Academy of Brunei Studies

The paper addresses ambiguities in the negotiation of indigenous cultural identities and the relevance of Brunei case materials to this issue. A useful theoretical approach is to consider how 'nativeness' in nature is understood, and how societal assumptions on this matter mesh with views about who is 'native' or 'indigenous' in society. Preliminary material from Brunei will be presented, commenting on the relation between three apparent conceptual categories: Malay (Bruneian); Other Indigenous; & Other 'races'. How do citizens in Brunei understand the question of societal 'belonging' across these identity categories? Can non-Malay persons ever become 'indigenous', and, if not, can they ever achieve 'belonging' in Brunei society? Furthermore, how does the idea of a distinctive suite of 'native' species of plants and animals fit with national identity boundaries across the island of Borneo, in this case, Brunei? Is there, for example, any usage of 'nature' in the construction of key cultural identities across this society?

Dari catatan sejarah menunjukkan bahawa Negara Brunei Darussalam kaya dengan khazanah budaya material. Istilah budaya material ini juga merangkumi hasil pertukangan tangan atau kraftangan yang dicipta untuk memenuhi keperluan masyarakat yang selalunya mempunyai kepentingan sesuai dengan perubahan dan perkembangan semasa. Budaya material mempunyai peranan yang wajar dan realistik dalam kehidupan sama ada di rumah atau pada peringkat komuniti. Di samping itu hasil kraftangan ini juga mempunyai kepenting simbolik , seperti perlambangan identiti budaya dan bangsa.

The long lasting of production and consumption of woven cloth in Brunei Darussalam depend fully upon its significance in the tradition of Malay society.  Among the Malays in Brunei, tradition is one aspects of life  signifying  identity and heritage that must be protected and preserved.  Process of globalization and modernization have contributed in enhancing textile culture in Brunei Darussalam, but at the same time, they have also been influencing and challenging the production and consumption of Brunei traditional woven cloths. These influences and challenges need to be faced accordingly.  This paper discuss the importance of traditional woven cloth in Brunei Malay tradition, including its consumption in celebration of life and death.  Challenges faced in the production and consumption of such textile will also be examined.  In addition, future planning and strategies need to be done.  This paper also looks into measures taken and put forward suggestions to ensure the continuity of this cultural heritage.

The period 1200-1600 CE saw a radical transformation from simple chiefdoms to kingdoms (in archaeological terminology, complex chiefdoms) across lowland South Sulawesi, a region that lay outside the ‘classical’ Indicized parts of Southeast Asia. The rise of these kingdoms was stimulated and economically supported by trade in prestige goods with other parts of island Southeast Asia, yet the development of these kingdoms was determined by indigenous, rather than imported, political and cultural precepts. Starting in the thirteenth century, the region experienced a transition from swidden cultivation to wet-rice agriculture; rice was the major product that the lowland kingdoms of South Sulawesi exchanged with archipelagic traders.

Stephen Druce demonstrates this progression to political complexity by combining a range of sources and methods, including oral, textual, archaeological, linguistic and geographical information and analysis as he explores the rise and development of five South Sulawesi kingdoms, known collectively as Ajattappareng (the Lands West of the Lakes).

The author also presents an inquiry into oral traditions of a historical nature in South Sulawesi. He examines their functions, their processes of transmission and transformation, their uses in writing history and their relationship to written texts. He shows that any distinction between oral and written traditions of a historical nature is largely irrelevant, and that the South Sulawesi chronicles, which can be found only for a small number of kingdoms, are not characteristic (as historians have argued) but exceptional in the corpus of indigenous South Sulawesi historical sources.

The book will be of primary interest to scholars of pre-European-contact Southeast Asia, including historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists and geographers, and scholars with a broader interest in oral tradition and the relationship between the oral and written registers.