Running amok : an historical inquiry / John C. Spores.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Spores, John C.

Contributor:

Ohio University. Center for Southeast Asian Studies.

Series:

Monographs in international studies. Southeast Asia series ; no. 82.

Monographs in international studies. Southeast Asia series ; no. 82

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychoses--Malaya--History.

Psychoses.

Homicide--Malaya--Psychological aspects--History.

Homicide.

Cultural psychiatry.

Psychological aspects.

History.

Malaya.

Physical Description:

x, 179 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Center for International Studies, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 1988.

Summary:

Amok, one of the few Malay words commonly appearing in English, names a syndrome of unpredictable and indiscriminate homicidal behavior with suicidal intent. In tracing the development of this behavioral pattern, Spores examines historical data, including frequently colorful colonialist accounts of such episodes, from British Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies during the period 1800-1925.

Historically prominent in martial contexts, amok behavior in this realm fostered and reinforced the occurrence of individualized amok behavior outside the martial context, with the curious combination of martial legitimacy and honor eventually accuring to solitary manifestations.

Spores presents a basic etiological distinction between reactive-motivated and spontaneous, unmotivated amok; the one an intentional act capable of establishing or restoring dignity and self-respect; the other a result of organic disturbance. He also explores the social-psychological dynamics of engagement in the two types of solitary amok and suggests possible behavioral chains. Further, his study demonstrates the impact of social forces and processes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century which significantly altered factors in traditional Malay society important in generating expressions of solitary amok.

Running Amok demonstrates the utility of bringing historical data to bear on the examination of specific social phenomena, particularly suggesting that the understanding of some present-day forms of mental disorder or other aberrant or deviant behavior can be facilitated and enriched though such analysis.

Contents:

The Amok of Imam Mamat 1

Areas of Inquiry 6

Methodology 8

Organization of the Analysis 10

2. Martial Amok: South Indian and Malaysian Chronologies 11

Martial Amok in India 11

Martial Amok in the Malay World 20

Summary and Comparison: Indian and Malay Martial Amok 27

3. Solitary Amok in the Malay World: A Chronology and Selected Cases 31

Solitary Amok: A Chronology 31

Solitary Amok: Selected Cases 40

Case 1 Sunan 41

Case 2 Hadji Ibrahim 45

Case 3 Ngah Gafur 47

Case 4 Nyan 49

Case 5 Meng 52

Case 6 Man 56

Martial and Solitary Amok In Summation 60

4. Solitary Amok: Characteristics, Reactions, and Trends 61

Social Characteristics of the Amok-Runner 61

Prelude to Solitary Amok 63

The Amok Attack 66

Weaponry 68

Reactions to Solitary Amok 71

Other Malay Responses 72

Other Western Responses 75

Rate of Occurrence 85

5. Solitary Amok: an Etiological Review and Discussion 91

Etiological Factors in Solitary Amok 91

Drug Intoxication 91

Epilepsy 96

Malarial and Other Physiological Infection 97

The Influence of Islam 98

Primitive Mentality 102

Solitary Amok: An Etiological Classification 104

Type I

Reactive-Motivated Solitary Amok 106

Type II

Spontaneous Unmotivated Solitary Amok 108

6. Solitary Amok: Incidence and Social Context 111

The Traditional Social Context: Malay Political Organization 112

Prevailing Conditions in the Peninsula and Archipelago 115

British Intervention and Ascendance in the Peninsula 121

Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Dutch Impact in Indonesia 128

The European Impact and Solitary Amok 133.

Notes:

Bibliography: pages 169-179.

ISBN:

0896801403

OCLC:

17621988