| Popis: |
This article describes Timugon ritual prestations of bridewealth, rice, and water buffalo with the aim of illuminating the nature of Timugon social structure and the processes of reproduction and change in Timugon social units and relations. We begin by describing the values the Timugon place upon residence, consanguinity, and affinity, and then examine how social actors engage one another to create affinal networks which serve them for much of their lives. We will explore the mechanisms by which they reproduce their social system, the motivating values which stimulate and sustain actor participation, and the characteristics and duration of the affinal networks. The Timugon, located in the southwest ofthe state of Sabah, East Malaysia, speak a dialect of the Ida'han Murut languages. They are linguistically and culturally distinct from the Sarawak, or Kelabic Murut, and related groups in Kalimantan, the Indonesian side of Bomeo. Numbering between 80,000 and 90,000, the Timugon occupy a small, well-defined geographic area, spanning about twenty miles from north to south and approximately five miles east to west. Over half of the Timugon villages are situated on the western banks of the Pegalan River running south through the fertile Tenom valley, with a few on its eastern bank and the remaining on the eastern side of the Padas River, which flows from the south. Above the confluence of these two rivers is the town of Tenom, the district center and market town for the local people. The field research for this paper was conducted by Brewis as part of a larger program of research on the language and culture of the Timugon people. Residing for extended periods between 1983 and 1989 in the village of Natanduan, five miles north of Tenom, Brewis conducted extensive ethnographic interviewing and partici? pant observation. Systematic observation and data collection on Timugon presta? tions and social structure has been the focus of field research during 1987 and 1988, with Lingenfelter serving in a consulting and supporting role. |
