The Life of the Longhouse

An Archaeology of Ethnicity

Bibliographic Data

ID9401183
AuthorsPeter Metcalf (0000-0002-1550-0783, University of Virginia, corresponding author)
Year2009
Publication date2009-12-14
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueLife of the Longhouse (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9780511657467
OpenAlexW609879684
Open LibraryOL23725277M
ISBN9780511657467
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited68

For 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"--Provided by publisher

Ancient history · Archaeology · Assimilation (phonology · China · Context (archaeology) · Elite · Ethnic group · Ethnology · Frontier · Genealogy · Geography · Jungle · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Asian Studies and History · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law · Philippine History and Culture · Philosophy · Socioeconomic Development in Asia · Antiquities · Borneo · Brunei · Commerce · Community life · Ethnic groups · Ethnicity · Excavations (Archaeology) · Indonesia · Longhouses · politics and government · Social aspects · Social conditions · Social life and customs