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Weaving Dreams of a World Among Worlds: T’nalak of the T’boli as an Ecological

Practice

Article in Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities · February 2024

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v16n1.05

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https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v16n1.05 | Volume 16, Number 1, 2024 | Dynamic Impact

Research article
Weaving Dreams of a World Among Worlds: T’nalak of the T’boli
as an Ecological Practice

Leni dlR. Garcia1 & Hazel T. Biana2*

Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines.
1,2

*Corresponding author

Abstract
George Marshall claims that environmental advocacy does not get enough traction despite the urgency of
the climate crisis because of two things. One, the human brain reacts to things that are personal, definite,
visible, and urgent. Climate change does not exhibit any of these and, thus, tends to be ignored. Two, most
consciousness-raising efforts take the scientific route, disseminating information using technical jargon.
While it appeals to the analytic side of the brain, it does not compel action. The brain’s intuitive/emotional
side must be affected to elicit an effective response to an event. Affect is achieved creatively, especially
through stories with which people can identify. The modern world, however, shuns stories as pre-scientific,
outmoded, and false. Using a pluriversal view where the coexistence of different but overlapping
epistemologies is imaginable, this paper shows that the reactivation of marginalized knowledge systems
could counter the dominance and universalism of the (Western) modern world. Traditional epistemologies,
as performances, could model the intuitive and personal relationship with the environment claimed to be
effective in compelling climate action. It demonstrates this through the t’nalak culture of the T’boli, one of
the Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines. T’nalak-making is a sacred ritual that performs a cultural ecology
that sees the world as divine, composed of spiritual beings that guard natural resources. As such, the T’boli
build relationships with them by respecting and caring for the environment where these spirits dwell and
rule. As the t’nalak gains wide recognition through the performance of the annual T’nalak Festival and the
t’nalak itself gains protection from modern systems as an intellectual property, the t’nalak-based cultural
ecology could inspire a similar attitude toward the planet to help mitigate the effect of climate change.

Keywords: T’boli, T’nalak, Cultural Ecology, Pluriverse, Performance

Climate Action, Life on Land

1. Introduction: Climate change, P-A-I-N, and Indigenous Consciousness

The Global Climate Risk Index 2021 lists the Philippines as 17th among the countries most affected
by climate change based on 2019 data but lists it as 4th globally, using the 2000-2019 period data
(Global Climate Risk Index, 2021). Of the Filipinos affected, Indigenous Peoples suffer the most
Article History: Received: 28 December 2023. Revised: 06 February 2024. Accepted: 07 February 2024. Published: 08 February 2024
Copyright: © 2024 by the author/s. License Aesthetix Media Services, India. Distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative
Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Citation: Garcia, L. D. & Biana, H.T. (2024). Weaving Dreams of a World Among Worlds: T’nalak of the T’boli as Ecological Practice.
Rupkatha Journal 16:1. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v16n1.05
 Rupkatha 16:1 2024 | Page 2 of 16

because their livelihood is closely tied up with the land or coastal areas. Already bearing the harsh
effects of war, modernization, and lack of political voice and power, a rise in cyclone-related
disasters has further driven them out of their ancestral lands (Abano, 2020; Philippines: Indigenous
Knowledge Takes on Climate Crisis, 2023; The Indigenous Communities Facing the Climate Crisis
in the Philippines, 2022). Some of the adverse impacts of climate change on Philippine Indigenous
Peoples include rising sea levels, barren landscapes, and malnutrition (Biana & Rivas, 2021).
However, environmental advocates still need help to get people involved and committed to
addressing such climate realities.
Founder of Climate Outreach in the UK, environmentalist George Marshall (2015), uses insights
from psychology to explain people’s general lack of response to the threat of climate change. He
takes as premise psychologist Daniel Gilbert’s claim that our brain is ill-suited to deal with the
climate crisis since it will react only to something personal (P), abrupt (A), immoral (I), and
happening now (N)--P-A-I-N. When we speak of global warming, no person perceives it as a
threat; changes happen over a long period, unable to catch our attention; it is not itself immoral,
and its effects are not experienced immediately. Despite global warming being an actual threat,
we do not deal with it because it does not fit our brain’s talent for “ducking” out of harm’s way.
There is no assailant, no sudden changes, nothing is despicable, and nothing seems to be
happening now as we live our lives. (Garcia, 2020, p. 105; Gilbert, 2006; Marshall, 2015, pp. 46–47).
Gilbert thus concludes that “Global warming is a deadly threat precisely because it fails to trip the
brain’s alarm, leaving us soundly asleep in a burning bed” (Gilbert, 2006).
Furthermore, cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST) shows the brain to have two parallel
processing systems: the analytical or rational and the experiential/intuitive or emotional. While
the former is conscious, deliberate, largely language-based, and depends on logic and favors
evidence, the latter
operates in an automatic, holistic, associationistic manner, is intimately associated with the
experience of affect, represents events in the form of concrete exemplars, and schemas
inductively derived from emotionally significant past experiences, and is able to generalize
and to construct relatively complex models for organizing experience and directing
behavior by the use of prototypes, metaphors, scripts, and narrative. (Denes-Raj & Epstein,
1994, p. 819) [emphasis added]
Affect is an emotional response to an experience. It is a powerful emotion that can move an
individual to act and address a situation at hand. Marshall (2015, p. 49) deduces that climate
change advocacy campaigns that use scientific data fail at generating affect because they mostly
speak to the brain’s rational processing, which spends much time deliberating over evidence and
probabilities. They do not attract the experiential processing that could motivate us to act.
Stories, on the other hand, do the trick. They can translate the facts the rational brain collects into
meanings, making environmental care “a non-negotiable sacred value” and climate action a
conviction (Marshall, 2015, pp. 105, 225). Psychologists, communication experts, and writers agree
that stories are what we can relate to, and compelling ones can move us to act regarding climate
change (Marshall, 2015, pp. 106–107).
For this reason, Indigenous Peoples generally serve better as stewards of the environment
(Philippines: Indigenous Knowledge Takes on Climate Crisis, 2023). Their synthesis of nature,
Garcia, L. D. & Biana, H.T. | Page 3 of 16

multispecies worldview, and the symbiotic relationship with the environment inspires them to use
natural resources sustainably (Biana & Rivas, 2022; Duhaylungsod, 2003, p. 610). This knowledge
is not translated scientifically, but in stories, especially ecological stories, that form the foundation
of their cultures, which commonly view the existence of the world as a product of divine generosity
as supernatural beings sacrifice themselves to sustain life (Garcia, 2018). They are attuned more
to the experiential rather than the objective and analyzable aspects of life, easily forming sacred
narratives that guide their actions. As the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres acknowledged,
Indigenous Peoples have the traditional knowledge and practices that work to preserve the
environment and can provide appropriate responses to the climate crisis (Abano, 2020; ‘Let Us
Learn from Indigenous Peoples’, UN Chief Declares, 2023; Naw, 2023; Nelson et al., 2019).
Indigenous ecological practices also demonstrate ecospirituality, which has been defined as
“having a reverential attitude toward the environment in taking care of it while dwelling within its
premises.” (Suganthi 2019) The stories that make up their cosmologies preserve what Korab-
Karpowicz (2002) calls the “mythical consciousness” that experiences the world as a subject rather
than an object. (Garcia, 2020) As such, the reverence for their surroundings is at the core of their
culture. The foundation of their practices is, therefore, spiritual, exhibiting the sacred intertwining
of all beings with the environment.
Unfortunately, such traditional worldviews have been marginalized. While their technology (as
techne) serves them well in climate change mitigation, Indigenous Peoples are not consulted in
policy-making because their ways do not align with the framework of climate change science
(Gabriel & Mangahas, 2017). The modern individual’s trust in science and (Western) logic has
undermined the value of indigenous myths, especially cosmogonic ones that tell of the origins of
beings and places, that often present the world as a person—as a Thou rather than an “it” (to
borrow Martin Buber’s terminology)—thereby undermining their knowledge and expressions of
such as outmoded and false or erroneous. A pluriversal view, however, can save them from this
dismissive assessment.
As a decolonial method, pluriversality admits a plurality of overlapping realities and
interpretations of those realities. Founded on relationality, it is the counter-praxis to the West’s
totalizing claim to universality (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018, p. 2). From a pluriversal view, all ways of
knowing and being enjoy legitimacy within their respective contexts. There is no one reality to
serve as a universal standard of what is correct and what is erroneous belief. Instead, there is a
multiplicity of realities engendering their respective epistemologies. As Mignolo (2018a, p. x) puts
it, pluriversality “[renounces] the conviction that the world must be conceived as a unified
totality…in order for it to make sense, and [views] the world as an interconnected diversity
instead…” It advocates for the pluricentric world by acknowledging various local and indigenous
practices that thrived before the universalism of Western civilization was set up and the world
made mono-centric after the 1500s (Mignolo, 2018b, pp. 90–92). As such, the pluriversal
appreciates and respects ontological and epistemological differences and finds the creative space
where these differences overlap at the boundaries of “worlds.”
Viewing indigenous knowledge through this lens, Sandra Harding (2018) acknowledges that the
Indigenous People’s deep knowledge of nature’s workings helped them thrive in the past but now
asks if “multiple knowledge systems [could] flourish again today, continually transforming
 Rupkatha 16:1 2024 | Page 4 of 16

themselves to engage effectively with their changing natural and social environments…” (Harding,
2018, p. 39). In other words, having been marginalized after Western universalism held sway,
could these epistemologies–and cosmologies–be reactivated, made to interact with existing
knowledge systems, and perhaps help respond to environmental changes? In asking this, Harding
is asking for a pluriversal engagement with the Indigenous Peoples’ ecological practices.
In this study, we would like to answer this question with a hopeful affirmative by showcasing the
t’nalak-centered culture of the T’boli, one of the Philippines' Indigenous Peoples. Moreover, we
look at the ritual of creating t’nalak as performance because performances are actions that
accomplish something (Schechner, 2013). The ritual of creating t’nalak fabric, central to their
community, becomes a performance of their identity as a people and a continuing act to
contribute effectively to mitigating the climate crisis. This paper aims to present and gain insights
from the cosmology of the T’boli people, especially those of the Dreamweavers—the women who
weave the t’nalak textile and maintain the T’boli way of life amidst the encroachment of modernity
that threatens their culture and puts at risk their ecological view of the world. We claim that the
ritual of weaving the t’nalak, from dream to loom, provides an effective model of being
(ontological) and knowing (epistemological) that is intuitive, affective, inclusive of all beings,
sustainable, and, therefore, respectful to the environment, addressing the two obstacles Marshall
observed in climate change advocacy. In a pluriversal world order, the T’boli way of creating the
t’nalak is a performance of identity and resilience that can relate to other ways of being in the
world that seek to save the planet from anthropogenic causes of destruction.

2. The T’boli and their T’nalak

The T’boli people consider Lake Sebu (in South Cotabato, Philippines) the center and origin of
their people (Paterno, 2001b, pp. 10–15), even though they have been driven higher into the
mountains due to various reasons involving government intervention, and their lack of political
and economic power (Duhaylungsod, 2003, pp. 616–617; Hernani et al., 2021, p. 204). They tell
that long ago, their ancestors Bo’i Henwu and Kludan survived the drought through the mountain
spirits’ help. In a dream, a spirit told Bo’i Henwu to look for a big leaf near a rock. Finding the
spot the next day, she lifted the leaf and found a white frog underneath to whom she explained
her troubles, after which water trickled out of the stone. After drinking her fill and bathing, she
set the frog back down on the stone and covered it again with the big leaf. She shared this with
Kludan, who, in turn, shared it with everyone. As if understanding the people’s needs, the trickle
of water from the stone became a gushing stream, spreading until it became Lake Sebu (Paterno,
2001b, p. 15).
As dwellers in hills and slopes, the T’boli people revere their land and protect everything that
stems from it. Myrna Pula, a T’boli, says of this in an interview,
We know we must walk through the forest with the reverence of a nun in a cathedral. No
fallen leaf should be unnecessarily disturbed; no pool of water made to ripple. We never
take without asking and explaining our need. The spirits know; they will understand, if
only we are respectful. The earth is a very strict mother who harshly disciplines her
Garcia, L. D. & Biana, H.T. | Page 5 of 16

children, but who in the end always cares for her children. So we believe and so it is.
(Paterno, 2001b, p. 4)
This attitude of inviolable use of resources is deeply embedded in their narrative culture. The T’boli
epic song tells us of nature spirits and the legend of Tudbulul and his struggles to protect the
paradise Lemlunay against enemies. The epic has eight episodes, telling Tudbulul’s life from birth
to wake, and it narrates the hero’s dedication to the land and connection to nature, inspiring the
T’boli to guard and take responsibility for their environment and community (Hernani et al., 2021).
For example, in the Tawan Sohul, or the sixth epic episode, Tudbulul undergoes rituals for the sun
and moon to regain the powers he lost in an incident of madness (Mora, 2013). Tudbulul’s
temporary madness represents his breach of contract to marry Lemfayon, the Lady of the Moon,
and his disconnection from natural forces. Tudbulul’s eventual marriage to Lemfayon symbolizes
his reintegration into the sacred and the restoration of cosmic order (Mora, 2013). When the epic
song is performed during marriage rites, it is also believed to be a collective healing event for the
community.
One of Tudbulul's sisters is the weaver Fu Dalu, perhaps the most important spiritual guardian of
the T’boli lands. She has a dual nature in that while she is believed to bless farmers with bountiful
harvests or heal the sick, she can also destroy crops and bring illness (Hernani et al., 2021). The
T’boli, mindful of this, seek to revere and appease her by caring for their natural environment and
ensuring that they coexist harmoniously with her manifestations and the elements in their
environment. They strive to preserve, protect, and manage natural resources to strengthen their
connection with Fu Dalu and other spirits (Hernani et al., 2021). This includes the soil around Lake
Sebu, fertile ground for the wild abaca plant, which produces the whitest abaca fibers used in
weaving the t’nalak or woven textile (Zerrudo, 2022).
Fu Dalu is also believed to be the spirit of the abaca tree. The T’boli offer clothing and jewelry to
Fu Dalu during the full moon (Gillis, 2022). She is described as “a fierce protective spirit who
safeguards the integrity of the t’nalak and the weaving process. The spirit is said to be striking,
very fair, with long hair that falls to its heels” (Castro, 2001, p. 41). The T’boli believe Fu Dalu shows
the favored weavers’ unique designs in their dreams. Thus, these women are called
“dreamweavers,” calling on Fu Dalu to visit the artisans’ dreams whenever they make t’nalak and
inspire unique textile designs. The T’boli believe that creativity and knowledge are inspired by the
divine, and spirit guides such as Fu Dalu transmit mastery to the artisans from the one ultimate
source of creative breath, D’wata or the Supreme Being (Mora, 2012). The t’nalak, then, is an
essential element in the T’boli’s life from birth to death. The woven cloth is put on a woman’s
stomach at birthing and newborn infants are swaddled in it. It is used as a dowry during marriage,
bartering for other essential goods, and as a healing cover for someone sick (Belgera, 2023; del
Mundo, 2022; Hernani et al., 2021, p. 206). They are often handed down as family heirlooms
(Alvina, 2001, p. 53). While not all designs are dreamt—many of them are handed down from
generation to generation, from mother to daughter to granddaughter—the spirit of abaca inspires
the best ones. When it happens, it is said that Fu Dalu dwells in the abaca fibers, so the weaver
must be extra careful and precise in her rendition of the dreamt design (Fabella, 2023; Paterno,
2001a, p. 24).
 Rupkatha 16:1 2024 | Page 6 of 16

The process of creating the t’nalak is “fraught with beliefs and cautions,” attesting to the sacred
nature of the task. Children cannot play with the abaca fibers or play around the loom. The abaca
must not touch the ground or be touched by non-weavers. The weavers also abstain from bodily
pleasures until the t’nalak is done. The t’nalak weavers are, therefore, constantly in communication
with Fu Dalu, hearing her speak and hoping to be blessed by her. Utmost care is taken in each
stage to ensure the process is done correctly, for if something is done wrong, Fu Dalu will make
the guilty ones sick (Castro, 2001, pp. 42–45; Gillis, 2022).
For instance, the photographer Neal Oshima (2018), documenting the t’nalak process, tells of his
young T’boli assistant who also did the burnishing of the textiles brought from Lake Sebu. The
young man fell ill and insisted on visiting the t’nalak in Oshima’s studio and communing with the
hanging textiles with music and prayer to heal. He explained that his illness was Fu Dalu’s way of
scolding him for burnishing the t’nalak so far away from Mindanao. The spirit saw this as a
disrespectful act that must be rectified (Oshima, 2001). Thus, from the cutting of the abaca plant
to the burnishing of the woven textile, a prayer is said at every step, calling on Fu Dalu to bless
the project, keep the fibers strong and prevent breakage, and hoping that no illness befalls the
workers and weavers until their task is done (Alvina, 2001, p. 46; Castro, 2001; Clariza, 2019, p. 85).
The whole process of t’nalak weaving thus reveals the ecospiritual foundation of this T’boli ritual,
demonstrating the “spiritual connection between human beings and the environment…[engaging]
a relational view of person to planet, inner to outer land-scape, and soul to soil.” (Lincoln 2000) In
the case of the T’boli, their reverence for the abaca also connects dream to the waking world.

Image 1: T’boli Julie Mantang Fanulan weaving T’nalak at Lake Sebu, South Cotabato. (Photo by Rico H.
Borja for the Philippine News Agency, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

In Image 1 above, T’boli weaver Julie Mantang Fanulan attentively weaves the fibers into the loom
and ensures she takes utmost care in their handling. It may seem that t’nalak weaving is a solitary
practice, but it takes a whole community to complete it over several months (Abola 2020, pp. 56–
57; Paterno 2001a, pp. 27-33). The men harvest the abaca and strip the plant, separating the
filament from the pulp. Drying and softening the fibers is also a community effort. Then, the
Garcia, L. D. & Biana, H.T. | Page 7 of 16

women sit at the longhouse, where they tie lengths of fiber in tiny, almost invisible knots to form
long threads for the warp and weft of their loom. The fibers are then wrapped for resist-dyeing
(ikat) according to the design in the weaver’s head, without any physical pattern to be followed.
Since t’nalak is woven only with the colors black, red, and white, the fibers are wrapped
accordingly. First, the black parts of the design are dyed using the k’nalum leaves, then the red
ones using the loko roots, while the original white of the abaca is preserved. The dyeing process
takes days, and the people must keep the fire going, boiling the natural colorants so that the
fibers absorb the colors well. The weaver then assembles the fibers on the loom, sometimes with
the help of family members and neighbors, and then sits with the backstrap loom to weave. They
weave in the cooler parts of the day to avoid the abaca breaking. Once completed, the t’nalak is
“ironed” to flatness, sheen, and suppleness by burnishing it with the back of a cowrie shell. This
last task, like harvesting the abaca plant in the beginning, is delegated to the men in the
community.
Corazon Alvina (2001, p. 46) explains that the three colors of the t’nalak are related to the spiritual
beliefs of the T’boli. Red (halo), black (hitem), and white (bukay) correspond to the three realms
where souls go after death depending on the manner of death–by bullet or blade, by natural
causes, and by suicide, respectively. This is the reason that non-tri-colored weaving cannot be
called t’nalak. The T’boli’s cosmology keeps them deeply connected with their environment,
making its preservation a non-negotiable value. Their sacred stories make them value their
resources, so they strictly observe what they believe is taboo, lest they offend the spirits. This
enables, even forces, them to be very sensitive to the workings of nature and equips them to react
accordingly to its processes. Gilbert’s P-A-I-N requirement, therefore, comes naturally to them.
First, they see the world as the dwelling place of spirits and the all-important abaca as the natural
domain of the sometimes kind and sometimes fearsome Fu Dalu. The earth is a person (P) to
them, “like a mother,” so they ask and explain their need before taking anything from it. The
cosmogonic myth of Lake Sebu shows that the lake was born out of a need Bo’i Henwu and Kludan
asked of the white frog under a big leaf.
Having intimate familiarity with their environment, the T’boli feel the minute changes (A) that may
be imperceptible to others. For instance, this is how they know to weave the abaca in the early
mornings or the late afternoons when it is cooler or the fibers easily break in the sun's heat, when
to harvest the plant, and how to cut them properly. They are also acutely aware of violations done
(I), manifesting in illnesses when the spirits’ will is not followed. Hence, they strive hard to rectify
them and appease the angry divinities. In their myths, this is exemplified by Tudbulul’s madness
and its cure; in contemporary narratives, by Oshima’s assistant who needed to repent for his
infraction of burnishing the t’nalak away from home.
The T’boli are aware that things are constantly in the process of change and that anything can
happen (N), so at every step of the way, they say a prayer as insurance against disaster, a wish for
a good life in Lemlunay, or as gratitude for the blessings they enjoy. Moreover, their knowledge
and ways of being are founded on the stories they tell of the divinities that guard their land and
lake, making them very susceptible to Epstein’s intuitive/emotional processes. These qualities
form the T’boli’s cultural ecology that is now celebrated in the annual T’nalak festival.
 Rupkatha 16:1 2024 | Page 8 of 16

3. The T’nalak Festival: Performative Cultural Ecology

The first T’nalak Festival was held in 1999, after Bo’i Lang Dulay, a T’boli dreamweaver with over a
hundred designs dream-inspired by Fu Dalu, was awarded the “Gawad Manlilikha ng Bayan”
(National Living Treasure Award or NLT) in 1998 (Belgera 2023). Since then, the Festival has been
held annually in South Cotabato, Philippines. Performed by the Indigenous Peoples and
communities inhabiting the surrounding areas of Lake Sebu, the South Cotabateños champion
environmental awareness and sustainability through various activities and commit to preserving
their landscapes and ecosystems (“T’nalak Festival,” 2023). A week-long celebration, the T’nalak
Festival features the t’nalak fabric as the event's cornerstone. Aside from presenting the t’nalak,
they also perform dances, music, create other art forms, and engage in competitions. Furthermore,
the event also features a food fest and an agricultural trade fair to showcase organic produce,
native delicacies, and handicrafts, including complete nipa huts (bahay kubo). During the recent
festival culminating on July 18, 2023, intricate t’nalak fabrics were displayed alongside colorful
costumes amidst street dancing and live traditional music. These dance performances depict day-
in-the-life scenes of the T’boli community and their rituals and stories about love, bravery, and
harmony with nature throughout the generations (Belgera, 2023).
There are 11 dances identified with the T’boli, and these include the Madal Tahu, Madal Siwol,
Kadal Temulon Lobo, Madal Sowol, Madal Iwas, Madal be Tonok, Madal be Kumbing, Madal be
S’ludoy, Madal Betaku, and Madal Mit Mata. The Madal be S’ludoy, Madal be Kumbing, Madal
Iwas, and Madal Tahaw are particularly associated with forest or animal elements such as bamboo,
monkeys, and birds (Yamut, 2008). The T’boli dances are said to show the T’boli’s affinity with
nature, respect for the environment, and their age-old traditions; their rhythmic movements are
used to win over the gods, attract a good harvest, mark celebrations, and strengthen unity in the
community (Yamut, 2008). The festival and the ritualistic movements recognize that the
community can have power over their environment and relationships with nature. Since the
primary purpose of the T’nalak Festival is the preservation of the T’boli culture, which is founded
on their sacred relationship with nature, it serves as a performative cultural ecology that could
influence participants, local or tourists, in thinking about one’s role as a responsible consumer and
agents of climate action.
The festival is a performance not because it showcases the dances, music, food presentation, and
various handicrafts of the T’boli but because by presenting them the way they are done in daily
life, the festival affirms the existence of the T’boli and honors their cultural practices. It also offers
them to spectators as an alternative way of living. It is, therefore, a performance–the doing or the
performative–of performances, a meta-performance that enacts community life and its cultural
tradition while opening avenues for change and development.
The awarding of Bo’i Lang Dulay as National Living Treasure, which prompted the staging of the
festival also allowed her to work closely with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts
(NCCA) in establishing a School of Living Tradition in Lake Sebu, the Manlilikha ng Bayan Center
(Lang Dulay T’nalak Weaving Center), to ensure the continued teaching and learning of the t’nalak
weaving. The renewed interest in weaving t’nalak then paved the way for a reinterpretation of the
t’nalak as a source of economic and social empowerment. This is evidenced by the establishment
of cooperatives designed to uplift T’boli life, like the Cooperative of Women in Health and
Garcia, L. D. & Biana, H.T. | Page 9 of 16

Development (COWHED) and the Lake Sebu Indigenous Women Weavers’ Association, Inc.
(LASIWWAI), among others.
The T’nalak Festival and all ensuing developments affirm the t’nalak as craft. The fabrics bear the
imprint of the weavers’ hands and become proof of their community’s existence with their bodily
intelligence manifested in their skill, which can be taught and learned (Baumstark, 2016; L. Garcia,
2009, pp. 64–67; Metcalf, 1997, p. 76). As the t’nalak are presented in the festival, the T’boli present
their identity and unity as a people, proclaiming the fabric's importance in their community life.
In Figure 2 below, we see the members of the community actively participating in the festival
through street dancing while featuring the t’nalak. As the festival displays talent and cultural pride,
it also celebrates the rich traditions of South Cotabato. It is a venue to affirm the fabric’s
significance and how it plays a role in forming their identity. As one of the weavers worriedly
asked, “Kung mawawala ang paghahabi, sino kami sa mata ng mga tao?” [If weaving is dying, who
are we in the eyes of people?] (Abola et al., 2020, p. 59).

Figure 2: T' boli dance during colorful street dancing competition on the 9th T'nalak Festival in Koronadal,
South Cotabato. (Photo by Mark Navales, viahttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

The ritual creation of t’nalak, inseparable from the life of the T’boli, performs several actions. As
a craft, it teaches the young generation of weavers and non-weavers about the cloth's spiritual
significance and encultures them into the T’boli community. As a product, it empowers the T’boli
women economically and socially. As a cultural asset, t’nalak affirms the community’s identity.
Finally, as cultural ecology, t’nalak allows the T’boli to mitigate climate change threats to their
livelihood and serve as an alternative model for addressing environmental degradation. These,
however, are not separate achievements. All aspects are intricately bound together just as the
t’nalak as ritual holistically embodies the T’boli culture.
 Rupkatha 16:1 2024 | Page 10 of 16

The festival's popularity reveals its potential to create an emotional response in its audience. This
affect is said to speak to the intuitive side of the brain and could compel action. The participants’
enjoyment of the festivities is not analytical but emotional, becoming a possible way to learn
about the t’nalak, its sources in the environment, and the T’boli’s way of sustainable product
creation. The festival, therefore, serves as an alternative means through which environmental
advocacy could be done more effectively.

4. Pluriversality in Contemporary T’nalak Production

In an interview, a T’boli expressed concern about the future of their tradition. “If the old ways go,
what is there left for our children?” (Paterno, 2001b, p. 23). Increasing modernization and
technological advancement put traditional ways such as theirs at risk. Luckily for the T’boli, the
T’nalak Festival succeeded in what it intended to do. Its success is evidenced by the proliferation
of efforts to help the T’boli improve their lives. These have brought the t’nalak to the international
arena. Entrepreneurship training and microfinancing, such as those offered by COWHED and
LASIWWAI allowed the women to properly cost their woven fabric and gain more from them than
they used to (Santos, 2012; The Dreamweaver of Lake Sebu, 2011). In 2017, the Intellectual
Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHIL) granted the “T’nalak Tau Sebu'' collective trademark
registration to various Lake Sebu-based weaving centers and associations, protecting the weavers’
creation and ensuring consumers of the authenticity of the t’nalak purchased from them. Their
t’nalak is also set to be registered as Geographical Indications. As shown, since the t’nalak
represents a whole culture encompassing people and their environment, these economic
developments go hand in hand with increased land protection. To protect the forest from loggers
and maintain the biodiversity in their forest, crucial to keeping the authentic, traditional, and
natural means of creating t’nalak, the T’boli now coordinate with the CustomMade Crafts Center
(CMCC) for annual impact monitoring reports on the sustainability of forests (Arts, 2008). The
t’nalak and, therefore, the T’boli have been allowed to thrive once more. The interest in the festival
established around it is a manifesto that this tradition can lend itself to new forms without severing
ties with its origins. This is the resounding “yes'' we offer in reply to Harding’s question we
mentioned earlier on whether traditional ways marginalized by the (Western) monocentric world
order could be revived and be one of the multiple knowledge systems that we could learn from
today (Harding, 2018, p. 39).
Many factors continue to threaten the T’boli’s resources and environment (Duhaylungsod, 2003).
The newfound economic benefit of creating t’nalak also threatens the ecospiritual foundation of
this cultural heritage, which keeps the T’boli’s deep connection with nature. Because of national
and international market demand, most t’nalak fabrics sold are “non-sacred.” They are used in
various functionalities that would not have been allowed in the original context of their creation
(Garduce, 2014). Nowadays, T’nalak products require the cutting of the fabric, which is absolutely
forbidden in the T’boli ritual practice unless a sacrifice is offered. They also would have violated
the rule of not letting the fabric touch the ground had t’nalak-based footwear been done under
the sacred context. Some T’boli view these actions as a “lack of sensitivity toward the cultural
integrity of the t’nalak” (A. L. Garcia & Villaflor, 2022). Haute couture has also been captured by
the beauty of the t’nalak, and local and international fashion designers have used the fabric for
Garcia, L. D. & Biana, H.T. | Page 11 of 16

their shows. Because weaving an original t’nalak takes months, copies made by machines make
the designs available faster. While the T’boli remain secure in the authenticity of their creations,
cheap and fast alternatives may threaten the economic benefit they now derive from their t’nalak
(Sarmiento, 2018). Stronger protective laws concerning intellectual property rights, especially for
traditional knowledge and cultural expressions, are also needed to combat counterfeit products
(Fernan & Cerilles, 2021). These threats show that while the t’nalak cultural ecology could serve as
an effective model for promoting climate action conviction, preserving it is not simple and involves
many economic and political factors.
In a pluriverse, these are the overlaps that the T’boli need to navigate as stewards of the
environment, enacting their care of the planet through their indigenous, t’nalak-centered
cosmology and knowledge system. As Mignolo explained, the pluriverse is not composed of
isolated worlds but of different worlds entangled at the borders. Thus, “a way of thinking and
understanding that dwells in the interstices of the entanglement…is needed” (Mignolo, 2018a, p.
xi). The survival of the T’boli cultural ecology rests on its being able to deal with this culture that
is different from its own “with both eyes open,” as Harding claims, “envisioning future relations
[that allow for as of yet] unexplored possibilities” (2018, p. 57).
While the cooperatives and the intellectual property protection provided to the Lake Sebu
collectives help ensure the survival of t’nalak, the institutions that provide them to the T’boli
operate on values that may be alien to them. Like most indigenous cultures, the T’boli embody a
communal system where people are not separate from the environment. Their understanding of
themselves and the world is transpersonal (Cervantes, 2023). For them, every aspect of the world–
the mountains, the lakes, plants, and animals–is inhabited by spirits that they treat as persons. The
prominence of Fu Dalu in their lives is evidence of this. Everything they do has an impact on the
abaca and, therefore, on their lives.
On the other hand, intellectual property is rights-based and utilitarian, viewing human creations
as mostly having only instrumental value. This is why traditional knowledge and cultural
expressions such as the t’nalak weaving cannot be effectively covered by conventional Intellectual
Property (IP) systems. Certain assumptions behind the concepts of “property” and “creator” often
do not exist in indigenous societies (WIPO, 2020). But by opening themselves up to the regulations
of the IP system, the T’boli engages with an ego-centered world. Yet, they are doing this precisely
to keep the cultural value and integrity of their t’nalak which remains relational and communal.
In this way, they maintain a tension between worlds, theirs and another’s. But in this relationship,
new ways of being are created: diverse, pluriversal.
The t’nalak act of weaving performs. Rene Javellana, SJ (2001) shows that transformations occur
in the creation of the textile, from dreams to looms. Its success “is balanced gingerly on a
spectrum of tensions, ranging from total absence to singing presence” (Javellana, 2001, p. 64).
There is the tension in the fiber, the tension in wrapping and dyeing, and the tension that the
weaver’s back, hands, and legs maintain as she gives form to her dreams. This process, “[varies]
with each performance, like the constantly changing pressure of a musician’s flying fingers on a
violin. Each t’nalak, therefore, is a product of complex artistic improvisation” (Javellana, 2001, p.
64). We imagine that dwelling on the margins where worlds pluriversally overlap in honor and for
the benefit of the t’nalak is also about maintaining the tensions between different knowledge
 Rupkatha 16:1 2024 | Page 12 of 16

systems and accompanying ways of being. Tension prevents dissolution and the fall back into a
monocentric world. This way, the T’boli’s cultural ecology around the t’nalak may flourish and
contribute significantly to addressing the climate crisis and inspiring climate action conviction in
others.

Conclusion
Most Indigenous Peoples bear the brunt of various anthropogenic climate catastrophes due to
their vulnerable geographies. But the unique ways they work with nature, marginalized in the
modern world, may be key to mitigating the effects of climate change in various environments.
These cosmologies, told as sacred narratives or myths, guide their ecological practices. As the
earth’s natural guardians, they acknowledge its sacred value and build their lives in ways that are
gentle on the environment from which they carve out their livelihood. Such views, if shared, create
an affective ripple that could allow people to relate and understand what is at stake regarding
environmental degradation. To put such a knowledge system at par with the prevailing ones,
however, a pluriversal attitude is required.
This paper examines the case of the T’boli’s ritual of t’nalak fabric creation. It presents it as a
performance of their identity as a people and a performative cultural ecology. As a sacred story-
based culture, its cosmology and accompanying knowledge system serve as an alternative model
of ecological practices that could help mitigate the threats of climate change. In a pluriversal
world, the T’boli productively interacts with other worlds as it maintains its own indigenous one.
The T’nalak Festival, a performance of their daily performances, paved the way for further
interaction with ways other than the T’boli’s, transforming their world as efforts are exerted to
ensure the continuation of the t’nalak weaving. But exploring new possibilities, such as what they
are experiencing as they relate to what is “outside” brings concerns regarding the longevity and
understanding of their cultural heritage and the future of the natural resources they need to
maintain their tradition. Yet, this is how it becomes pluriversal. Like the abaca fibers of the t’nalak,
the worlds are interconnected, entangled, and interwoven, not always comfortably, but hopefully,
always creatively.

Declaration of Conflicts of Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
Funding Disclosure
No funding was received for this research.

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Dr. Leni Garcia is a Full Professor at the Department of Philosophy, De La Salle University (DLSU).
She is the Associate Provost of DLSU and Director of the Lasallian Core Curriculum Program. As
Director of the Research and Publications Office of the College of Liberal Arts in 2007, she initiated
the annual DLSU Arts Congress and served as its convenor for several years. She is a UBCHEA-
Asian Interfaith Dialogue Network Fellow, Catholic University of America’s Council for Research in
Values and Philosophy Fellow, and a Mahidol University Visiting Fellow for the Center for Buddhist
Studies. She researches and publishes on non-Western philosophies, Existential Philosophy,
alternative ontologies, epistemologies, and aesthetics. She writes, paints, and dances, served as a
faculty of classical ballet at the Children’s Dance Workshop (now Acts Manila), and as member of
the Señor Gomez Grupo Flamenco de Manila. She was also an adviser and actor of the Destiyero
Theatre Group. She is the proponent of DLSU’s Inclusive Vision for Equitable, Diverse, and
Sensitive Education or project DIVERSE, and is a leading member of the DLSU Green Initiatives,
and a member of the Ban on Single-use Plastic on Campus Committee (BOSUPOC). As such, she
advocates for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and is an avid recyclist for the benefit of the
environment.
Hazel T. Biana is a Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy of De La Salle
University, Manila, Philippines. She is also a fellow at the Southeast Asia Research Center and Hub,
and the Social Development Research Center. Her research interests are diverse and
multidisciplinary, with topics on intersectionality studies, indigenous cultures, sustainability, and
the philosophy of place. From 2014-2016, she spearheaded various workshops funded by the
United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia on Reclaiming Filipino Indigenous Cultures
through Teaching and Learning. These efforts resulted in Teaching Philippine Indigenous Cultures,
a set of published modules for teaching indigenous cultures in Higher Education Institutions.

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