Semai Ontologies, eco-touristic expressions, and actor-networks in the Bukit Kinta Rainforest

This thesis investigates how the Semai people have reflexively translated their epistemologies and ontologies into the discourses of other actors to engender a greater sense of security in the Bukit Kinta Rainforest. By tracing the community’s supportive networks that are maintained with spirits, animals, and the environment, as well as their alliances with other social forces, it posits that “micro-actors” such as the Semai people are not inherently weaker than “macro-actors” like the NGOs or Ecotourism Resorts. Rather, power relations in the Bukit Kinta Rainforest must be examined from a perspective which accounts for all the actors/actants on unilateral terms.