Kinship System in Brunei and Apply It to Your Own Family

This essay is an examination of my kinship system which is a multi-ethnic mix of Arab-Malay, Chinese, and Kedayan. I identify as a Brunei Malay, however, I will show how my family does not follow all aspects of the traditional Brunei kinship system which is patrilineal and matrilocal. I therefore argue that kinship in Brunei is not a fixed system. This argument reflects Linda Stone's work on kinship where she mentions that kinship is not fixed (Stone, 2000). In this essay, I begin with an overview of patrilineality among Brunei Malays, and then move to discuss residence patterns and marriage. I am also talking about religion where Victor King has made a research about Brunei’s social status and rank system. This is mostly affected by the national religion which is Islam. This essay examines from a matrifocal angle of my family which is my mother's side.

Patrilineality among the Brunei Malays

Patrilineal society is where a lineage belongs to a person's father. Usually, this would include inheriting the father's name, title, property from the father's line. In Brunei Malay context, patrilineal society is seen a lot in most families and societies. However, kinship is fluid and my family is a fluid, mixed kinship system. My family has a mixture of patrilineal and also matriarchy.

Most of my family members originated from Kuala Belait. This is because of the reason that my grandmother, Hajah Normah used to live in Lumut in the Belait district. She is a descent of arab and malay. My grandfather is a Bruneian where his parents passed away at his age of 4. His uncle, Dato Haji Wahab adopted him and took care of him until he started working. They used to live in Brunei Muara District. When my grandparents got married, my grandfather was working with Shell. Hence, the location of their resident is in Seria. They later relocated to Lumut as he bought a land for the whole family. One of the reason why my family has a mixture is because of my grandmother who makes...