Textiles and Identity in Brunei Darussalam

Textiles and Identity in Brunei Darussalam PDF

Author: Siti Norkhalbi Haji Wahsalfelah

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13:

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Textiles and Identity in Brunei Darussalam examines the role of traditional textiles played in modern Brunei Darussalam. Hand-woven textiles are an important part of Brunei traditional culture. This book examines the types of textiles and the roles that they have played in different situations, such as serving as signifiers of social status, wealth, and political prominence. The study focuses on how locally woven textiles have been used to express and construct identity, especially Brunei Malay identity and Brunei national identity.

Traditional Woven Textiles

Traditional Woven Textiles PDF

Author: Siti Norkhalbi Haji Wahsalfelah

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13:

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Since its independence in 1984, politicians and nationalists in Brunei Darussalam have appealed to traditions in their efforts to create a national identity based on Brunei Darussalam’s national philosophy, Malay Islamic Monarchy’. Weaving is one of the traditions related to Brunei traditional culture, thus traditional textile is used to construct national identity. This study focuses on the role played by powerful institutions in the creation of new tradition in order to foster national awareness in the new state’ of Brunei Darussalam and I examine how traditional textiles are incorporated into the project of nation building. In Bruneian society, traditional woven cloths have multiple roles whose meanings vary according to the situation in which the traditional cloth is utilized. This research explores the significance of traditional textiles in Brunei Darussalam, focusing on the consumption of locally woven textiles in its traditions and the relationships to the expression and construction of identity. Since Islam came to Brunei Darussalam, it has become one of the predominant markers of identity of the Malays. This study analyse the influence of Islam in the production and consumption of traditional textile in Brunei Darussalam. The continuity of the production and consumption of traditional woven textile in Brunei Darussalam is very much dependent on its significant in the traditions of Brunei society as a whole. In order to prove this, this study focuses its investigation upon the production and uses of traditional textiles in the social customs of Malay society in Brunei Darussalam. Traditional woven textiles are employed to construct social identity in the reproduction of distinction. Traditional textiles are also offered to signify privilege and power. I examine how traditional textile is being used to distinguish social status and political prominence, denote offices, and display wealth and prestige.

Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Brunei

Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Brunei PDF

Author: Ooi Keat Gin

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-07-29

Total Pages: 437

ISBN-13: 1000568644

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The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Brunei presents an overview of significant themes, issues, and challenges pertinent to Brunei Darussalam in the twenty-first century. Multidisciplinary in coverage, the contributions cover topics relating to philology, history, religion, language and literature, geography, international relations, economics, politics and sociocultural traditions. The Handbook is structured in eight parts: Foundations History Faith and Ethnicity Literature Language and Education Economics Material Culture Empowerment Chapters focus on the recent past and contemporary developments in this unique country which has remained a Malay Muslim sultanate, sustaining its religious and traditional heritage encapsulated in the national philosophy, Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB, Malay Islamic Monarchy). The MIB philosophy represents the sultanate’s three pillars of social, cultural, political and economic sustainability, and the contributors discuss this concept in relation to the notion of ‘Malay’ or ‘Malaydom’, the official religion of the nation-state, Islam and monarchy as the essential system of government. This Handbook is an invaluable reference work for students of Asian and Southeast Asian Studies and researchers interested in what is demographically the smallest country within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Continuity and Change in Brunei Darussalam

Continuity and Change in Brunei Darussalam PDF

Author: Victor T. King

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-10-29

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 0429666977

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This book analyses the processes of social and economic change in Brunei Darussalam. Drawing on recent studies undertaken by both locally based scholars and senior researchers from outside the state, the book explores the underlying strengths, characteristics, and uniqueness of Malay Islamic Monarchy in Brunei Darussalam in a historical context and examines these in an increasingly challenging regional and global environment. It considers events in Brunei’s recent history and current socio-cultural transformations, which give expression to the traumatic years of decolonisation in Southeast Asia. A wide range of issues focus on foreign, non-Bruneian narratives of Brunei as against insider or domestic accounts of the sultanate, the status of minority ethnic groups in Brunei and the concept of ‘Brunei society’, as well as changes in the character and composition of the famous ‘water village’, Kampong Ayer, as the cultural heartland of Brunei Malay culture and the socio-cultural and economic effects of the resettlement of substantial segments of the population from a ‘life on water’ to a ‘life on land’. A timely and very important study on Brunei Darussalam, the book will be of interest to anthropologists, sociologists, historians, geographers, and area studies specialists in Southeast Asian Studies and Asian Studies.

(Re)presenting Brunei Darussalam

(Re)presenting Brunei Darussalam PDF

Author: Lian Kwen Fee

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-04-06

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 9811960593

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This thoughtful and wide-ranging open access volume explores the forces and issues shaping and defining contemporary identities and everyday life in Brunei Darussalam. It is a subject that until now has received comparatively limited attention from mainstream social scientists working on Southeast Asian societies. The volume helps remedy that deficit by detailing the ways in which religion, gender, place, ethnicity, nation-state formation, migration and economic activity work their way into and reflect in the lives of ordinary Bruneians. In a first of its kind, all the lead authors of the chapter contributions are local Bruneian scholars, and the editors skilfully bring the study of Brunei into the fold of the sociology of everyday life from multiple disciplinary directions. By engaging local scholars to document everyday concerns that matter to them, the volume presents a collage of distinct but interrelated case studies that have been previously undocumented or relatively underappreciated. These interior portrayals render new angles of vision, scale and nuance to our understandings of Brunei often overlooked by mainstream inquiry. Each in its own way speaks to how structures and institutions express themselves through complex processes to influence the lives of inhabitants. Academic scholars, university students and others interested in the study of contemporary Brunei Darussalam will find this volume an invaluable resource for unravelling its diversity and textures. At the same time, it hopefully stimulates critical reflection on positionality, hierarchies of knowledge production, cultural diversity and the ways in which we approach the social science study of Brunei. ‘I wish to commend the editors for bringing this volume to fruition. It is an important book in the context of Southeast Asian sociology and even more important for the development of our social, geographical, cultural and historical knowledge of Brunei.’ —Victor T. King, University of Leeds

Faith and Fashion in Turkey

Faith and Fashion in Turkey PDF

Author: Nazli Alimen

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2018-03-12

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 178673379X

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Turkey has witnessed remarkable sociocultural change under the regime of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), particularly regarding its religious communities. As individuals with pious identities have increasingly gained access to state power and accumulated economic influence, so religious appearances and practices have become more visible in Turkey's `secular' public spaces. More than this, consumption practices have changed and new Islamic and Islamist identities have emerged. This book investigates three of the most widespread faith-inspired communities in Turkey: the Gulen, Suleymanli and the Menzil. Nazli Alimen compares these communities, looking at their diverse interpretations of Islamic rules related to the body and dress, and how these different groups compete for power and control in Turkey. In tracing what motivates consumption practices, the book adds to the growing interest in the commercial aspects of modest and Islamic fashion. It also highlights the importance of clothing and bodily rituals (such as veiling, grooming and food choices) for the formation of community identities. Based on ethnographic research, Alimen analyses the relationship between the marketplace and religion, and shows how different communities interact with each other and state institutions. Of particular note are the varied expressions of Islamic masculinities and femininities at play. Appealing to a cross-disciplinary readership, the book will be relevant for scholars within Turkish Studies, Gender Studies, Islamic Studies, Fashion, Consumption Studies, Sociology of Religion and Middle Eastern Studies.

Labelling Identity

Labelling Identity PDF

Author: Rosila Bee Mohd Hussain

Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore

Published: 2021-06-07

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1543765025

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Over the last decade, Malay ethnic identity has taken on new life compared to religious identity in and outside Malaysia. This book explores key emblematic features of ethnic and religious identity and the idea of “Malayness” in Australia at a time when Islamic identity has gained prominence on the global stage. The author explores topics such as: • Religion as a powerful basis of personal and collective identification for Malay-Muslim postgraduate students in Western Australia; • Experiences of Malay-Muslim postgraduate students and their relation to Islamic values; • Islamic revivalism and the middle class; • Ethnic and religious factors related to interpersonal communication. Other studies on Malays in Australia tend to focus on the past instead of the problems that new Malays possibly going to face when they reach the continent. This book overcomes that limitation and makes headway in addressing cultural differences related to identity, ethnicity, and religion.

Engaging Modern Brunei

Engaging Modern Brunei PDF

Author: Hannah Ming Yit Ho

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-02-26

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 981334721X

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This book explores issues shaping and defining modern Bruneian identity. It addresses the research gap regarding Brunei studies in terms of the language, literature, and culture of Brunei which, with its bilingual education, is uniquely positioned at the intersection of the Malay and western worlds. The book analyses the linguistic, literary, and cultural modes that provide the backdrop for modern-day instantiations of local identity, as expressed through printed and online materials, film, art, and social practices. It compares Brunei English and Brunei Malay in the context of the literature and culture of Brunei. Readers will find it useful as an essential resource for academic scholars, university students, and others interested in the study of Brunei Darussalam's language, literature, and culture. It provides critical insights from an insiders' perspective into the local identity of the culturally diverse Bruneian society.

Monarchies and decolonisation in Asia

Monarchies and decolonisation in Asia PDF

Author: Robert Aldrich

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2020-06-05

Total Pages: 438

ISBN-13: 1526142716

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With original case studies of a more than a dozen countries, Monarchies and decolonisation in Asia offers new perspectives on how both European monarchs who reigned over Asian colonies and Asian royal houses adapted to decolonisation. As colonies became independent states (and European countries, and other colonial powers, lost their overseas empires), monarchies faced the challenges of decolonisation, republicanism and radicalism. These studies place dynasties – both European and ‘native’ – at the centre of debate about decolonisation and the form of government of new states, from the sovereigns of Britain, the Netherlands and Japan to the maharajas of India, the sultans of the East Indies and the ‘white rajahs’ of Sarawak. It provides new understanding of the history of decolonisation and of the history of modern monarchy.