Papers by David Gowey
Colonial Latin American Studies
Recent scholarship on the Philippines has called into question the degree of colonial control whi... more Recent scholarship on the Philippines has called into question the degree of colonial control which Spain held over the Philippines from 1521-1899. At the same time, scholars of Colonial Latin America have been increasingly reaching out across the Pacific to incorporate Philippine materials into comparative analyses of Iberian colonialism in the Atlantic world. This paper examines the blood oaths of Rajah Humabon (1521) and Datu Sikatuna (1565) alongside other episodes from Philippine history to argue for the study of the Iberian colonialisms in former Pacific colonies alongside the Americas. Furthermore, this paper analyzes these materials through the lens of Filomeno Aguilar’s “clash of spirits” to better understand the range of Filipino responses to Spanish power during the colonial period and attempts to recover local agency via Indigenous sincerity, specifically in narratives of local conversion to Catholicism and other various forms of collaboration with Spanish authorities.
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Ethnohistory
Indigenous Panay Bukidnon people of the Philippines have chanted long narrative poems called sugi... more Indigenous Panay Bukidnon people of the Philippines have chanted long narrative poems called sugidanon since at least the sixteenth century. These poems were traditionally performed by binukot (secluded) women and feature binukot women as active characters. This paper examines three sugidanon epics alongside two Hiligaynon-language Catholic devotional poems written by Spanish missionaries. These writers appropriated selectively from Panayanon poetry forms, idioms, and gender categories to create a new Christianized Visayan model woman with comparatively lower prestige than her precolonial counterpart. Fashioned after Mary, this new feminine ideal elevated a hispanicized view of the binukot as a pious and domesticated foil to indigenous Panayanon religious practitioners (babaylan) who were most often women but also effeminate men or intersex individuals. Panayanon people also adapted to Spanish colonialism by incorporating Mary alongside indigenous figures such as the babaylan and female ancestors depicted in sugidanon epics.
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Journal of Asian Studies
This paper argues that as Panay Bukidnon chanted epics called sugidanon are increasingly transfor... more This paper argues that as Panay Bukidnon chanted epics called sugidanon are increasingly transformed from oral into written texts and from community to public performances, scholarly attention paid to markers of oral performance should similarly increase. These markers include variation between performances and performers, semantic parallelism and other forms of repetition, and audience participation. This paper proposes a non-hierarchical typology for sugidanon performance contexts to better understand how Panay Bukidnon chanting practices have changed over time from the 16th century to the present. An in-depth analysis of semantic parallelisms examines a standard repertoire of poetic speech that appears across all recorded sugidanon epics and proposes that these features of semi-extemporaneous performance situate the epics within other regional poetry forms in Island Southeast Asia.
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The American occupation of the Philippines began in war against Spain but quickly became one of t... more The American occupation of the Philippines began in war against Spain but quickly became one of the United States’ most overt and then most forgotten experiments in colonial rule outside the Western Hemisphere. This paper illustrates the importance of religious arguments as justifications for actions taken by various parties during the Philippine-American War, highlighting especially how Spanish and American attitudes differed in religious preference but shared the same basis in pre-Enlightenment views on civilization. Operating on the basis that even the islands’ Catholic majority was insufficiently Christian, some Americans like McKinley and Taft portrayed the occupation as both a mission of “uplift” and a stepping stone to greater Protestant presence in mainland China. Filipino revolutionaries held much more diverse views reflecting their vastly different backgrounds, including European-educated ilustrados; syncretic and animist practitioners throughout the islands; breakaway sects like the Iglesia Filipina Independiente; and Muslim-majority polities in Mindanao and Sulu.
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Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, 2020
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Panay Bukidnon are a group of people who practice swidden agriculture in upland communities acros... more Panay Bukidnon are a group of people who practice swidden agriculture in upland communities across all four provinces on Panay Island, Philippines. Epic chanting, known collectively as sugidanon, is one marker of ethnolinguistic distinction that separates them from lowland populations due in part to use of an “archaic Kinaray-a” or binukidnon lexicon and the perception that chanting is a timeless ethnic tradition. Since the 1960s, several Filipino anthropologists have demonstrated a keen interest in the narratives, collecting and publishing them for academic and public consumption. Additionally, chants are currently taught to Panay Bukidnon children in an ethnopedagogy program known variously as the Balay Turun-an, School of Living Tradition (SLT), or GAMABA Training Center. My discussion of sugidanon will primarily refer to the ongoing University of the Philippines publication series chanted by members of the Caballero family, comprised of fourteen volumes total, presented in archaic and contemporary Kinaray-a, Tagalog, and English.
This paper argues that sugidanon chants act as invented tradition by asserting continuities with the precolonial past and also preserving in memory maritime lifeways and socioeconomic practices no longer extant among Panay Bukidnon people living in the uplands of Panay. The frame of invented tradition allows for analysis of sugidanon narratives as being situated in and informed by specific temporal, geographic, and cultural contexts rather than viewing them as timeless, obsolete, or exotic. To illustrate the applicability of invented tradition literature to the SLT program as my primary case study, I will first discuss other examples of invented tradition such as ethnic dress, language, and dance with a special focus on Southeast Asia. Furthermore, I suggest that sugidanon and the SLT program specifically are exemplars of one indigenous response to modernity that is contingent on Panay Bukidnon relationships with other non-indigenous Filipinos and the world at large.
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Linguistic reconstructions of the PAN root *kayaw by researchers such as Liao, Blust, and Demp... more Linguistic reconstructions of the PAN root *kayaw by researchers such as Liao, Blust, and Dempwolff demonstrate an Austronesian raiding complex that incorporates lowland and highland peoples in what is both a display of masculinity and engine of economic transformation. Exploiting this system in its culturally particularist variations gives a man (often a datu or chief) access to a wide range of resources to increase his personal prowess, including heirloom goods, human heads, and captives. While this institution historically presented a clear threat to women, who were frequently targeted for capture as wives and slaves, female voices were not silent in pushing back against male violence through stories of powerful shamans, transvestites, and goddesses. This paper seeks to first explore foundational literature on *kayaw as a Southeast Asian economic and political behavior and also to contextualize these case studies through the Visayan sugidanon epic chant tradition. As these poems were historically chanted by women, they provide a uniquely feminine lens through which raiding can be analyzed. This second part of the analysis also investigates how non-binary individuals like effeminate men ( bakla or asog) could attain prowess through female and male means. The goal of doing so is to assert female/feminine agency in the creation of intangible cultural heritage as both oral history and culture vehicle in an early modern Philippine society.
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With the publication of the Caballero family's version of the sugidanon, the Panayanon chant trad... more With the publication of the Caballero family's version of the sugidanon, the Panayanon chant tradition's characters and storylines has risen in popularity, giving rise in turn to public discussions about authenticity in portraying indigenous narratives and history. Similar conversations also occur inside indigenous communities as well as outside. This paper will present five different depictions of key sugidanon characters, including Labaw Donggon, Matan-ayon, Paiburong, and Suranggaon. The main sources for this study will be the Caballero version, Ulang Udig's Epic of Labaw Donggon, Hugan-an's Hinilawod: Adventures of Humadapnon, Monteclaro's Maragtas, and Spanish accounts of ancestor worship on Panay. Two qualifiers are needed to contextualize this discussion. First, because the Caballero sugidanon is still being published, this comparison is inherently a work in progress until the final volume is released. Second, the mixed oral and historical character of the Maragtas has attracted considerable controversy since Jocano and Scott's writings on the subject. For this reason, its inclusion in this comparison is largely for its depiction of characters and not strictly its historical accuracy. This paper explores specifically the role of Labaw Donggon, Matan-ayon and others as founding figures among indigenous communities of Panay, both literally as ancestors and figuratively as literary personages. A definitive conclusion on the historicity of any of these characters is beyond the scope of this study. However, a return to colonial sources in conjunction with indigenous voices can be of use to scholars of Visayan history and culture by examining the sugidanon as an expression of Panayanon ethno-linguistic identity.
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While Philippine scholars on the Visayas have made great efforts to incorporate their subject int... more While Philippine scholars on the Visayas have made great efforts to incorporate their subject into the regional history of Southeast Asia, there has been comparatively less work done to accomplish this from the other side. Consequently, these regional histories typically only give passing mention to the Visayan Islands in discussions of broader processes such as Indianization and Islamization. This paper seeks to address the existence of this gap in scholarship and narrow it by analyzing movement of trade goods and religious ideas from the west into Philippine ports, and asserting connections between early modern Visayan societies and kingdoms of Southeast Asia, particularly in the islands.
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Tikum Kadlum is the first poem in the sugidanon cycle and acts as a prologue for the main storyli... more Tikum Kadlum is the first poem in the sugidanon cycle and acts as a prologue for the main storylines involving recurring characters, including Labaw Donggon, Amburukay, and Matan-ayon. It provides valuable insights for modern readers into the cultural practices and values of the archaic Kinaray-a speakers who created it, as well as the world around them within the Philippines and greater Island Southeast Asia. This paper aims to analyze the poem’s themes in order to help readers personalize the narrative and its characters, ultimately helping them identify with the story despite its temporally displaced setting and archaic language. This analysis will explore three main themes from the text: reverence for the supernatural, gender/social roles, and moral lessons that can be applicable to contemporary audiences. Presenting these themes will involve discussion of Makabagting’s tuos—an icon for a promise made to him prior to the epic proper—and its long-term consequences on the narrative; various appeasement rituals practiced within the Panay Bukidnon community and how this connects to larger Philippine folk beliefs; constructing a dialogue between the epic’s portrayal of social and family dynamics and ethnographic sources; and possible connections to broader Asian folklore like Hindu/Buddhist epics and the Persian Shahnameh.
My methodology for this paper will center on compilation and comparison of ethnographic and historical records about prehispanic/early colonial Visayan society, using the sugidanon as a basis for this comparison. I will also draw parallels between these materials and contemporary Filipino beliefs and practices in establishing the continuing importance of appeasement rituals to the supernatural, e.g. “tabi-tabi po” and planting ceremonies practiced by the Panay Bukidnon, all despite the introduction of Christianity in various forms. Underpinning this is the foundational assumption that Indonesia and India are the most logical and best-attested sources for cultural diffusion into the prehispanic Philippines, giving further insight into the poem’s values and mythology. The main goal of this study is to use Tikum Kadlum as an introduction to approaching the sugidanon, emphasizing its continuing relevance as Philippine intangible heritage while recognizing its status as literature that is uniquely Visayan in character and setting.
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The Panay Bukidnon are an agricultural people in the Philippines, and one of the few remaining in... more The Panay Bukidnon are an agricultural people in the Philippines, and one of the few remaining indigenous groups in the Visayas. Their epic poetry, collectively known as the sugidanon, is currently undergoing a renaissance of public awareness and scholarly contributions to a small but growing body of subject-specific literature. One question which continues to puzzle researchers is the timeline and narrative surrounding the tribe’s apparent migration from the coastal regions of Panay Island to their present settlements in the mountains. While the epics tell of a maritime society that participated in larger regional practices like sea-raiding, boat burials, and the inter-island slave trade, their current socio-political system bears only fleeting resemblances to this precolonial past. Three previous researchers (Jocano, Bolante, and Magos) have put forward hypotheses addressing different aspects of this migration, but the field still lacks a unified model. This paper attempts to combine Spanish historical sources like dictionaries and relaciones, ethnographic materials, and the epics to better understand the stimuli and historical context for this movement and its attendant changes in the tribe’s social organization. It is expected that the main driver for this migration was Spanish colonialism and missionization, which—combined with a change in subsistence strategies from coastal fishing and agriculture to highland terrace farming—contributed to the undermining of specific political institutions within tribal communities. Results of this study will be of interest to scholars of Southeast Asian studies, ethnohistory, Spanish colonialism, cultural change, and geography.
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This paper seeks to present and analyze a number of threats posed by the Jalaur Megadam Project t... more This paper seeks to present and analyze a number of threats posed by the Jalaur Megadam Project to both indigenous and non-indigenous communities on the island of Panay. These threats take the form of economic, archaeological, historical, military, and social pressures which could negatively affect the ability of Panay Bukidnon communities to preserve intangible cultural heritage.
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The Panay Bukidnon sugidanon centers on the family of the human warrior Buyong Paubari and goddes... more The Panay Bukidnon sugidanon centers on the family of the human warrior Buyong Paubari and goddess Laun Sina. Using this couple and others as examples, I argue that the sugidanon and its social context typify the relationship between gendered hierarchies within Panay Bukidnon society, and that the role of elite women as chanters constructed and reinforced the stories’ moral perspectives on fidelity, sexual violence, and honor. Specifically, the physical power of male characters is complemented and checked in many instances by the spiritual power of females. This analysis will focus on examples from the sugidanon itself and relevant ethnographic case studies to demonstrate the operations of this split hierarchy, both in the stories themselves and in their traditional performance context.
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The sugidanon is one of the most prolific epic chant traditions in the world, yet it is still lar... more The sugidanon is one of the most prolific epic chant traditions in the world, yet it is still largely unknown even within the Philippines. In order to understand the continuing relevance of the sugidanon tradition, it is important to also understand its origins and development. This paper presents information about historical kingdoms in Southeast Asia in order to place the tradition within this larger context of cultural diffusion. In addition, I will also propose a framework for dating the sugidanon through analysis of linguistic, archaeological, and historical data.
Keywords: sugidanon, archaeology, Sanskrit, Hinduism, Indonesia
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A brief overview of three key conflicts between the United Fruit Company and Latin American count... more A brief overview of three key conflicts between the United Fruit Company and Latin American countries which hosted their enterprises (Costa Rica, Colombia, and Guatemala), relating each to contemporary US foreign policy and military doctrine. Also discussed is a history of United Fruit's origins and practices.
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This paper will examine symbolic connections between the heavenly investiture ceremony described ... more This paper will examine symbolic connections between the heavenly investiture ceremony described in “The Testament of Levi” section of Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Christian baptism ceremonies of the 4th and 5th Centuries CE, and the Latter-day Saint endowment ordinance (initiatory and instruction ceremonies). Both use similar language in relation to the clothing given to Levi and the initiate, including the physical items, order of placement within the ritual context, and underlying symbolism of each. To provide information on the continuity of these three clothing rituals, examples will be taken from Jewish, early Christian, and LDS texts, both scriptural and scholarly works.
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Overview of the career of Dr. Felipe Landa Jocano, Sr, leading Filipino cultural anthropologist, ... more Overview of the career of Dr. Felipe Landa Jocano, Sr, leading Filipino cultural anthropologist, one of the first researchers to document the Panay Bukidnon epic chant ("sugidanon") tradition, including the Hinilawod and Labaw Donggon. His other works included ethnography, history, and linguistic studies of Tagalog and Visayan languages.
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In recent years, awareness of Panay Bukidnon culture on the part of the Philippine general public... more In recent years, awareness of Panay Bukidnon culture on the part of the Philippine general public has increased, largely due to representations in the media like the television show Amaya or the recent Hinilawod and Labaw Donggon musical productions. However, this increased awareness has been accomplished largely through outside media as opposed to the Panay Bukidnon themselves, which in the case of Amaya resulted in calls of misrepresentation by some critics as well as tribal members. The issue of cultural self-determination is critical to preservation and interpretation of the sugidanon and other Panay Bukidnon cultural practices, as it is the right of those who created and still perpetuate said traditions to define their relevance to the present. As such, this paper will address the following: analyzing the impact of public perception on Panay Bukidnon cultural practices; ways in which the Panay Bukidnon themselves have sought to inform these perceptions by outsiders; as well as suggestions for how further efforts may be informed by the examples of other indigenous peoples throughout the world.
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Conference Presentations by David Gowey
Smithsonian Summer Institute for Museum Anthropology Symposium, 2023
Between 1902 and 1946, American military officers collected and contributed many objects includin... more Between 1902 and 1946, American military officers collected and contributed many objects including weapons, household goods, and clothing from various Philippine peoples to what was then the U.S. National Museum. Among these objects are metal armor pieces and cannons collected from Muslim majority Moro peoples of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago that were misidentified by their American collectors as Spanish. This project aims to better understand how these objects may have come to be misidentified and the implications of proper identification for the study of trade, conflict, and indigenous manufacturing in a region of the Southern Philippines that was largely not colonized by Spain.
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Papers by David Gowey
This paper argues that sugidanon chants act as invented tradition by asserting continuities with the precolonial past and also preserving in memory maritime lifeways and socioeconomic practices no longer extant among Panay Bukidnon people living in the uplands of Panay. The frame of invented tradition allows for analysis of sugidanon narratives as being situated in and informed by specific temporal, geographic, and cultural contexts rather than viewing them as timeless, obsolete, or exotic. To illustrate the applicability of invented tradition literature to the SLT program as my primary case study, I will first discuss other examples of invented tradition such as ethnic dress, language, and dance with a special focus on Southeast Asia. Furthermore, I suggest that sugidanon and the SLT program specifically are exemplars of one indigenous response to modernity that is contingent on Panay Bukidnon relationships with other non-indigenous Filipinos and the world at large.
My methodology for this paper will center on compilation and comparison of ethnographic and historical records about prehispanic/early colonial Visayan society, using the sugidanon as a basis for this comparison. I will also draw parallels between these materials and contemporary Filipino beliefs and practices in establishing the continuing importance of appeasement rituals to the supernatural, e.g. “tabi-tabi po” and planting ceremonies practiced by the Panay Bukidnon, all despite the introduction of Christianity in various forms. Underpinning this is the foundational assumption that Indonesia and India are the most logical and best-attested sources for cultural diffusion into the prehispanic Philippines, giving further insight into the poem’s values and mythology. The main goal of this study is to use Tikum Kadlum as an introduction to approaching the sugidanon, emphasizing its continuing relevance as Philippine intangible heritage while recognizing its status as literature that is uniquely Visayan in character and setting.
Keywords: sugidanon, archaeology, Sanskrit, Hinduism, Indonesia
Conference Presentations by David Gowey
This paper argues that sugidanon chants act as invented tradition by asserting continuities with the precolonial past and also preserving in memory maritime lifeways and socioeconomic practices no longer extant among Panay Bukidnon people living in the uplands of Panay. The frame of invented tradition allows for analysis of sugidanon narratives as being situated in and informed by specific temporal, geographic, and cultural contexts rather than viewing them as timeless, obsolete, or exotic. To illustrate the applicability of invented tradition literature to the SLT program as my primary case study, I will first discuss other examples of invented tradition such as ethnic dress, language, and dance with a special focus on Southeast Asia. Furthermore, I suggest that sugidanon and the SLT program specifically are exemplars of one indigenous response to modernity that is contingent on Panay Bukidnon relationships with other non-indigenous Filipinos and the world at large.
My methodology for this paper will center on compilation and comparison of ethnographic and historical records about prehispanic/early colonial Visayan society, using the sugidanon as a basis for this comparison. I will also draw parallels between these materials and contemporary Filipino beliefs and practices in establishing the continuing importance of appeasement rituals to the supernatural, e.g. “tabi-tabi po” and planting ceremonies practiced by the Panay Bukidnon, all despite the introduction of Christianity in various forms. Underpinning this is the foundational assumption that Indonesia and India are the most logical and best-attested sources for cultural diffusion into the prehispanic Philippines, giving further insight into the poem’s values and mythology. The main goal of this study is to use Tikum Kadlum as an introduction to approaching the sugidanon, emphasizing its continuing relevance as Philippine intangible heritage while recognizing its status as literature that is uniquely Visayan in character and setting.
Keywords: sugidanon, archaeology, Sanskrit, Hinduism, Indonesia