Two categories of ethnic minority -Moro and Lumadare indigenous to the Philippine island of Mindanao, with Muslim Moros outnumbering largely animist Lumads. Both have been profoundly displaced by the post-World War II influx of Christian Filipino settlers from other islands, leading to armed conflict with the national government over land and political control. Due to their political and demographic inferiority to Moros, Lumads have regularly resorted to the accommodation and assimilation of Moro priorities, including throwing their support behind the latters' decades-long struggle for territorial autonomy. Thanks to wide public support among the Lumad and other Mindanao sectors, the latest peace talks between the government and Moro leaders has led to the signing of a major peace deal involving the creation of a new autonomous Bangsamoro homeland. Despite this, the legitimate needs of Lumad stakeholders have been ignored, and in some cases deliberately undermined, by Moros and the national government. This article analyses the post-conflict status of the Lumad who, as second-order minorities in the future Bangsamoro homeland, have been doubly marginalized in daily life and in the peace process. It concludes that denying Lumad concerns now will render Bangsamoro more vulnerable to legal and constitutional challenges, as well as jeopardize the unique 'tri-people' ethos that has made this the most firmly grounded peace process to date.
The root causes of armed aggression among Higaûnon people in northern Mindanao, Philippines, have changed over the centuries. Prior to the 20th century, its primary aim was raiding for slaves and for redress of personal grievances. At the turn of the 20th century, armed aggression became tied to the loss of ancestral lands, an issue which grew more acute as Mindanao became the target of government resettlement policies and economic ventures. In the 1970s, Higaûnon aggression culminated in the ‘Higaûnon War’ against commercial logging on their ancestral lands. Rhetoric employed in this ‘war’ changed over the years, from limited personal grievances to Marxist ideology to radical environmentalism, all of which have engendered violent responses from the government. Recently, Higaûnons have conflated environmentalist rhetoric with expressions of their ethnic identity, and emphasised their economic as well as cultural dependence on the land. This peaceful strategy has produced some positive results but, because of continuing land insecurity, it has not completely eliminated the prospect of armed aggression in the future.
This article explores the relevance of water in the cultural traditions of indigenous Lumad peoples of Mindanao island in the southern Philippines. Historically, Lumad identities and networks (whether political, social, or economic) were conceptualised according to the rivers on which people dwelt. Important ties stretched from the coast to the interior (i.e., between upriver and downriver communities), with water providing the path of least resistance in rough terrain. This stands in contrast to the present-day cultural and political divide between the uplands and lowlands, which are now dominated by mainstream 'Filipino' settlers, referred to locally as dumagat or 'sea-people'. Given that Lumad ties to the land are profoundly visualised according to rivers, the saltwater origins of dumagats locate these interlopers at, or more often, beyond the moral boundaries of the Lumad universe. Meanwhile, in Lumad oral traditions, the movements of people across one generation to the next are traced according to river systems they have occupied, with proximity to water often equated with degree of civilization and cultural purity. Despite the passage of time, and decreased linear proximity from the original rivers, these primal riverine origins remain significant in the present day, as Lumads continue to socially prioritise the genealogies and networks of traditional political authority that are upstreamed from these oral traditions. Focusing on field data from the Higaunon ethnic group of northern Mindanao, this article analyses five examples of water being employed as a hermeneutic for how Lumads locate themselves in relation to other ethnic groups, the state, modern Filipino society, and their own cultural traditions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.