RESOURCES REGARDING IGOROTS

The Word Igorot

• Description: 16 pages, 1962 — “The present paper proposes to review the history of the word, Igorot, as it has been used in Spanish, German and English literature for the past 370 years.”

The Igorot Struggle for Independence

• Description: Webpage, sourced from The Igorot struggle for independence by William Henry Scott, 1972 — “Certainly this is not true of the Igorots. They were never slaves to the Spaniards nor did they play the role of slaves. Quite the contrary, Spanish records make it clear that they fought for their independence with every means at their disposal for three centuries, and that this resistance to invasion was deliberate, self-conscious, and continuous. That it was largely successful is indicated by the fact that at the end of the Spanish Regime, when the Cordillera Central had been carved up into a dozen military districts, the last Spanish census listed one-third of the estimated mountain population as completely independent.”

Originality in the Postcolony: Choreographing the Neoethnic Body of Philippine Ballet

• Description: 25 pages, 1997 — “lgorot is in short the work of a national “Third World’s” artist seeking a global audience-an artist producing a developing country's national identity for international consumption, at least in part. Essential to the success of this effort is the allusion to a broad field of aesthetic discourses that, again, in the words of Roces, "purport to glorify the tribal as authentic representation of origin (especially of national identity)" (1995:79), and in so doing, over-inscribe ethnic divisions that perpetuate and reinforce ongoing processes of othering and marginalization.”

“The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997” (IPRA)

• Description: 58 pages, 1998 — “Pursuant to Section 80 of Republic Act No. 8371, otherwise known as “The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997” (IPRA), the following rules and regulations are hereby promulgated for the guidance and compliance of all concerned.”

Igorots and Indians: Racial Hierarchies and Conceptions of the Savage in Carlos Bulosan's Fiction of the Philippines

• Description: 25 pages, 2000 — “By identifying with the Igorot, Bulosan’s peasant narrator eludes the trap of imperialist identity formation. His symbolic assumption of the lowest status in the hierarchy frees him from the necessity of de- fining himself in contemptuous distinction from others; furthermore, he shows that, within an imperialist system, we are all potentially savages to someone else. Rather than avoiding the language of imperialism, Bulosan seeks to make his audience experience its consequences. By saying, in effect, ‘‘I am your Igorot and you are mine,’’ he suggests that only when we recognize the potential interchange- ability of social positions can we hope to abdicate our places in the destructive hierarchies of contempt.”

Journeys from Bontoc to the Western Fairs, 1904-1915: The “Nikimalika” and their Interpreters

• Description: 30 pages, 2004 — “In the early twentieth century and starting with the 1904 St. Louis Fair, Bontoc people from the northern Philippines entered into business agreements to perform cultural activities in Western expositions and amusement parks. This article focuses on the young men who became mediators between local people and American government officials and exposition businessmen.”

Rethinking Display of Filipinos at St. Louis: Embracing Heartbreak and Irony

• Description: 7 pages, 2004 — “The Filipinos who lived for half a year in "ethnological" mock-ups of their villages were indeed "objects" on display. The language used to frame their exhbition-part pop-science, part salacious humbug, and part political rhetoric-would outrage anyone reading it today. How- ever, it has been a hundred years since Filipinos were classified into what we now know to be unscientific but persistent folk categories of "barbarism," "savagery" and semi-"civilized." It is now time to ask, What did the Igorot, Moro, Bagobo, Visayan and other Philippine "ethnicities" on &splay make of their placement in this sliding scale of civilization?”

Dancing Into Oblivion: The Pilipino Cultural Night and the Narration of Contemporary Filipina/o America

• Description: 46 pages, 2005 — "How have performances developed by Filipino Americans over the twentieth century conveyed important lessons about culture, nation, and community? In other words, what do Filipino American cultural performances have to say about the formation of “national identity” and “community”?”

Igorot Representation in Cordillera Picture Postcards

• Description: 24 pages, 2006 — “The experiences of Baguio City, Benguet as an American colonial hill station, Sagada, Mountain Province and Banaue, Ifugao, reputed gateways to the Cordillera will figure prominently in determining if and to what extent the colonial imaginings have been transcended or if new representations are emerging in the light of tourism’s serious bid to lead the service-led economies of the 21st century.”

The Igorot as Other: Four Discourses from the Colonial Period

• Description: 17 pages, 2008 — "Today, inaccurate and emotionally colored descriptions of the Igorot still enjoy currency. The Igorot is still regarded by the outsider as the busol or headhunter, whose specter may be effectively used to frighten children into good behavior. Or else, he or she is one or another stereotyped figure, in media, in literature, or in the popular imagination: inarticulate, illiterate, half-savage, the half-naked man in the g-string or the humpbacked beggar woman plucking at the comer of your sleeve.”

Igorots say 1909 display was ‘wrong’, as Fil-Ams demand public apology in 2009 AYPE

• Description: Webpage, 2009 — “It was wrong of the United States government to allow the display of peoples from the Philippines for amusement,” Editor John Dyte of ‘The Igorot’, official publication of Igorot Global Organization (IGO) said.”

To be a Binibining: Performance, Agency, and Labor in Pilipina American Beauty Pageants

• Description: 67 pages, 2010 — “To this day, Igorots experience much racism and discrimination against other Pilipinas/os and are often stereotyped as dark, “monkey-like,” and primitive. These “compliments” usually revolve around the fact that I am light-skinned, therefore leading many to say that I do not “look Igorot” because they expect Igorots to be dark- skinned.”

(In)visible Within: Igorot Filipino Americans

• Description: 135 pages, 2011 — “This study argues that Filipino/Filipino American identity is a homogenous identity that “colonizes” Igorot subjectivity, thereby creating a paradox of decolonization.”

The Community Development Concepts of the Igorot Indigenous Peoples in Benguet, Philippines

• Description: 343 pages, 2011 — “This research explores the concept of community development among the Igorot Indigenous Peoples in Benguet, Philippines. It investigates the Igorots’ understanding of their community in relation to their culture and their interaction with the ‘modern’ world. It explores Igorot perspectives on the relevance of their culture in obtaining their ‘desired development’ within the present realities of their community.”

The 2012 Youth Canao, A Gathering for Indigenous Filipino Youth

• Description: Webpage, 2012 — “On August 25, 2012, the first canao (gathering) focused on youth ages 25 and below, was held in San Diego. Families from San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and as far as Maryland, gathered for kinship, and more importantly, to learn new traditions. As is the traditional method of learning for Igorot generations, elders in family clans teach younger relatives, typically during gatherings and important celebrations. The canao focused on Kalinga bamboo instrumentation and backstrap weaving—utilized amongst all the tribes.”

Locating Their Penis: Pilipino American College Male Performativity, Sexuality, and the “Bahag Syndrome”

• Description: 104 pages, 2013 — “This research examines the role of online social media and its influence on Pilipino American college male’s performance of Igorotness at Pilipino Culture Nights (PCNs) stage productions by Pilipino American college organizations and how such constructions of masculinity counter stereotypes of Asian American male bodies. I observe at how college male students look to Igorot dances such as “Idaw” (also known as the “Bahag Dance”) to perform a Western notion of masculinity and maleness as both a performative identity and as a vehicle to find social acceptance of their gender identity as Asian Americans.”

Performing Thai and Indigenous Igorot American Folklore and Identities: Ethnic and Cultural Politics Revealed

• Description: 21 pages, 2013 — “In this paper, we explore the interplay of performing ethnic culture through folklore, the politics of identity formations, and subjectivities of minoritized Asian Americans and their communities. In Asian American Studies, cultural performance and its relation to identity formation have commonly been viewed as lineal, and positive phenomena, especially among the youth. As marginalized Asian Americans — Thai and indigenous Igorot American folkloric performances reveal conflicts and tensions that question the notion of Asian American pan- ethnic solidarity. These can be situated externally (i.e., inter-ethnic conflicts and tensions between two ethnic groups), as well as internally (intra-ethnic conflicts within one ethnic group).”

Igorot American Folk Dance

• Description: 11 pages, 2014 — “The problem is not with being outside the Igorot American community, but rather with how Igorot is portrayed. The (mis)appropriation of pan-Filipino American Igorot folk dance is problematic, because as non-Igorot, the performance is done out of context and primarily as the object of the pan-Filipino American gaze. More controversial is that it is not inclusive of people from within that community.”

Syncretism in rituals and performance in a culturally pluralistic society in the Philippines

• Description: 6 pages, 2014 — “Preserving indigenous culture and practices remains a great challenge for indigenous groups living in a pluralistic, westernized, modernized/post-modernized, and globalized society. With the different elements of social change interacting with the traditional knowledge, systems and practices, it is imperative to look at the risks and changes experienced by indigenous groups in relation to its culture. This paper narrates the presence of syncretism of traditional and contemporary practices in the rituals and music of the Ibaloi community and tries to present the possibility of harmonious interface between the modern quotidian and indigenous life in an attempt to pose minimal risks in the relationship.”

A Savage at the Wedding and the Skeletons in My Closet: My Great- Grandfather, “Igorotte Villages,” and the Ethnological Expositions of the 1900s

• Description: 20 pages, 2015 — “What I have learned in these past few years, almost entirely in partnership with Pat, is that my great-grandfather’s work as an impresario shuttling Bontoc Igorot men, women, and children from one “Igorrote Village” to another was not an isolated incident of a European American man exploiting other human beings to make a buck. Instead, the history of my family interweaves in numerous ways with the history of my chosen profession.”

The Ifugao Archaeological Project

• Description: 8 pages, 2015 — “The Ifugao Archaeological Project (IAP) is a collaborative research program of the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement (SITMo), the National Museum of the Philippines, the University of the Philippines, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples–Ifugao, and UCLA.”

Reinventing the Tribal

• Description: 27 pages, 2015 — “Hence, the study of diasporic Filipino tattooing centers around the question of how U.S.-based Filipino tattoo enthusiasts invest in indigenous tribal tattooing as a means of creating cultural identity in the diaspora. What are the politics surrounding processes of appropriation and reinvention? What are the stakes and implications of their engagement? By tracing the genealogies and current practices that characterize Filipino tattooing in the United States, I examine how diasporic Filipinos in Southern California imagine their own subjectivity and make sense of their cultural identity through the use of tattoo aesthetics.”

Accumulating the primitive

• Description: 11 pages, 2016 — “…I will have to speculate that the accumulation of the primitive is not merely about the imperial desire to reaffirm the superiority of the West. The accumulation of the primitive may have to do with the West’s envy of the primitive – the West’s envy of the primitive’s ostensibly direct access to primitive desires.”

The Archaeology of Pericolonialism: Responses of the “Unconquered” to Spanish Conquest and Colonialism in Ifugao, Philippines

• Description: 26 pages, 2016 —  “By using a case study from the Philippines, this article focuses on the responses of indigenous peoples in the highland Philippines who appear to have resisted Spanish cooptation. The archaeological record suggests that economic and political intensification occurred in Ifugao coinciding with the appearance of the Spanish in the northern Philippines. This work on pericolonial archaeology shows that the effects of colonialism extended far beyond the areas actually colonized. More importantly, the investigations reported in this essay add to the increasing evidence of the false differentiation of the colonized and the “uncolonized”.”

Ifugao Identity: The Retention of Indigenous Religion and Rituals Despite Colonialism

• Description: 26 pages, 2018 — “This work intends to focus on Ifugao faunal sacrifices in the present day and how these modern rituals are extensions of the pericolonial past. Preservation of indigenous culture and religion will also be discussed in terms of how and why certain rituals are retained, as well as how these retained rituals are often a part of religious syncretism in contemporary Ifugao. This work will highlight the narrative of Ifugao resistance via its religious and ritual practices to help contribute to the overall history of Ifugao’s response to its pericolonial encounter.”

UNGUNG-A ED ABROAD: EXPLORING IDENTITY AMONG INDIGENOUS IGOROT YOUTH IN DIASPORA

• Description: 343 pages, 2019 — “The study examines how migrant Igorot youth (the ungung-a, “child/ren”) construct their indigenous identity in diaspora. Utilizing life histories of Igorot youth (18-30 years old) and the neo-positivist method of life histories, analyzed through the combined frameworks of Stuart Hall on cultural identity in diaspora and James Clifford on the indigenous diaspora, three processes of identity construction emerged.”

Igorot Squatters and Indian Wards: Toward an Intra-imperial History of Land Dispossession

• Description: 19 pages, 2019 — “This essay considers two land disputes that took place in the first decade of U.S. rule in the Philippines and that reached the U.S. Supreme Court: Cariño v. Insular Government (1909) and Reavis v. Fianza (1909). In arguing their cases, litigants were forced to reckon with the property rights regime of the former Spanish empire. In this regard, the cases affirm the import of inter-imperial frameworks for understanding colonial problems of land ownership and sovereignty.”

The Performance of Indigenous Identity in the Igorot Diaspora in the United Kingdom

• Description: 295 pages, 2019 — “This thesis examines the contemporary construction of identity in the context of the diaspora of indigenous Igorot migrants from the Cordillera Region of Northern Philippines. It focuses on the activities of Igorot Organisation-UK, a regional association of migrant Igorots in the UK. It proposes a new understanding of the process of reconstitution of identity and community that takes account of the historical location and specificity of these migrants.”

The Ifugao, cowboys, and assimilation through education

• Description: Webpage, 2020 — “When I first visited Cordillera, I was surprised by the popularity of country music and the cowboy-themed bars and restaurants. You’ll also see men walking around in leather boots, wrangler jeans, and cowboy hats, and sometimes, galloping on horses. You would think that you’re actually in the American West, instead of Banaue or Baguio. It felt like an unfamiliar world, a world very different from what I learned in Philippine schools about peoples who successfully resisted the Spanish. Since the 4th of July just passed, I thought of writing on the Americanization policy that shaped the modern Philippines.”

Saving Ifugao Weaving in the Philippines

• Description: Webpage, 2020 — “Communities should be able to reap the benefits of their own technology and design.”

Re-examining Igorot representation: issues of commodification and cultural appropriation

• Description: 18 pages, 2020 — “In this article, I address several interrelated questions. How were the Igorots represented in the past? How does this impact on their representation today? How do we represent the Igorots in the contemporary period? How and in what contexts are Igorot cultures commodified and appropriated, and what are the consequences of this? Instead of asking ‘who owns culture’, when traditional practices are performed in diaspora, we ask: how can we promote respectful treatment of native culture and indigenous forms of self-expression within mass societies? What are the challenges we face and how do we negotiate these to be able to represent the Igorots in the best possible way? What role do museums play in representing the Igorots?”

Resources provided by J.A. Ruanto-Ramirez, Kirin Amiling Macapugay, Kerri Mantias Somebang, Margaret Palaghicon Von Rotz, Mark Leo, and Nicole Saley Diwag

Information organized by Nicole Saley Diwag

Updated: September 15, 2020