History, Headhunting and Gender in Monsoon Asia

Abstract

In what must be regarded as a preliminary foray into the subject, this paper considers the topic of ‘headhunting’ in South East Asia in relation to three separate but interconnected historiographical questions. First, to what extent is it possible to make comparative generalizations across regions separated by the academic creation of area studies? Second, what methods are available for reconstructing the past of poorly documented and remote communities? Third, how would the picture of ‘traditional’ warfare shift if historians were to consider the implications of conflict from a gendered perspective? In response to this final question, the paper argues that while headhunting was clearly important to men, who acquired great status in their own eyes and in the eyes of other men, women also saw those who participated as more virile and thus highly desirable as lovers, husbands and potential fathers. Moreover, women played a significant part in the rituals that accompanied headhunting, while the sexuality implicit in headhunting guaranteed their fertility, the fertility of their crops and the health of their children and kinsfolk.

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