AA30503 BORNEO ETHNOGRAPHY

LECTURER: PROF. DR. JACQUELINE PUGH-KITINGAN

LECTURE 2: DUSUNIC PEOPLESCASE

STUDY OF THE RUNGUS, Part I

1. INTRODUCTION
The Rungus inhabit 2/3 of the Kudat
Peninsula, the land south of Marudu Bay
and parts of the Bengkoka Peninsula.
The Rungus language is a member of the
Dusunic Family of Languages, of Bornean
Stock of West Austronesian Superstock of
Austronesian languages

Julie K. King. 1984 (reprinted 1997): 284

2. SOCIOECONOMIC SYSTEM
The Rungus have one of the most highly
developed traditional agricultural systems
in Borneo.
They are swidden agriculturalists who
cultivate hill rice as a staple, with maize
and tapioca. They also have extensive
fruit groves.
Pigs, chickens, karabau and dogs are also
raised

2. SOCIOECONOMIC SYSTEM
(cont.)
Rice swiddens -- circulating usufruct
Fruit groves -- devolvable usufruct

3. SOCIAL ORGANISATION
Descent, Gender & Residence
Bilateral kinship and descent
Normally Eskimo type kinship terminology
Gender balance
Live in villages composed of two or three
hamlets; each hamlet has one to three
longhouses.
Domestic family (conjugal or nuclear family) and
the village (not longhouse) are the basic units in
the economic, jural and ritual spheres

3. SOCIAL ORGANISATION
(cont.)

The Rungus longhouse (vinatang)

3. SOCIAL ORGANISATION
(cont.)
Each longhouse consists of 4 to 40
apartments joined from east to west (not
north to south)
Each apartment is usually occupied by a
conjugal family

Laura W.R. Appell 1988:6

ongkob

tingkang

ropuhan

apad

lansang

tingkang

tingkang of the apad

3. SOCIAL ORGANISATION
(cont.)
Marriage in Rungus Society
Exogamous with regard to all kin, and as
far as third cousins
Monogamy = norm; polygyny is rare,
polyandry is unknown
Legalised by bridewealth (or brideprice,
not dowry) or buru consisting of gongs,
brassware, jars from the dapu (heirlooms)
of the husbands family
Corporate bridewealth

dapu

3. SOCIAL ORGANISATION
(cont.)
Marriage in Rungus Society (cont.)
Husband & wife (savo) must mitimbang
(balance).
Post-nuptial residence is uxorilocal
The Rungus are highly moral, like most
peoples in Borneo. Adultery, fornication,
and incest are forbidden, and are believed
to incur severe punishment from the
spiritual world.

3. SOCIAL ORGANISATION:
Gender Relations

gender balance

RUNGUS MALE AND FEMALE ACTIVITIES

(Laura W.R. Appell, 1988:98-99)
Male Activities

Agricultural

Cleansing and burning for swiddens

Planting swiddens
Weeding swiddens
Harvesting swiddens
Dogs
Water buffaloe

Female Activities

Help in clearing up small debris prior

to planting
Planting swiddens
Weeding swiddens
Harvesting swiddens

Care and Raising of Domestic Animals

Pigs
Chickens

Hunting and Gathering

Hunting with spears for large game

Fishing with traps and nets for large fish
Gathering honey and orchard fruits

Gathering snails and shellfish

Fishing with scoops for small fish & prawns
Gathering wild roots, nuts, berries, and
vegetables

Domestic
Collecting firewood
-Tending children
Making knives, rope, fish traps, carrying
baskets

Husking the familys rice supplies

Carrying water
Tending children
Weaving, dyeing, sewing, making
rice- winnowing baskets

Marketing of agricultural surpluses

Bargaining for purchase of property

---

Property Accumulation

RUNGUS MALE AND FEMALE ACTIVITIES

(Laura W.R. Appell, 1988:98-99) (cont.)
Birthing and Child-Rearing
Midwifery
Child-rearing and nurture
-Ceremonies for swiddens
Minor ceremonies for longhouse
Ceremonies for property
Participation in village moot
Headmanship

Ritual aspects of birth

Child-rearing and nurture

Ritual

Communication with spirit world through

spirit familiars
Ceremonies for health and illness of
domestic family
Major ceremonies for longhouse
Ceremonies for village

Political Activities
--

bobolizan

3. SOCIAL ORGANISATION:
Gender Relations (cont.)
Both men and women may be bobolizan, but
only female bobolizan (priestesses/ spirit
mediums/shamans/ritual specialists) are spirit
mediums with spirit familiars (lumaag), whereas
male bobolizan are not
Female bobolizan are more powerful than male;
they can go into conscious trance (rundikon) and
perform a wide variety of rituals connected with
fertility of crops, livestock and humans, healing,
house-cooling and other ceremonies.
Male bobolizan only perform ceremonies
connected with land

References

Appell, George N. (1992) The Rungus: Social Structure in a Cognatic

Society and Its Ritual Symbolization. In G.N. Appell (ed.).The Societies of
Borneo: Explorations in the Theory of Cognatic Social Structure. Special
Publication of the American Anthropological Association, Washington D.C.
Appell, Laura W.R. (1988). Menstration among the Rungus of Borneo: An
Unmarked Category. Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstration.
Thomas Buckley and Alma Gottlieb (eds.). Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Appell, Laura W.R. Sex Role Symmetry Among the Rungus of Sabah. In
Vinson H. Sutlive Jr. (ed.). Female and Male in Borneo. Contributions and
Challenges to Gender Studies. Borneo Research Council Monograph, No.
1. Shanghai, VA: Ashley Printing Services, Inc.
King, Julie K. (1997 [1984]) The Rungus Language. In Julie K. King and
John Wayne King (eds.). Languages of Sabah: A Survey Report. Pacific
Linguistics C-78. Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian
National University.
Paul Porodong. (2001). Bobolizan, Forests and Gender Relations in
Sabah, Malaysia. Gender,Technology and Development. Asian Institute of
Technology, Bangkok. New Dehli: Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd.

THANK YOU