Outdated and Incomplete: Why Britannica’s Entry on the Dayak People Needs an Urgent Update

 

Screenshot of Current Dayak Entry on Encyclopaedia Britannica: Outdated and in Need of Urgent Update.

By Masri Sareb Putra, M.A.
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Kalimantan, Borneo

The existing Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on the Dayak people reflects data and descriptions rooted in early 2000s ethnography. It emphasizes longhouse living, river-based settlements, and subsistence farming, while overlooking major transformations in Dayak society—ranging from population growth and modern housing to economic diversification and digital literacy. As of 2025, this entry no longer reflects the lived realities of millions of Dayak people in Kalimantan (Borneo).

It’s time for global reference platforms like Britannica to update their sources with current data, indigenous perspectives, and modern cultural dynamics—ensuring that Dayak communities are not only seen in the context of the past, but also as active agents in the present and future.

The current description of the Dayak people in the Encyclopaedia Britannica reflects an outdated understanding rooted in early 21st-century ethnographic accounts. The entry urgently needs to be revised to reflect the reality of Dayak communities in 2025—an era marked by transformation, resilience, and modernization.

A people still boxed in by past narratives

In Britannica and other legacy reference works, the Dayak are typically portrayed as riverine forest dwellers of Borneo, living communally in longhouses and practicing shifting cultivation. The article highlights their cultural diversity—mentioning subgroups such as the Kayan, Kenyah, Ngaju, Bidayuh, and Iban—alongside their intricate religious and social customs.

But this portrayal, while not untrue, no longer tells the full story.

Over the last two decades, the Dayak have undergone significant changes due to migration, urbanization, national development policies, the global commodities boom (notably palm oil and mining), and infrastructure expansion. Longhouses are no longer the default housing model; sustainable agroecology or integration into the formal economy has replaced much of the traditional swidden (slash-and-burn) agriculture.

Demographic shifts and cultural continuity

One major shortcoming in Britannica’s current entry is the demographic data. The population figure cited—around 2.2 million Dayak people—is based on estimates from the early 2000s. Today, reliable projections suggest that the Dayak population in Indonesia has risen to somewhere between 7 and 8 million, driven by improved healthcare, education, and socio-economic opportunities.

This rise, however, remains unacknowledged in many academic or encyclopedic sources, perpetuating the myth of a dwindling, marginalized indigenous group.

What these numbers obscure is the fact that the Dayak are increasingly modern actors. They are educators, digital activists, palm oil managers, elected officials, and technologists. In Sungai Utik, longhouses have evolved into hygienic, structured communal homes with modern sanitation. Elsewhere, Dayak professionals commute in 4x4 trucks to offices or oil palm estates—far removed from the outdated imagery of men with machetes and bare feet tending rice fields.

A case for epistemic justice

This misrepresentation matters because global knowledge platforms such as Encyclopaedia Britannica remain influential. For many, they are a first point of contact for understanding indigenous groups. When those entries are static, they risk freezing cultures in time and rendering their modern presence invisible.

The Dayak are not museum artifacts. They are a living, adapting, politically conscious people who are part of the national and global conversation on climate, indigenous rights, sustainable economies, and cultural survival.

There is now a growing corpus of Dayak scholars, ethnographers, and civil society organizations producing research, documentation, and digital media from within the community. These voices must be included in the revision process—not just to update facts, but to decolonize the frame through which the Dayak are represented to the world.

Beyond longhouses: Transforming lives and livelihoods

While some longhouses remain—such as the award-winning Sungai Utik model—they are no longer representative of the entire Dayak housing experience. The shift to private homes with modern amenities is widespread. Stereotypes that Dayak men are farmers in loincloths persist in popular media, yet they now run cooperatives, manage credit unions, and spearhead renewable energy initiatives.

Many are actively engaged in the digital economy, with a growing number contributing to the indigenous literature movement in Indonesia. Grassroots institutions like Credit Union Keling Kumang (CUKK) are redefining what economic sovereignty looks like for indigenous peoples.

An encyclopedia must reflect the present to remain relevant

Updating the Dayak entry is not just about correcting population stats or listing modern jobs. It’s about shifting the narrative—from one of passive tradition to one of active transformation. It’s about acknowledging that the Dayak are no longer just custodians of ancient forests, but are also citizens of the digital age, fighting for land rights, producing academic work, and living modern lives grounded in deep ancestral knowledge.

If Encyclopaedia Britannica wants to remain a trusted global resource, it must make space for this complexity. An inclusive, updated entry would signal not only factual accuracy but also respect for indigenous autonomy and evolving identity.