HOUSEHOLD FORMATION AND EGALITARIAN GENDER RELATIONS AMONG THE BHUKETOF CENTRAL BORNEO

This paper explores the role played by Bhuket women in the formation o f the household. I attempt to show that in this society, the household as it is commonly understood, does not exist. Having been a very mobi le hunting and gathering people, the notion of a living arrangement is non-concrete and fluid among the Bhuket. I have examined the concept of the household as emerging from the concept kajan, which refers to a space shared by a group of individuals. Processes are at work for the inception of the household because the provision of daily subsistence of people is increasingly being kept within the confines of the kajan . However, the continued lack of rigidity in their living arrangements and an absence of power differentials in the context of marital and k inship relationships have led to the persistence of egalitarian gender relations among the Bhuket.