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GOOD WALLS MAKE BAD NEIGHBOURS: THE DAYAK LONGHOUSE AS A COMMUNITY OF VOICES
Author(s) -
Helliwell Christine
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
oceania
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1834-4461
pISSN - 0029-8077
DOI - 10.1002/j.1834-4461.1992.tb02393.x
Subject(s) - sociology , ethnic group , library science , media studies , history , anthropology , computer science
Within the anthropology of Borneo, the Dayak longhouses found throughout the island have typically been depicted as each consisting of little more than a line of independent household apartments. It has consistently been argued, within this literature, that any apparent communality suggested by the fact that a number of apartments are joined into a single longhouse structure is an illusion; that each apartment is in fact a highly discrete entity. In this view, the ‘independent’ character of an apartment reflects a priority of household over community within Dayak social organization. Several ethnographers have taken this so far as to draw a parallel between the structure of a Dayak longhouse — with its ‘public’ veranda and ‘private’ walled-off household areas — and that of an English-style street of semi-detached houses (see, for example, Geddes 1957:29; Freeman 1970:7, 1958:20).