ABSTRACT
‘Typically,’ as Joseph E. Trimble and Ryan Dickson define it, ‘ethnic identity is an affiliative construct, where an individual is viewed by themselves and by others as belonging to a particular ethnic or cultural group’, and ‘An individual can choose to associate with a [particular] group especially if other choices are available (i.e., the person is of mixed ethnic or racial heritage).’ 1 In this context, this chapter attempts to examine ethnic identity in modern Brunei, focusing mainly on the sultanate's seven ethnic groups that in 1961 were designated as indigenous Malay by the Brunei Nationality Status Acts of 1961, namely the Belait, Bisaya, Brunei, Dusun, Kedayan, Murut and Tutong.
