COPING WITH CHANGE

Abstract

This article examines the nature of agrarian transition and rural transformation in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Although rural change is not new on the island, the speed and penetration wrought by current processes of change is far-reaching. The consequences have been uneven for indigenous communities: some have benefited from infrastructure projects like roads and schools and from proximity to employment in urban centers, but others have lost their land and face a depleted natural resource base and increasing difficulties in making a living in the village. This article argues that these processes are gendered in nature as men and women decide either to leave (whether singly or with their families) or stay put in the villages. Little research has been done on the gender dimension of agrarian transition in Sarawak. This article pieces together fragmented accounts to present a picture of how women effect as well as are affected by these changes.

Notes

^1. Abdul Rahman Embong 2008, 29-30.

^3. Hong 1987, 47.

^4. For a detailed elucidation of land laws in Sarawak, see Cramb 2007, 228.

^2. James Brooke was followed by his nephew, Charles, and the latter's son, Vyner Brooke.

^5. Hong 1987, 73.

^6. Ibid, 130.

^7. Ichikawa 2007.

^8. Ibid., 409.

^9. Hansen 2005, 181.

^10. Hansen 2005.

^11. Wadley and Mertz 2005.

^12. Colchester et al. 2007, 22.

^13. Cramb 2007, 267.

^15. Cooke 2002, 203.

^14. Colchester et al. 2007, 30.

^20. Ibid.

^16. Ibid

^17. Cooke, 2006, 36.

^18. Cochester et al. 2007, 2.

^19. Cramb 2007.

^21. Cramb 2007, 248.

^22. Coalition of Concerned NGOs on Bakun 1999, 27.

^23. Ibid., 49.

^24. Hew 2003.

^25. Ibid.

^26. Hansen 2005.

^27. Gerrits 1994.

^28. Wadley and Mertz 2005.

^29. For more on the Iban custom of bejalai, see Kedit 1993.

^30. Freeman 1955, 225.

^31. Hamid Bugo and Hatta Solhee 1988, 23.

^32. Hansen 2005.

^33. Hew 2007.

^34. Chiew 2008.

^35. Sarawak Women for Women Society n.d.

^36. Hew and Kedit 1987.

^37. Ibid.

^38. Coalition of Concerned NGOs on Bakun 1999, 67.

^39. Hew 2007.

^41. Glutinous rice and coconut milk cooked inside bamboo.

^42. Chinese glutinous rice and meat dumplings wrapped in special leaves and boiled.

^40. Hew 2003, 141–43.

^43. Bidayuh, like the Iban, are a group of indigenous people.

^44. Hew 2003.

^45. Ibid.

^47. Ibid., 91.

^46. Ryoji 2007.

^48. Hew and Kedit 1987, 212.

^49. Sutlive 1984.

^50. Sebli 2008.

^51. Hew 2007.

^52. Sebli 2008, 13–14.

^53. Ibid.

^55. Hew 2007, 48–49.

^54. Hew and Kedit 1987, 195.

^56. Bala 2007; Ling (2007) had a similar finding.

^57. Bala 2007, 124.

^58. Ibid., 129.

^59. Ling 2007.