Signifying Bereavement: Form and Context in the Analysis of Penan Death‐Names

A characteristic of the mortuary complexes of most central Bornean societies is the existence of systems of so‐called ‘death‐names’. Most death‐names are actually titles, given to persons on the death of a close relative. The most elaborate complex in Borneo exists among Western Penan hunter‐gatherers. This paper examines the Western Penan death‐name complex, with a view to addressing a basic issue of ethnographic description: how our definition of a phenomenon affects its translation. Previous treatments of death‐names have been based on assumptions about the systemic coherence of these complexes. This results in a detached, formalistic description that obscures the essential properties of the phenomenon: the affective force expressed in usage, the temporality inscribed in the process of appellation, and the social calculus that underlies decisions about the use of particular death‐names. A more appropriate entry point is one that begins with the context of death and bereavement, and frames decisions about usage with reference to the principles which Penan themselves invoke: the pull between affective position on the one hand, and curse avoidance on the other. Such an approach reveals more about the constitution of social being in Penan society than one based on a priori assumptions of systemic coherence.