BRUNEI HISTORIOGRAPHY
Stephen C Druce2023, Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Brunei
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003020431-9visibility
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Abstract
The chapter discusses the development of the writing of Brunei history over the last six decades. The review of the historiographic production generally highlights the range of debates, approaches, major themes and issues that scholars have focused upon and how this relates to the important role history plays in modern Brunei. In the 1960s and 1970s, the writing of Brunei history significantly reflected Brunei’s relationship with Britain, with the notable exception of Donald Brown (1970)’s ‘peerless monograph’ that solely focuses on local dimensions and the internal dynamics of the sultanate. In the 1980s, a growing body of studies by local scholars spurred the emergence of national history. Many of the studies were produced by archaeologists, historians and intellectuals affiliated with the Brunei History Centre, the Brunei Museum and Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). The utilisation of traditional manuscripts and oral sources equally contributed to the expansion of an autonomous historiography, as such sources increasingly gained currency and acceptance as a vital form of indigenous history. In surveying the writings on modern Brunei, we identified the ascendancy of Brunei political history that subsequently established a major and firm niche within the broader context of Brunei historiography. Moreover, in the 1980s, there was a new historiographical trend on non-political themes, focusing in particular on previously unexplored socio-economic developments of the country. All these historiographic developments, while offering valuable historical insights into the country’s past, led to some re-examination of earlier works, particularly those that utilised Chinese sources in the reconstruction of early Brunei. The 1962 rebellion was also revisited, as the controversial nature of this topic had significantly limited its inclusion in national history writing from the 1960s to 1980s. The multiplicity of historical themes and approaches gradually emerging from the 1990s and 2000s have been further enhanced by multidisciplinary approaches resulting not only in important publications but also works derived from sophisticated analytical and interpretive knowledge.
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