Decolonizing the past, empowering the future: Community-led heritage conservation in Ifugao, Philippines

ABSTRACT

National historical narratives generally leave out local histories of groups on the periphery of society. This is accentuated in colonised settings where colonial powers promote the narratives of dominant cultures, which soon become national meta-narratives. As an example, peoples on the fringes of colonialism in the Philippines were described as remnants of the past and this exoticizes their cultures. These descriptions became the basis of their identity. We argue that vigorous community engagement provides venues for learning and unlearning histories and empowers marginalized peoples. In this paper, we present how recent archaeological data force the rethinking of history and subsequently empowering descendant communities to take control of their history and heritage. We describe the establishment of the Ifugao heritage galleries as an example of museums becoming areas of contestations and emphasize the fact that no one has the monopoly on the creation of knowledge.

KEYWORDS:

• Ifugao
• Philippines
• heritage conservation
• local museums
• indigenous education
• indigenous archaeology

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank various Ifugao stakeholders, particularly elementary and high school teachers in Kiangan for engaging us in developing collaborative heritage education programmes. We are also indebted to Ifugao elders and local community members who provided their valuable time in establishing the Ifugao Community Heritage Galleries, particularly the SITMo Boys. Initial funding for the Galleries was donated by Ifugao Archaeological Project crewmembers and local community stakeholders. Further enhancement of the Galleries and the teachers’ workshops was generously supported by the National Geographic Society (NGS-KOR-403E-18) and the Whiting Foundation. Special thanks to Mariana Lujan Sanders for help copyediting this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on Contributors

Stephen Acabado is associate professor of anthropology at UCLA. His archaeological investigations in Ifugao, northern Philippines, have established the recent origins of the Cordillera Rice Terraces, which were once known to be at least 2,000 years old. Dr. Acabado directs the Ifugao Archaeological Project, a collaborative research programme between the University of the Philippines-Archaeological Studies Program, the National Museum of the Philippines, the University of California-Los Angeles, and the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement, Inc (SITMo). He is a strong advocate of an engaged archaeology where descendant communities are involved in the research process.

Marlon Martin is an Ifugao who heads a non-profit heritage conservation organization in his home province in Ifugao, Philippines. He actively works with various academic and conservation organizations both locally and internationally in the pursuit of indigenous studies integration and inclusion in the formal schools curricula. Along with Acabado, he established the first community-led Ifugao Indigenous Peoples Education Center, the first in the region.