Borneo and beyond: Reflections on borneo studies, anthropology and the social sciences

Abstract

This overview of research on Borneo, which moves on from Chap. 2, draws attention to Borneo-wide studies, reference materials, bibliographies and a range of sources of information. It arranges the survey chronologically, thematically and in terms of debates and controversies. With regard to themes, it is argued that George Appell’s categorisation of concepts, themes and materials on the Iban could, with modification, provide the basis for a Borneo-wide arrangement of research. The survey proceeds from a consideration of early materials on Kalimantan, ethnic and ethnographic infilling with some conceptual development in the 1960s and 1970s, which saw the development of field research in Brunei, extension of research in Sabah, a considerable increase of research in Kalimantan, and the consolidation of research on the Iban of Sarawak. The 1980s witnessed a significant focus on development issues, policy and practice, primarily carried out by local researchers. The 1990s and beyond saw an increasing interest in issues of culture and identity across a range of thematic concerns (see Chap. 8 ). The discussion of debates and controversies, aside from those discussed in Chap. 2 arising from Freeman’s work, comprise land tenure and rights in property; the Hoffman-derived Punan devolution issue; the intense debates about the traditional categorisation of Borneo societies as either egalitarian or hierarchical; the movement from a structuralist/corporatist interest in defined social units to one that emphasised fluidity, individual agency, networks and gender; and the definition and characterisation of the identity and social organisation of the Maloh of West Kalimantan.