Memorial.

PETER R. GOETHALS

1926-2000

Peter R. Goethals, 73, Southeast Asian anthropologist, died of prostate cancer on May 8, 2000, at his home in Holualoa, Hawaii. He was the grandson of General George W. Goethals, chief engineer in the construction of the Panama Canal and first governor of the Canal Zone. Peter served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific from 1944-46. He received his A.B. cum laude in anthropology from Harvard in 1950, and his Ph.D. in anthropology from Yale University in 1961 on the basis of research on kinship and marriage in Western Sumbawa. This led to a number of publications on Sumbawan society and language. Peter taught anthropology at the University of Virginia, University of North Carolina, and Duke University.

Peter and I were life long friends from our first meeting as undergraduate students in anthropology at Harvard following WWII. In 1962 Laura and I had a lovely visit from Peter at our field site among the Rungus Momogun, which permitted us to engage in long discussions on anthropological research. In addition to his research on Sumbawa, he did research on landlord-tenant relations among padi farmers in Trengganu and studied the problems of agricultural reform legislation in padi growing areas on behalf of the Ford Foundation and the Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture. Under sponsorship of the Asia Foundation and the Sabah Ministry of Local Government, Peter made a study of the problems of the administration of native law and custom in Sabah in 1965. He also worked as an applied anthropologist on several USAID projects in Indonesia and was director of the Social Science Training Station at Hassanuddin University, Ujung Pandang, Sulawesi 1976-77.

For his 50th reunion book at Harvard (2000) he wrote the following: To me they [referring to his research and projects in Indonesia and Malaysia] have demonstrated not only the universally vital linkage between sound research and effective social science teaching, but also the value potential of "hands on" development assistance...(such as, for example, teaching in the language of the host country). Whatever the fascinations of living and working in this part of the world, reminders of highly-intractable, long-range problems abound: authoritarian government, unchecked population growth, and rampant ecological destruction. Obvious but perhaps less basic problems include: a controlled press, interethnic conflict, widespread poverty, unemployment, pervasive political corruption, and lingering foreign economic exploitation...there is so much worldwide disarray, rootlessness, conflict, and resource discrepancy between groups that tough and tumultuous times lie in the near future.

Peter was a lovely man, considerate, with empathy for others, and a positive outlook on life and a wry sense of humor. He is remembered not only for his kindness but also for his stimulating, witty intelligence, and grace, and a well-honed sense of right and wrong, justice and injustice. He will be sorely missed by his friends and colleagues.

He leaves his wife and childhood sweetheart, the author Sandol Stoddard; a daughter, Stephanie Goethals Grobel by his first wife, and two grandchildren. (George N. Appell, P.O. Box A., Phillips, Maine, 04966, U.S.A.)

Publications Relevant to Sabah

Goethals, Peter R.

1966 Three Measures for Inducing Judicial Change in Sabah's Native Courts. Report submitted to the Ministry of local Government, Jesselton.

1967 Review of the Film: William R. Geddes: The Land Dayak of Borneo. American Anthropologist 69:127.

1993 Gelenggang Dahulu: A Glimpse of Sabah's Native Court System in 1965. In: Change and Development in Borneo: Selected Papers from the First Extraordinary Conference of the Borneo Research Council, Kuching, Sarawak, Vinson H. Sutlive, Jr., editor. Williamsburg, VA: The Borneo Research Council.

n.d. Justice or Law: Native Court Authority in Rural Sabah.

n.d. Social Control and Custom Law in Sabah: A Preliminary Survey. Report to be submitted to the Ministry of Local Government, Jesselton, Sabah, Malaysia.

Goethals, Peter R. and Eldon D. Smith

1965 Tenancy Among Padi Cultivators in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Ministry of Agriculture.