The nature of social groupings among the Rungus Dusun of Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

The Rungus are an ethnic group who live in Sabah, Malaysia, and who speak one of the many Dusun dialects or languages. They traditionally live in longhouses and are swidden agriculturalists. The social organization of the Rungus is essentially cognatic with either an Hawaiian type or Eskimo type of kinship terminology being used depending on the social situation. The major social groupings are the domestic family, the longhouse, and the village. In the economic, ritual, and jural realms the domestic family and village are considered for various purposes as entities, corporate groupings, while the longhouse is never considered as such an entity with but one minor exception in the ritual realm.