This book explores the religious and social significance of ancestors in the western and southern regions of Borneo, where ancestorship is important. ‘Ancestors are people who live on in the memory of individuals, groups, or entire societies through what they have transmitted to them’ (p. 12). In this conceptualisation, ancestors need not be genealogical forebears, in contrast with the traditional view of ancestorship in unilineal societies. All the contributions are excellent; furthermore, the authors approach the topic in a coherent manner in providing detailed ethnographic information. Most of the chapters are illustrated with photographs.
The excellent introduction by the editors places the issue in the broader context of Borneo and Southeast Asia, as well as the theoretical literature on ancestorship. Ancestors manifest themselves in different ways: as spirits in the spirit world or this world, as bodily remains and objects mediating contacts with ancestor spirits, and the idea of a heritage gained from forebears. There are two types of ancestors: spirits of the dead who emerge through mortuary rituals and ancestors who originate from outside the local social domain. Ancestor worship exists in the form of mortuary rituals with bone repositories, village shrines that mediate relations with community ancestors in a more indirect and anonymous manner, and the worship of ancestors who have become deities.
Sillander shows how the Bentian of East Kalimantan perceive ancestors as sources of power and authority in rituals and discourse. They are considered capable of influencing events and they are regularly contacted. In the category of ancestors, Sillander includes ‘dead people who have no, or an insufficiently known, genealogical connection to ego’ (p. 63). Secondary burial is usually reserved for influential people. People need to have been important in life before they can become ancestors, but a secondary burial adds to their potency. Indeed, a domestic unit may covertly assert its importance by undertaking a secondary burial for someone who was unremarkable in life. In any case, ancestors represent ‘society’, thus it is appropriate that they be referred to in an anonymous fashion, except for ancestors who had achieved renown.
Couderc shows how the Uut Danum of West Kalimantan contrast two forms of ancestorship, one that is generated through secondary burials, the other through the transformation of living people into spirit-animals. I learnt a lot from this important chapter, which operates at several registers. It is an ethnography and a contribution to grounded theory. Like Sillander's chapter, it makes extensive references with the literature on other Borneo societies and beyond.
Clifford Sather and Véronique Béguet contribute two chapters on the Iban. Sather analyses how Saribas Iban mortuary rituals generate ancestors. The Gawai Antu is an exercise in remembering the dead so that they continue to have efficacy in the living world. As for the Bentian described by Sillander, the recently dead become anonymous ancestors, but a few of them retain their individuality. A rare form of secondary burial for individuals of exceptional renown keeps them in the living world rather than the afterworld, so that they can be spirit heroes acting as regional guardians. In a thought-provoking chapter on the Iban of the Layar River, Béguet shows that deceased relatives metamorphosed into animal spirits become ancestors.
In a fascinating account, Christian Oesterheld shows how ‘ancestral magic’ from West Kalimantan was brought to Central Kalimantan in 2001 when the latter came in conflict with Madurese transmigrants. Because the people of West Kalimantan had had prior conflicts with the Madurese, indigenous people from Central Kalimantan asked for their help; in the process, they adopted West Kalimantan war rituals designed to obtain the assistance of West Kalimantan ancestors. This is linked to the development of a pan-Dayak identity in Kalimantan.
Richard Payne describes how the Benuaq of East Kalimantan interact with their ancestors through spirit possession. He gives a detailed description of a possession and attendant rituals through which a deceased relative is made into a guardian spirit. Among the Melanau of Sarawak, interaction with ancestors may be somewhat diluted by the fact that the overwhelming majority of them have become Muslim or Christian, but Ann Appleton shows that ancestors constitute a root metaphor.
Christine Helliwell looks at ancestral relationships between ritual hearts in Gerai (West Kalimantan), which identifies some domestic units as senior and ancestral to others. This interesting chapter expands on her previous discussion of the topic. In this case, ancestorship is not ascribed to individuals, but to domestic units.
Helliwell's chapter leads us back to the central theme of this book. Can we speak of ancestorship in cognatic societies? This book successfully demonstrates that ancestorship can be significant in any society in which forebears are relevant to and interested in living beings with whom they share an identity. Several chapters show that the distinction between ancestral and non-ancestral spirits is often unclear, but they can all be considered ancestral because they have enabled the existence and provided the cultural foundations of the living.
Other Borneo groups give little ritual importance to ancestors. However, there is a continuum rather than a black-and-white contrast between Borneo societies that emphasise ancestorship and those that do not. For instance, the Kayan, who do not emphasise ancestors in ritual contexts, nevertheless show some parallels with the societies discussed in this book. In particular, Kayan domestic units and longhouses are considered to be corporations that retain their identity through the centuries. In this respect, there is a close comparison to be made with Helliwell's Gerai. I have found this book to be consistently fascinating and thought-provoking.
