DUSUN

also called Kadazan, largest indigenous ethnic group in the Sabah region of the island of Borneo that is part of Malaysia. The Dusun inhabit northern Borneo and are grouped along the coastal plain from Kudat to Beaufort and in the hills around Tambunan. The Dusun are of Proto-Malay stock; they migrated from Asia and were originally headhunters. In the late 20th century they numbered about 315,000 and made up about one-third of the population of Sabah. They speak Kadazan, an Austronesian language. Originally the Dusun lived in large kinship groups in longhouses with each village containing 150200 persons. Many now have individual huts for smaller family units. Irrigated wet rice is the principal crop, supplemented by slash-and-burn agriculture, including dry rice, corn (maize), and sweet potatoes. They were the first native group in Borneo to use the plow. The western Dusun form much of the labour force in local rubber production. Dusun society is based on patrilineal descent groups; marriage within a descent group is forbidden. The Dusun are animists, though many have converted to Roman Catholicism; priestesses conduct a variety of agricultural and communal rituals.