Mary, Eugene Long, and Tony Waters (2013) "Suicide Among the Mla Bri Hunter-Gatherers of Northern Thailand." ''Journal of the Siam Society'' (v. 101). [https://www.academia.edu/4777783/Suicide_Among_the_Mla_Bri_Hunter-Gatherers_of_Northern_Thailand_by_Mary_Long_Eugene_Long_and_Tony_Waters]
*Long, Mary, Eugene Long, and Tony Waters (2013) "Suicide Among the Mla Bri Hunter-Gatherers of Northern Thailand." ''Journal of the Siam Society'' (v. 101). [https://www.academia.edu/4777783/Suicide_Among_the_Mla_Bri_Hunter-Gatherers_of_Northern_Thailand_by_Mary_Long_Eugene_Long_and_Tony_Waters]
*http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
*[http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)]
* [[hdl:10050/00-0000-0000-0003-66E5-6@view|http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-66E5-6@view]] Mlabri in RWAAI Digital Archive
*[http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-66E5-6@view Mlabri in RWAAI Digital Archive]
*[http://www.ethnography.com/2015/08/ethnography-as-a-contact-sport-the-mla-bri-and-the-long-family-of-phrae-thailand/ Ethnography as a Contact Sport The Mla Bri and the Long Family of Phrae Thailand by Tony Waters]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160610213329/http://www.ethnography.com/2015/08/ethnography-as-a-contact-sport-the-mla-bri-and-the-long-family-of-phrae-thailand/ Ethnography as a Contact Sport The Mla Bri and the Long Family of Phrae Thailand by Tony Waters]


{{Ethnic groups in Thailand}}
{{Ethnic groups in Thailand}}
{{Ethnic groups in Laos}}
{{Ethnic groups in Laos}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:Ethnic groups in Laos]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Laos]]

Latest revision as of 06:39, 24 September 2024

Mlabri
Total population
~400 (est.)
Regions with significant populations
Laos, Thailand
Languages
Mlabri, others
Religion
Christianity,[1][2] Animism[3]

The Mlabri (Thai:มลาบรี) or Mrabri, also called the Phi Tong Luang, are an ethnic group of Thailand and Laos, and have been called "the most interesting and least understood people in Southeast Asia".[4] Only about 400 or fewer Mlabris remain in the world today, with some estimates as low as 100. A hill tribe in northern Thailand along the border with Laos, they have been groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers. Those in Thailand live close to the Hmong and northern Thai. Those living in Laos live close to other ethnic groups.

Nomenclature

[edit]

The name Mlabri is a Thai/Lao alteration of the word Mrabri, which appears to come from a Khmuic term "people of the forest". In Khmu, mra means "person" and bri "forest". They are also known locally as Phi Tong Leuang (Thai: ผีตองเหลือง, Lao: ຜີຕອງເຫລືອງ) or "spirits of the yellow leaves", since they abandon their shelters when the leaves begin to turn yellow.

Genetics

[edit]

Genetic analysis of the Mlabri group by Hiroki Oota and colleagues led them to believe that their mtDNA has little diversity, suggesting the Mlabris originated 500 to 800 years ago from very few individuals. However, this was contested in the journal PLoS Biology in 2005 in an exchange of articles between Hiroki Oota and his colleagues and Tony Waters.

Lifestyle

[edit]

The Mlabri traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle. They moved frequently, and had no permanent houses, instead making temporary shelters from palm leaves and bamboo-string. They wore only a loin-covering of bark or cloth, though most Mlabri now wear factory-made clothes gained by trade with other hill tribes. They are hunter-gatherers, with most of their food coming from gathering. Women give birth alone in the forest, and infant mortality used to be very high.

The Mlabri have few regimented social ceremonies, and are said to have no formal religious system, though they believe in forest spirits and other nature spirit. Marriages are made with simple request; there is no bride-price. The dead are buried near where they expired, and the tribe moves on.

In 1938, Austrian anthropologist Hugo Bernatzik published an ethnography of the "Yellow Leaf People" which contained his brief observations of the tribe in the early 20th century.

Since the 1990s, the Mlabri in Thailand have settled into more permanent villages in Phrae and Nan provinces. The Thai government has declared the forest areas where they used to live to be state-owned forest reserves and discourages any Mlabri from returning there.[5] The houses in the permanent villages that the Mlabri now live in are made of cinderblock and wood, with metal roofs and even electricity. Mlabri children have started going to public schools, and their health care has improved.[6] It was reported in 2013 that the Mlabri's suicide rate has risen.[5] Mlabri villages have some economic activity. While still hunting and gathering, the Mlabri now engage in highland farming and hammock weaving, besides working as day laborers.

One of the Mlabri settlements in Nan Province is under the patronage of Princess Sirindhorn.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Chongwarothai, Methiphat & Moyadi, Pannachat (2014). Social Changes and Lifestyle of Mlabris in Tambol Mae Khaning, Amphur Wiangsa, Nan Province (PDF). Bangkok: Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University. p. 67.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Mlabri (Tong Lueang)" (PDF). Thai Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  3. ^ "Mlabri".
  4. ^ Schliesinger, Joachim, Ethnic Groups of Laos, vol. 2, ISBN 974-480-036-4, p. 187
  5. ^ a b Long, Mary, Eugene Long, and Tony Waters (2013) "Suicide Among the Mla Bri Hunter-Gatherers of Northern Thailand." Journal of the Siam Society (v. 101). [1]
  6. ^ Waters, Tony; สุขเสน่ห์, บุญยืน. "The Demographics of a Village of Recently Settled Hunter- Gatherers in Thailand". Journal of the Siam Society.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Bernatzik, Hugo, The Spirits of the Yellow Leaves Leipzig 1938; London: R. Hale. Translated by E. W. Dickson. 1958.
  • Long, Eugene, Mary Long, and Tony Waters. The Demography of a Settled Hunter Gatherer Group in Thailand." Journal of the SIam Society (v.105) 2017.
  • Long, Mary, Eugene Long, and Tony Waters. "Suicide Among the Mla Bri Hunter-Gatherers of Northern Thailand." Journal of the Siam Society (v. 101) 2013.
  • Nimonjiya, Shu, "From Ghosts to Hill Tribe to Thai Citizens: Towards a History of the Mlabri of Northern Thailand." Aseanie 32: 155-176, 2013.
  • Oota, Hiroki and others, "Recent Origin and Cultural Reversion of a Hunter-Gatherer Group", PLOS Biology, 2005 March, volume 3, number 3.
  • Rischel, Jurgen. Mlabri and Mon-Khmer: Tracking the history of a hunter-gatherer language. The Royal Danish Society of Sciences and Letters 2007.
  • Schliesinger, Joachim, Ethnic Groups of Laos, vol. 2, White Lotus 2000, pp. 187–197
  • Siam Society. "The Mlabri" Special issue of The Journal of the Siam Society Vol 51 (2) 1963. [2]
  • Waters, Tony, "Comment on 'Recent Origin and Cultural Reversion of a Hunter-Gatherer Group," PLoS Biology 2005 August, volume 3, number 8.
  • Trier, Jesper Invoking the Spirits - fieldwork on the material and spiritual life of the Mlabri, pp. 325, 2008 July ISBN 978-87-88415-47-6
[edit]
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