This work offers a comprehensive description of the lives of the
Sama-Bajau people based on ongoing ethnographic research conducted by
the author in Davao City, the Philippines, for over two decades. The
Sama-Bajau have suffered stigmatization in Philippine society, even
though the true picture of their lives, both as a community and as
individuals, has been largely unknown to the outside world.
An Intimate Journey objectively portrays various aspects of the lives
of six Sama-Bajau families, including economics, politics and religion,
and at the same time reveals their inner worlds to the reader through
the abundant inclusion of first-person narratives. Each chapter takes
the form of a letter addressed to "absent others" - the dead and the
unborn in the study field - as a story retold by the author to be passed
down to future generations. The author hopes that this book will be read
by not only those interested in Southeast Asia or the Sama-Bajau, but
also those concerned with the question of the relationship between
economics and ethics or care, as well as the question of the future
direction of humanity and society.
More specifically, this relates to the risks facing the communities and
individuals who tend to be considered "bottommost" according to the
efficiency standards of the contemporary neo-liberal market economy,
bringing to the fore the wisdom they use in surviving the challenges
they face, how they should be understood and what actions should be
taken to intervene in their circumstances.
