ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study is a substantially revised and shortened version of my doctoral dissertation, which was submitted to the University of Michigan in 1983. The research was generously funded by the National Science Foundation (under Grant No. BNS-7812499), the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies of the University of Michigan, the University's Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies, and Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society of North America. Expenses associated with preparing the manuscript were kindly defrayed by the Research Council of Colgate University. Portions of the present volume have appeared in previous publications (Peletz 1981, 1985, 1987a, 1987b) and are reprinted here with the permission of the publishers.

Throughout the course of my research in Malaysia I received assistance from many people. I am especially indebted to members of the village community to which I have given the fictitious name of Bogang, and would like to thank them, and my adoptive parents in particular, for their hospitality, warmth, and willingness to instruct me in the ways of Malay society and culture. I would also like to acknowledge my gratitude to Dato Professor Ismail Hussein, former Chairman of the Department of Malay Studies, University of Malaya; Dr. Mohd. Nor Ghani, Director General of the Socio-Economic Research and General Planning Unit of the Malaysian Prime Minister's Department; Manogaran Maniam, former Executive Director of the Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange; Dr. Khadijah binte Haji Muhamed; Ramli Mohd. Salleh; and Siti Shariah binte Haji Shaari. Thanks are also due the staff of the Malaysian National Archives (Arkib Negara Malaysia) in Petaling Jaya and the following state- and district-level offices and departments in Negeri Sembilan: the Office of the State Secretariat (Pejabat Setiausaha Kerajaan), the De-

partment of Islamic Religion (Jabatan Agama Islam), the Department of Agriculture (Jabatan Pertanian), the District Office of Rembau (Pejabat Daerah Rembau), the Rembau Office of Islamic Magistrate (Pejabat Kadi Rembau), and the Office of Rembau's Undang (Balai Undang Rembau).

At the University of Michigan I am deeply grateful to Raymond Kelly, Conrad Kottak, Gayl Ness, Sherry Ortner, and Aram Yengoyan for their inspiration, insights, and encouragement. Aram Yengoyan in particular provided considerable guidance and support throughout my graduate studies and taught me much of the anthropology I know and value. Raymond Kelly's contributions to my understandings of siblingship and social structure also merit special emphasis, as do his incisive suggestions concerning the elaboration of theoretical issues either implicit or glossed over in the initial drafts of the manuscript. P. E. de Josselin de Jong, William Merrill, and Siti Shariah binte Haji Shaari read all or part of the book and offered valuable comments.

I would also like to emphasize my gratitude to Amin Sweeney, who helped arrange institutional affiliation in Malaysia; Robert Kushler, who assisted in the coding and processing of quantitative data; Jennifer Braak, who typed many drafts of the manuscript; and James H. Clark and the editorial department of the University of California Press, who provided invaluable assistance in the publication of this book.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Ellen, for unwavering moral support and for everything else she has given me over the years. Her encouragement and contributions during all stages of the project will always be deeply appreciated, as will her enthusiasm to spend both our honeymoon and the first year of our marriage in a rather remote Malay village at the edge of the forest.