Iban of Western Borneo The Iban are rice farmers living along rivers in Western Borneo, especially..

Iban of Western Borneo The Iban are rice farmers living
along rivers in Western Borneo, especially in the province of Sarawak,
Malaysia. Their social system centers on an autonomous unit called a bilek or
family whose members are related through bilateral ties. The bilek controls
land collectively and owns ritual property. Members of the family work
cooperatively in economic tasks, especially but not limited to farming the rice
fields that supply their basic subsistence. The bilek also owns and occupies a
section of the longhouse dwelling that typifies Iban society. An Iban
settlement

Iban of Western Borneo The Iban are rice farmers living
along rivers in Western Borneo, especially in the province of Sarawak,
Malaysia. Their social system centers on an autonomous unit called a bilek or
family whose members are related through bilateral ties. The bilek controls
land collectively and owns ritual property. Members of the family work
cooperatively in economic tasks, especially but not limited to farming the rice
fields that supply their basic subsistence. The bilek also owns and occupies a
section of the longhouse dwelling that typifies Iban society. An Iban
settlement contains one longhouse that is structurally divided into several
apartment-like units. Most longhouses contain between ten and twenty bilek
units (Freeman 1970, 184). A bilek itself consists of three generations: an
elder couple, one of their married sons or daughters, his or her spouse and
children, and the elder couples unmarried children. Siblings have equal rights
as to who will remain with their parents. The Iban show no preference based on
gender or seniority. Decisions about where a new couple resides are made on the
basis of personal choice and negotiation about access to resources. The son or
daughter who remains has full rights to bilek land and other property, whereas
sons or daughters who leave to reside with the families of their spouses give
up their ancestral rights and instead gain access to the land and property of
their spouses family. That is, residence, not genealogy alone, confers social,
economic, and ritual rights. When more than one sibling and spouse claim the
natal bilek unit, one of the siblings will eventually leave and set up his own
bilek unit (with spouse and children), beginning the process of descent and
affiliation anew. Looked at as a structure over time, the bilek family
persists, but its members change as generations succeed generations and as
siblings unite and then separate to form their own families. The separate
families that together occupy a longhouse form a community distinct from
similar communities. Longhouses are dispersed at irregular intervals along
river banks (Freeman 1970, 184). They are the residential bases of a community.
The residents have ritual responsibilities toward one another and ensure their
collective well-being through the proper performance of rituals. Each longhouse
has a headman who can help resolve disputes and advise residents on appropriate
behavior in keeping with customs and beliefs. When a headman dies or retires,
any male resident of the longhouse can succeed him. The choice is made by
community consensus.