Heirlooms and marriage payments

Abstract

Drawing from literature and ethnography, this article attempts to distinguish the origin, social implications and main uses of prestige jars in Borneo. It suggests that to understand these differences in the societies of Borneo requires an understanding of how these objects are acquired and transmitted between families. The article considers the processes by which an object can become, with time, something other than what it had previously been. The term pusaka commonly used to describe these jars does not encompass other significant uses of the jars as it is often used narrowly to refer to heirloom jars, and broadly, to heirloom jars and sacred heirloom jars. These jars are also, and without being pusaka, ordinary jars of varying economic value, given and exchanged especially as marriage payments. The relative lack of coherence in the literature about their usage reflects their various and multiple functions as well as their changing role.

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