Paper short abstract:

This paper presents the concept of fluidity as an overarching value among the Bajau Laut of eastern Sabah, linking this notion to four value domains - spatial mobility, resource use, kinship and relational ties, and autonomy and identity - to explore local cultural idioms and transformations.

Paper long abstract:

The Sama-Bajau (Sama Dilaut) of archipelagic Southeast Asia are oriented by a broad set of values embedded in their connection to the maritime environment and in their interactions with one another and other groups (Majors 2008). Following from past traditions in cultural anthropology (e.g. Kluckhohn, this paper presents the concept of fluidity as an overarching value that orients conduct of the Bajau Laut, a sub-population of semi-nomadic Bajau who continue to ply the coastal waters of eastern Sabah. Fluidity is linked to four value domains: spatial mobility, resource use, kinship and relational ties, and autonomy and identity. A way of life orientated to fluidity highlights both the constant movement of the marine-orientated Bajau Laut across the seas in which they pursue their livelihoods and the land on which they may temporarily settle, as well as their orientation to mobility as one of the cardinal values defining their identity, and the context-sensitivity of their decision making as they evolve webs of relationships to form various socio-political and trading networks (Pauwelussen 2015; cf. Ingold 2011 on 'fluid space'). Using the notion of fluidity as an encompassing value facilitates integrating various Bajau cultural idioms and behaviours, as described by Sather and other ethnographers, and accommodating the performative dimension of Bajau identity, as emphasised earlier by Frake and more recently by Nagatsu, as well as the transformation of this identity under contemporary nationalist and capitalist pressures first analysed by C. Warren.