REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
This chapter contains the review of related literature and related studies that
contains relevant and useful information related in conducting and conceptualizing this
study. This will also guide the researchers to achieve their target objectives by getting
ideas on other related studies and develop deeper knowledge and understanding.
Foreign
Indigenous Peoples
In the Philippines, there are approximately 110 ethnolinguistic groups. The ethnic
groups make up a substantial part of the Philippine population, with more than 12 million
individuals. The three prevailing ethnolinguistic groups are the Tagalogs, Visayans, and
Ilocanos. These ethnic groups are rich source of indigenous learning.
Those that were residing in the country at the time of colonization are the
indigenous groups. In the Philippines, the indigenous peoples are those who opposed
colonization and succeeded in preserving their customs and traditions. 300 years ago,
the Spaniards used religion as their key to colonize the Philippines. Those who refused
to be baptized and resisted colonization opted to move to the mountains. Those that are
baptized leave their customs and traditions and look down on those who refused to
change. The colonized and baptized became the majority and the ones who resisted
change formed the minority. Later on, the former became the decision makers in the
Philippine state. Like many indigenous peoples around the world, Philippine indigenous
peoples are victims of discrimination and neglect as a result of the cognitive
frameworks of imperialism and colonialism (Daes, 1999)
The indigenous groups are deprived of the basic services and programs. They
are neglected through non-recognition of the identity of minority nationalities and the
denial and violation of their rights to self-determination (Sawadan, 1995). Oppression is
reflected in the rules and programs made because indigenous groups have been largely
ignored by the state. Furthermore, the land laws affecting indigenous territory show that
the state does not recognize ancestral land rights. Until now, the indigenous groups are
only considered valuable for tourist attractions wherein they are made to perform their
rituals and ethnic dances to the public whose perception and appreciation may not
increase but rather deteriorate.
Reference:
http://www.unesco.org/education/uie/pdf/Philippines.pdf
UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg Germany
A Three-Layered Model for preserving the Cultural Heritage of Indigenous
Peoples
Indigenous groups have protected their culture and traditions in the face of
adverse development impacts. The most essential reason would be that indigenous
groups adamantly seek a future that preserves, respects and honors their inherent
rights, dynamic cultures, languages, traditional knowledge, spiritual traditions, and
artistic expressions. The authors identified a model to successfully preserve the
indigenous peoples cultural heritage; utilize organizational tools, resilience, and
sustainability (three layered model). To keep their culture alive, indigenous peoples
passed on their worldview, their knowledge, their arts, their rituals and performances
from one generation to the next. They were able to preserve their identity through
language, knowledge transmission, and self-determination for these are needed for
cultural revitalization.
Organizational Tool
In the Philippines, the Talaandig community embraced the principles of
community cohesion. The Talaandig leader exemplify the sign of cohesiveness as seen
in one of their many quotes: we need to protect our lands because we want to keep our
lands. We want to secure our rights to our land. Because of self-awareness, selfdetermination, and indigenous autonomy within the unit that extends to a wider
community, they were able to preserve their culture successfully.
For the Talaandig community, one of the ways to preserve the culture heritage is
to provide teachings to indigenous people to raise awareness. They must know and
understand their rights. They must be informed and enlightened about the need to
secure their territories to anyone or anything that may present a threat to their
existence. Also included in the teachings is the process of being aware of the potential
impacts of large economic development project on their communities in order to ensure
that indigenous peoples values and traditions continue from generation to generation.
In addition, Talaandig members expressed their concerns regarding the unequal
treatment between the Indigenous community and the large corporations, whom had the
service of the police and military at their disposal. In connection to this, the Talaandig
community repetitively state the importance of being aware and knowledgeable in order
to neutralize the power of large corporations in gaining access to Indigenous
communities.
Resilience
The continuous ability of a community to anticipate risks, organize, adapt, survive
and or recover from adversities is called community resilience. It is the intentional
actions that enhance personal and collective capacity of its citizens and institutions to
respond to and influence the course of social and economic change. (Centre for
Community Enterprise, 2000). From the definitions stated above, it is proper to say that
in order to have community resilience it must start with individuals and families that
make up the community. It requires an enduring commitment rather than a fixed
outcome (Manyena, 2006). Many indigenous communities were able to maintain a
strong identity while adjusting to changing circumstances around them. They reason
why they were able to successfully adapt to change is because their strength lies in
their collective unison.
A lot of indigenous communities view globalization as a threat to their well-being
because they have lost their ancestral land as a result of displacement, while others
have to resist the exploitation of government and large corporations with regard to their
natural and human resources. An example would be the Talaandig Community,
according to their leader, Datu Vic, the community members self-identity was affected
by westernization. Some of them got the impression that they could only reach their
goals if they are to adapt the western way of life. For their leader, in order to control
such event, the community must develop and patronize their own cultural heritage and
refrain outside influence. This prompted the creation of the School of Living Tradition
wherein the customs, traditions and importance of land and nature were extensively
explained to the children. Furthermore, the art of weaving, storytelling, playing of local
musical instruments, and developing leadership skills are some of the main focus so
that the children could pass on their knowledge to future generations to continue to
defend their territory. Although the children were allowed to watch television programs,
the important thing was that their customs and traditions were inculcated in their minds.
Sustainability
Cultural Sustainability derives from the preservation of our ways of life, cultural
identity and a sense of place through heritage, in ways that foster environmental,
economic, and social viability (Scammon, 2015). Nonetheless, cultural sustainability
strategies and conditions vary across geographies. So there is no specific approach
applicable to the wide variety of conditions in diverse communities. Culture is
interconnected to language because it serves as a vehicle that transmits languages and
humans reciprocate by learning language through their culture. Do not forget that
language is the most important carrier of culture (Prof Hwang, 2014). In contrast, due
to colonialism, westernization, formal education, and globalization the vessel of
indigenous knowledge was disrupted resulting to the loss of culture of indigenous
peoples globally. Having that said, for the sake of the future generation, some
indigenous communities are trying their best to sustain and develop their culture for its
continuous existence.
Reference:
http://ic-sd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/06/A_Three-Layered_Model_for_
Preserving_the_Cultural_Heritage_of_Indigenous_Peoples.pdf
Authors:
Adesuwa V. Ero, Masters Candidate, University of Winnipeg
Barbara T. Gardner, Masters Candidate, University of Winnipeg
Oluwabusola O. Olaniyan, Masters Candidate, University of Winnipeg
