Rituel, politique, organisation sociale et ethnogenèse : les Aoheng de Bornéo

Ritual, Politics, Social Organisation and Ethnogenesis: the Aoheng of Borneo by Bernard Sellato Through a study the history of the Aoheng of Borneo, this paper attempts first to elucidate the connection between ritual - or, rather, traditional religion as expressed in ritual - and ethnic identity. It shows that ritual, the basis for the emergence of the Aoheng as a new composite ethnic entity, is a major factor in ethnogenesis. Through a study of social organization, it shows how a major ritual, pengosang, has been utilized by an ethnic fraction of the Aoheng as a political tool to counterbalance the formal political prominence achieved by another ethnic fraction through social stratification and maintain control of all aspects of the village's political life, in domestic affairs as well as in foreign relations.Sellato Bernard. Rituel, politique, organisation sociale et ethnogenèse : les Aoheng de Bornéo. In: Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient. Tome 79 N°2, 1992. pp. 45-66