Mangyan Culture for Sale
Hi
Iona -
MANY thanks for your heartwarming letter! I immediately forwarded it
to the rest of the trustees. If I’m not mistaken, Barbara Gonzalez is
also known as Tweetums Gonzalez and has published a book or two in the
past. The link to her article is
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/LIFESTYLE200601213306.htm
We at the
Mangyan Heritage Center are glad that the ‘discussion’ is
going even after the exhibit. That these questions and these
sentiments get to be articulated are all part of why we put up the
exhibit in the first place.
Please feel free to share the exchange to as many friends and
colleagues as possible. Let’s all be part of raising awareness and
refining the advocacy for the preservation not just of Mangyan culture
but of all our indigenous Filipino cultural heritage.
Again, maraming salamat!
Tatine
http://tatine.blogs.friendster.com/photos/myth_and_meaning/
www.mangyan.org
————
Here’s the exchange:
————
Dear All -
These past weeks you’ve received email updates from me regarding our
ongoing "Myth & Meaning: Mangyans of Mindoro" exhibit at the Ayala
Museum. Tomorrow, January 23, Monday, is our last day. I was planning
on sending one last email to simply coax all of you who haven’t
visited yet to do so. Barbara Gonzalez’ article in the Philippine Star
yesterday, January 21, changed my mind.
Does indigenous Filipino cultural heritage have value only if it can
be understood in a ‘modern’ way and transformed into a best-selling
commodity? Is raising awareness of the Mangyans and the beauty of
their culture ‘futile’ since their culture and other indigenous
culture will disappear anyway – erased by modernity?
The Hanunoo Mangyans are a shy, peaceful mountain people, considered
primitive by the lowlanders and even rumored by them to have tails.
And yet, these are the very people who have preserved a pre-Hispanic
writing system and kept alive their own ancient poetic tradition.
The "Mangyans of Mindoro" exhibit was set up to introduce this tribe
to our over-Americanized, consumer society. Their clothes, houses,
utensils may seem unsophisticated to us, and they are not materially
wealthy; but this is a society whose people often gather to recite
poetry late into the night, whose subtle minds prefer to speak in
allegories rather in dull, straightforward prose. They have no social
hierarchy but recognize judges by consensus to mediate disputes so
that there are no tribal wars - the word does not even exist in their
language. How, then, can we lowlanders presume to come in and lecure
them on clothing sizes and marketing fashions?
Their products may not be marketable to the tourists in Puerto Galera,
or to foreigners world-wide, but in their un-streamlined, homespun
quality, they convey the soul of a people. That soul may carry a clue
to our Filipino identity – that tenuous thing, that we search for and
agonize over. But we will never find it if we are bound by the
mind-set reflected in Barbara Gonzalez’s article that in order to
survive in the modern world, everything must be turned into a
commodity.
Can indigenous peoples thrive in the modern world while retaining
their traditional way of life? Is it possible for urban
"sophisticates" to learn the wisdom that can be taught by "primitive"
tribes? Would they even have the humility to know that they can learn
from them? This exhibit has no solutions, but will hopefully prompt
people to consider those questions. The point was "merely to raise
awareness of the Mangyans and the beauty of their culture" … that was
more than enough.
This is what we think.
What about you?
Tatine G. Faylona
Trustee,
Mangyan Heritage Center
www.mangyan.org
On 1/23/06, iona jalijali <ionaks@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi, Tatine!
>
> I hope you don’t mind this note from a stranger; but that was a
beautiful
> letter. Please don’t be disheartened. The work you do has tremendous
import.
> If only to show the world that such a people and culture exist,
indeed
> especially because of the threat of extinction — yes, for me,
that’s more
> than enough.
>
> As to your questions: "Does indigenous Filipino cultural heritage
have value
> only if it can be understood in a ‘modern’ way and transformed into a
> best-selling commodity? Is raising awareness of the Mangyans and the
beauty
> of their culture ‘futile’ since their culture and other indigenous
culture
> will disappear anyway – erased by modernity?" My thought would be
"NO.
> NEVER." Any presumption or insinuation that it is so is downright
absurd and
> reflects a sad, misguided ignorance clothed by pathetic elitism.
>
> I wish I could tell you that I was able to go see the exhibit, but I
wasn’t
> and I wish I had. At any rate, kudos to you and your organization.
>
> Am just wondering, is the article by Gonzalez on the Net? Can you
possibly
> provide a link thereto? Who is she anyway?
>
> My best,
> iona
