This thoughtful and wide-ranging open access volume explores the forces and issues shaping and defining contemporary identities and everyday life in Brunei Darussalam. It is a subject that until now has received comparatively limited attention from mainstream social scientists working on Southeast Asian societies. The volume helps remedy that deficit by detailing the ways in which religion, gender, place, ethnicity, nation-state formation, migration and economic activity work their way into and reflect in the lives of ordinary Bruneians. In a first of its kind, all the lead authors of the chapter contributions are local Bruneian scholars, and the editors skilfully bring the study of Brunei into the fold of the sociology of everyday life from multiple disciplinary directions. By engaging local scholars to document everyday concerns that matter to them, the volume presents a collage of distinct but interrelated case studies that have been previously undocumented or relatively underappreciated. These interior portrayals render new angles of vision, scale and nuance to our understandings of Brunei often overlooked by mainstream inquiry. Each in its own way speaks to how structures and institutions express themselves through complex processes to influence the lives of inhabitants. Academic scholars, university students and others interested in the study of contemporary Brunei Darussalam will find this volume an invaluable resource for unravelling its diversity and textures. At the same time, it hopefully stimulates critical reflection on positionality, hierarchies of knowledge production, cultural diversity and the ways in which we approach the social science study of Brunei.
‘I wish to commend the editors for bringing this volume to fruition. It is an important book in the context of Southeast Asian sociology and even more important for the development of our social, geographical, cultural and historical knowledge of Brunei.’ ―Victor T. King, University of Leeds
Author(s): Lian Kwen Fee, Paul J. Carnegie, Noor Hasharina Hassan
Series: Asia in Transition, 20
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 361
City: Singapore
Preface and Acknowledgements
Prologue
Contents
Editors and Contributors
Abbreviations and Acronyms
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction: Towards a Sociology of the Everyday in Brunei Darussalam
References
Part I Everyday Social Organisation of Religious Life
2 Traditional Malay Marriage Ceremonies in Brunei Darussalam: Between Adat and Syariah
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Data Collection
2.3 Understanding Adat and Its Practices
2.4 The Assimilation of Ideas and Culture
2.5 Adat in Traditional Brunei Malay Marriage Ceremonies
2.5.1 Berbedak Siang/Mandi
2.5.2 Malam Berbedak
2.5.3 Berinai/Berpacar
2.5.4 Bersanding
2.5.5 Mulih Tiga atau Tujuh Hari
2.5.6 Summarising Wedding Customs
2.6 Adat and Islam in Brunei Darussalam
2.7 Negotiating Adat and Islam in Traditional Marriage Ceremonies
2.7.1 Berbedak Siang/Mandi
2.7.2 Malam Berbedak
2.7.3 Berinai/Berpacar
2.7.4 Bersanding
2.7.5 Mulih Tiga atau Tujuh Hari
2.8 Conclusion
References
3 Halal Certification in Brunei Darussalam: Bureaucratisation in Everyday Life
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Methodology and Data Collection
3.3 Halal Certificate and Halal Label (Amendment) Order 2017
3.4 Situating Brunei’s Halal Certification Comparatively
3.4.1 Halal Certification System: Malaysia
3.4.2 Halal Certification System: Singapore
3.5 Halal in Brunei
3.5.1 Halal Food Control Division
3.5.2 Piawai Brunei Darussalam
3.6 Impacts of Halal Certification on the Food and Beverage Industry
3.6.1 The Respondents
3.6.2 Halal Certification and the Halal Logo
3.6.3 What is Halal? Between Practice and Certification
3.6.4 Limitations of Halal Certification
3.7 Halalan Thayyiban: A Question of Quality and Hygiene
3.8 Conclusion
References
4 Youth Religiosity and Social Media in Brunei Darussalam
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Young People’s Lived Religiosity and Digital Media Engagement
4.3 Researching Young People’s Religiosities
4.4 Questioning Religiosity and Managing Moral Policing
4.5 Challenging Intergenerational Religiosities and Status Quo
4.6 Young People’s Religious Culture and Lived Religiosities: A Reflection
4.7 Conclusion
References
5 Food Choices and the Malay Muslim Middle Class in Brunei Darussalam
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The Brunei Middle Class
5.3 Mealtimes at Home
5.4 Eating Out
5.5 Conclusion
References
Part II Negotiating Gender Expressions
6 Learning Gender in Malay Muslim Society in Brunei Darussalam
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Gendering Colours
6.3 Male, Female and Clothing According to Malay Islamic Monarchy (Melayu Islam Beraja)
6.4 Proper Conduct and Proper Toys
6.5 Males First, Females Afterwards
6.6 How Gender Can Be Disgusting (Barigali)
6.7 How Adults View Children
6.8 Conclusion
References
7 Older Malay Muslim Women in Brunei Darussalam: A Non-Western Conception of Aging
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Methodology
7.3 Conceptualising Aging: A Postcolonial Turn
7.4 Gendered Discourses of Aging
7.5 Acceptance of Aging
7.5.1 Becoming Spiritual
7.5.2 Kumpulan Muslimah
7.6 (Re)-Imagining Future Aging: Needs, Aspirations and Expectations
7.7 Conclusion
References
8 Domestic Maids (Amah) in Malay Households in Brunei Darussalam
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Methodology
8.3 Situating Gendered Migration and Domestic Work
8.3.1 Female Migrant Domestic Workers in Southeast Asia
8.4 Domestic Maids in Brunei Malay Households
8.4.1 Interview Sessions
8.5 Findings
8.5.1 Challenges of Working as a Domestic Maid
8.5.2 Familial Separation
8.5.3 Managing Financial Expenditure
8.5.4 Occupational Empowerment
8.5.5 Finding Job Value
8.6 Conclusion
References
9 Pengangun: Female Ritual Specialists for Malay Weddings in Brunei Darussalam
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Methodology
9.3 Distinctions and Legitimacy
9.4 Islamised Pengangun
9.5 Wedding Rituals
9.6 Syariah Law and Pengangun
9.7 Conclusion
References
Part III Interpreting Space and Place
10 Belonging and Unbelonging in Kampong Ayer, Brunei Darussalam
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Methodology
10.3 Conceptualising Space and Identity
10.4 Situating Kampong Ayer
10.5 Three Narratives on Place, Identity and Belonging in Kampong Ayer
10.6 Conclusion
References
11 The Sociocultural Significance of Homeownership in Brunei Darussalam
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Attaching Values to Houses
11.3 Study Participants
11.4 The Brunei Way
11.5 The Value of Housing in Brunei
11.6 Conclusion
References
12 Merantau: The Worldview and Praxis of Javanese Migrants in Brunei Darussalam
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Merantau: Worldview and Praxis
12.3 International Migration in the Indonesian Context
12.4 The Brunei Context
12.5 Indonesian Migrant Workers in Brunei
12.5.1 Statistical Data
12.5.2 Respondents’ Profile
12.6 Conversations and Narratives
12.6.1 The Village and Jakarta
12.6.2 Brunei
12.7 Conclusion
References
Part IV Contemporary Ethnic and Social Identity Formation
13 Negotiating Assimilation and Hybridity: The Identity of Chinese-Malays in Brunei Darussalam
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Conceptualising Identity, Assimilation and Hybridity
13.3 Methodological Approach
13.4 Situating the Identity of the Chinese-Malays in Brunei
13.5 Negotiating Chinese-Malay Cultural Practices
13.6 Between and Betwixt: The Challenges of Living in a Liminal Space
13.7 Conclusion
References
14 Zoomers in Brunei Darussalam: Language Use, Social Interaction and Identity
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Language and Social Interaction (LSI)
14.3 The Speakers and the Data
14.4 General Observations and Salient Features
14.5 Language Alternation: Malay to English
14.6 Language Alternation: English to Malay
14.7 Conclusion
References
15 From Migrants to Citizens: The Iban of Melilas Longhouse, Brunei Darussalam
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Fieldwork and Interviews
15.3 Background Literature
15.4 The Iban: An Ethnic Profile
15.5 Origins and Settlement of the Melilas Longhouse
15.6 Informants
15.7 Migration from Sarawak to Brunei, 1942–1960
15.8 Being Bruneian after 1960: ‘We need a school’
15.8.1 To Serve and Be Loyal to the King (Daulat kepada Raja)
15.9 Becoming Muslim in 1992
15.10 The Making of a Longhouse
15.10.1 The Longhouse in Melilas
15.10.2 Permanent Resettlement
15.11 Conclusion
References
Glossary of Non-English Terms
Index
