The Life of the Longhouse: An Archaeology of EthnicityFor two centuries, travellers were amazed at the massive buildings found along the rivers that flow from the mountainous interior of Borneo. They concentrated hundreds of people under one roof, in the middle of empty rainforests. There was no practical necessity for this arrangement, and it remains a mystery. Peter Metcalf provides an answer by showing the historical context, using both oral histories and colonial records. The key factor was a pre-modern trading system that funneled rare and exotic jungle products to China via the ancient coastal city of Brunei. Meanwhile the elite manufactured goods traded upriver shaped the political and religious institutions of longhouse society. However, the apparent permanence of longhouses was an illusion. In historical terms, longhouse communities were both mobile and labile, and the patterns of ethnicity they created more closely resemble the contemporary world than any stereotype of "tribal" societies. |
Contents
LONGHOUSES | 31 |
Longhouses 3 I | 47 |
The Longhouse as Fortress 51 The Longhouse as Metropolis 61 To Lacle | 65 |
Abanjaus Community 66 Place and Ethnicity 67 Narrating | 76 |
The Coming of the Brooke Raj | 80 |
Aban Jaus Career | 89 |
Origins in the Usun Apau 90 Encounters with the Beraivan 90 Meeting | 106 |
Abanjaus Rivals 108 IntraBeraivan Rivalries 1 10 Selecting the Sites g | 120 |
The Lower Baram | 191 |
Epidemics and Community Size 193 Relations with Brunei 197 Slavery | 198 |
The Lemeting and Pelutan 200 Dispersal | 208 |
Meanings versus Survivals 213 God in the Details Once Again 215 | 222 |
Ritual in Operation 230 Agricultural Rites and Units ofProduction | 232 |
Dreams and Augury 236 Shamanism as Ultimate | 240 |
The Nulang Arc 243 The Communal Response to a Death 244 Debating | 255 |
Longhouses during the Raj | 261 |
Murder at a Funeral 124 Outside the Sultans Fence | 126 |
Inside the Sultans Fence 131 The Open Backdoor 134 The Persistence | 136 |
Port Cities ofSoutheast Asia 139 A Portrait cyrBrunei 141 The Exports | 147 |
Trading Expeditions 152 Bruneis Trading Communities | 157 |
The Linguistic Data | 181 |
Brooke Policy on Longhouse Residence 273 Brooke Policy | 282 |
When the Baram Flowed Backward 295 The People Upriver Become the Upriver | 309 |
Appendix | 323 |
| 341 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Aban Jau Aban Jau’s ancestors arrived attack autonym Baram watershed beads became Belaga Berawan Bintulu Borneo brassware Brooke Raj Brunei hinterland Burong Pingai canoes central Borneo Chapter Charles Hose Chinese coast colonial Consequently cultural described ethnic ethnographic ethnonyms expeditions farms find first floor flows funeral hinterland of Brunei Hose and McDougall Hose’s Iban indigenous influence Kachin Kayan raids Kelabit Kenyah languages Leach leaders Lelak Lepo Limbang linguistic lived Long Batan Long Jegan Long Kelejeo Long Taballau Long Teru Long Tisam longhouse communities Lower Baram Lun Bawang Malay Marudi Meanwhile Melanau Metcalf middle Baram migration Miri Moreover moved Murut neighbours nineteenth century nulang oflonghouse ofthe oral histories Orang Kaya Orang Ulu organised party Penan political population Rajah reflecting region residents rice rites ritual river Sarawak Gazette Sebop shaman Southeast Asia Sultan Tama Tama Lire Tinjar trade Tring Tutoh Upriver Usun Apau veranda villages