It Takes Modern Means to be Traditional: On Recognizing Indigenous Cultural Communities in the Philippines

Abstract

The main thesis of this essay is that being recognized as traditional or indigenous requires the employment of modern means. A form of ‘Bureaucratic Orientalism’ has been devised, constructing and reaffirming ‘the Other’ through the minutiae of administrative procedures and contemporary representational processes. These procedures exist for the twin purposes of establishing the right to act as an indigenous group, and of circumscribing the obligations of the state, and possibly of other institutions of governance. The entire debate is the expression of a dilemma that has no solution but is actually an expression of modernity. The three pillars upon which indigeneity is affirmed are a national (internationally legitimized) legal system, the contemporary world of NGOs, and the institutions of local government. Thus, through the very process of being recognized as ‘indigenous’, these groups enter the realms of modernity. The Philippines provide a case study for these explorations.

Pro-Poor Land Reform : A Critique

“…Thus, a rigorous analysis of land reform requires the full understanding of state-society relations dynamics. Moreover, state land reform laws largely (although not always solely, see von Benda-Beckman, 2001;Hirtz, 1998) defi ne the rules and parameters of state-society interactions in the push toward or pull away from redistributive reform. As Kristine Juul and Christian Lund (2002: 3) explained in the context of Africa, "State institutions compete over unclear jurisdictional boundaries, constituting political 'turfs' and obfuscating the notion of state authority ….…”

“…6 This latter has been perhaps even more infl uential for the land reform policy resurrection (World Bank, 2003;Deininger and Binswanger, 1999;de Soto, 2000; but see Stiglitz, 2002: 80-81;Manji, 2006). Combined, these two factors Continuing, and has seen unprecedented degree of technological sophistication (e.g., satellite/digital mapping, computerized data-banking) i) Post-confl ict democratic construction and consolidation, e.g., post-apartheid South Africa, post-civil war El Salvador (de Bremond, 2006;Pearce, 1998;Foley, 1997), Colombia (Ross, 2003(Ross, , 2007 48 | Pro-poor Land Reform ii) Advancement of knowledge about the distinct rights of indigenous peoples (e.g., Yashar, 1999;Hirtz, 2003;Korovkin, 2000;Assies, van der Haar and Hoekma, 1998) iii) Advancement of knowledge about gender and rights issues, see, e.g., Razavi (2003); Agarwal (1994), Kabeer (1999); Deere (1985), and Deere and León (2001), Resurreccion (2006);Walker (2003); Whitehead and Tsikata (2003) iv) Greater concern about the environment (see, e.g., Herring, 2002;Holt-Gimenez, 2006) v) Persistence and resurgence of violence including that related to drugs and ethnic issues (see, e.g., Pons-Vignon and Lecomte, 2004;Peluso, 2007;Borras and Ross, 2007;Bush, 2002;Cramer, 2003) vi) Emerging "[human] rights-based approaches" to development (see, e.g., Molyneux andRazavi (2002) Patel, Balakrishna andNarayan, 2007;…”

“…For example, it is unclear how many benefi ciaries actually got their CLTs and were able to take possession of the awarded lands. It is also unclear from the data how many of the peasant benefi ciaries were able to fully pay for the lands and thus secure the actual land titles (see, e.g., Hirtz, 1998).…”

Aeta Magbukún of Mariveles: Traditional Indigenous Forest Resource Use Practices and the Sustainable Economic Development Challenge in Remote Philippine Regions

“…Therefore, there remains significant internal development required for appropriate local governance options suitable for Indigenous cultures in the Philippines. This is both in terms of independence from the central government, and from local non-Indigenous power and control (Hirtz, 2003). The authors' experience within the Philippines suggests that the presence of strong, independent, and critical NGOs and educational institutions are a fundamental predictor of, and influence upon successful human rights, education, and development policy and implementation (Claude, 1991).…”

TheIndigenousAetas ofBataan,Philippines: Extraordinary genetic origins, modern history and land rights

“…According to the various definitions of Indigenous people, around 10 per cent of the Philippine population are Indigenous, representing a large geographical and ethnic complex which includes over 100 major enthnolinguistic groups (Hirtz, 2003;Ting et al, 2008). Protecting cultural heritage has become an important political concern in the region, and one approach is through the protection of Indigenous people's rights and the recognition for protection of their ancestral domains (Bryant, 2000).…”