Benedict Sandin (18 October 1918 – 7 August 1982) was a

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, who was

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the

Sarawak Museum The Sarawak State Museum ( ms, Muzium Negeri Sarawak) is the oldest museum in Borneo. It was founded in 1888 and opened in 1891 in a purpose-built building in Kuching, Sarawak. It has been said that naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace encouraged C ...

Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

from December 1966 to March 1974. He also served as Government Ethnologist to the Government of Sarawak. He wrote many ethnographic articles in the Sarawak Museum Journal and a book entitled "The Sea Dayaks of Borneo: Before White Rajah Rule". Sandin was an

Iban IBAN or Iban or Ibán may refer to: Banking * International Bank Account Number Ethnology * Iban culture * Iban language * Iban people Given name Cycling * Iban Iriondo (born 1984) * Iban Mayo (born 1977) * Iban Mayoz (born 1981) Football * ...

, and was born in

Kerangan Pinggai Kerangan Pinggai (also known as Krangan Pinggai) is a longhouse on the Paku river in the Saratok division of Sarawak, Malaysia. It lies approximately east of the state capital Kuching. Benedict Sandin, Iban ethnologist, historian, and Curator o ...

, a longhouse on the Paku river in the Saribas basin of the Betong division of Sarawak.

Early life

Sandin were born Sandin anak Attat, on 18 October 1918 in

, a longhouse on the Paku river in the Saribas basin of the Betong division of Sarawak. Sandin was the oldest of four children of a prominent

family. His grandfather was the Native Chief of Lower Paku Iban, from 1875 until his death in 1900.

Career

In 1941, Sandin entered the civil service as a junior Native Officer in the

Raj of Sarawak (While I breathe, I hope) , national_anthem = '' Gone Forth Beyond the Sea'' , capital = Kuching , common_languages = English, Iban, Melanau, Bidayuh, Sarawak Malay, Chinese etc. , government_type = Absol ...

, just before the Japanese occupation of Borneo. After WWII, he was transferred to the Education Department, and later joined the Sarawak Information Office as an Information Officer and worked as editor of the first

Iban language The Iban language () is spoken by the Iban, a branch of the Dayak ethnic group, who live in Brunei, the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan and in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It belongs to the Malayic languages, a Malayo-Polynesian branc ...

news publication for two years. Hearing of Sandin's talents as a writer,

Tom Harrisson Major (United Kingdom), Major Tom Harnett Harrisson, DSO OBE (26 September 1911 – 16 January 1976) was a British polymath. In the course of his life he was an ornithologist, explorer, journalist, broadcaster, soldier, guerrilla, ethnologist, mu ...

, the then Curator of the Sarawak Museum, invited Sandin to join the staff in 1952. After a year's training in New Zealand, he returned to study Iban culture and the native history of Sarawak. In 1966, He became Curator of the Sarawak Museum, and retired from that position in 1973. Following his retirement, he was appointed Senior Fellow at the

Universiti Sains Malaysia Universiti Sains Malaysia ( 'Science University of Malaysia'; abbreviated as USM) is a public research university in Malaysia. Founded on 1 June 1969 as a statutory body with its own constitution, it is among the oldest institutes of higher l ...

, in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

. At the end of this appointment, he returned to Paku, Sarawak, where he continued his research on Iban culture. Sandin died of lung cancer in August, 1982.

Legacy

Sandin collected and documented the oral histories and oral genealogies of the Iban peoples in the 1930s, 20 years before

Derek Freeman John Derek Freeman (15 August 1916 – 6 July 2001) was a New Zealand anthropologist knownTuzin, page 1013. for #Freeman_vs._Mead:_A_self_described_heresy, his criticism of Margaret Mead's work on Samoan society, as described in her 1928 ethno ...

's influential studies of Iban social organisations. He made important contributions to the knowledge of the history of the native peoples of Sarawak both before and after the establishment of the Raj of Sarawak by

James Brooke Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868. Brooke was bor ...

. Sandin was best known of his monograph published in 1967 named "The Sea Dayaks of Borneo before White Rajah Rule". "Sources of Iban Traditional History", another monograph authored by Sandin was published in Sarawak Museum Journal in 1994 to supplement his previous monograph published in 1967. On 18 October 2020, Benedict Sandin's 102nd birthday was featured on

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

to commemorate his contributions in preserving

Iban people The Ibans or Sea Dayaks are a branch of the Dayak peoples on the island of Borneo in South East Asia. Dayak is a title given by the westerners to the local people of Borneo island. It is believed that the term "Iban" was originally an exonym ...

's native heritage in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandin, Benedict 1918 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Malaysian historians Malaysian curators Ethnologists People from Kuching Iban people