Group 2
The Socio-cultural Transformation of the
Balangao and Ga’dang of Paracelis,
Mt. Province, Philippines: Prospects and
Challenges Darwin Don M. Dacles, Ph. D
Fe Yolanda G. Del Rosario, Ph. D.
Introduction
Cultures are dynamic and have
never been static
They can neither be constrained
nor created homogenous even by
the presence of rigid borders.
Changes happen at an accelerating
speed, given the cultural information,
influx of technological development,
modernity, urbanization, and people
migrating more freely across borders than
ever before. (Kipuri, 2009)
This active and vibrant trans-cultural
movement results
in an amalgam of new knowledge,
practices and systems; and,
to a complex process of negotiation.
At the forefront are agents of change
such as technological breakthroughs like
the cellular and the mobile phone,
internet and global media;
Education too as a means of
empowerment has reached the far-flung
and forested areas.
The Balangao and Ga’dang are not
exempt from the inroads of change.
To them socio-cultural
transformation either by
acculturation, enculturation,
invention, or diffusion is both a boon
and a bane.
Smith et.al (2000) explained that
modernity and globalization constitutes
a. an unprecedented opportunity for
empowerment; and
b. an exceptional threat to the autonomy
and homogeneity of peoples’ cultures.
Thomas (1998) defines
socio-cultural
transformation as a
dynamic process whereby
living cultures adapt to
external or internal
forces.
Such have particular importance and
urgency for the indigenous peoples
particularly in two apparent socio-cultural
values like
a.communal land ownership
b.spiritual attachment to land and territory
Champagne (2007) states that
dichotomies between nature and culture do not
exist among indigenous societies.
They do not see themselves as outside the
realm of nature;
In many of them social and political
institutions are part of the cosmic order.
So is the ownership and custody of their
cultural heritage, which is collective in
nature.
It is this all-encompassing nature of indigenous
cultures that make them unique and so different
from the mainstream that holds the political,
economic and social power in the nation-states in
which they live (Daez,1995).
As noted, the occurrence of internal and
external forces has impacted the
Balangao and Ga’dang of Paracelis, Mt.
Province.
……who yearn for the times when life was
uncomplicated, when peoples’ needs and lifestyles
were austere and minimal, when socio-cultural values
were intact and unremitting, and where the
environment offered a steady, unadulterated supply of
foods, and where there is a firm relation of constancy
between the spiritual and the commonplace.
In the context of cultural logic, (Kerchner,
1999), the researchers sought elucidation to
a number of intriguing queries…….
What is the role of language in cultural
transmission, given that foreign and
mainstream languages dominate the mother
tongue?
Can there be real unity between deeply-
rooted socio-cultural traditions as against
social values formed in present-day
education?
How can the concept of local community life and
values be integrated in the whole-of-nation approach?
How can governmental policies and priorities on
development stand co-equal with the indigenous
peoples’ cry against its far-reaching and more often
devastating effects such as disturbed ecosystem and
ecological problems that endanger and move them to
co-adapt leaving much of their structures, attitudes
and values behind?
How can the concepts of individualism and
private property and the intrusion of capitalistic
ideology co-exist with their collective economic
production, consumption and distribution?
Should the intrusion of modern gadget and
equipment that destroy culturally-rooted family
and community social relations and values be
minimized?
How can traditional economic livelihood fare
up with changing physical landscapes and
urban sprawl brought by development
aggression and modernity?
These questions were thus, examined in the light
of the Balangao and Ga’dang experiences.
SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Goal 3
Goal 2
Goal 1
Explicate the factors in the socio-
cultural transformation of the
Balangaos and the Ga’dangs;
Note the underlying changes that have
taken place in their community due to
the changes; and
Describe the Balangao and
Ga’dangs’ strategies to adapt
themselves with these socio-
cultural changes.
METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES OF DATA
PhotoStory 3
Text
Some findings:
Text
Text
.
Undo Button
a.The tools of anthropological research.
b. Oral History
c. Informal retrospective interview
d. Focus group discussions
e. Photo-Video Documentation.
f. Data Transcription and Inductive
Reasoning
Paracelis, Mt. Province, Philippines: The Culture
Center of Ga’dangs and Balangaos
The map of Mountain Province indicate a
landlocked territory north of Ifugao, south of
Kalinga, east of Ilocos Sur and west of
Isabela.
Paracelis is a lowland municipality
characterized by rolling high and low hills
as well as mountains.
It is a mixture of three major ethno-linguistic
speaking tribes namely: Ga’dang, Balangao and
Kalinga. The low-lying areas are occupied by
migrants from the lowlands primarily Ilocano,
Ifugao, Pangasinense, Bontoc, and Kankanaey, who
comprise approximately one third of the total
population.
Based on data from the National Statistics Office
(2007), Ilocano is the most popular language spoken
followed by Kalinga, Gaddang and Balangao.
For purposes of thematic consistency and
logical coherence in this qualitative study
external factors refer to those tangential
features or aspects which were brought or
introduced into the culture center that
contributed to their transformation;
Internal factors are those found within the
culture center and exemplified by the
people themselves.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
1.a. Education was seen as greatly affecting their
economic, social and cultural development.
b. Education and media are observed and
believed as powerful tools for language
transmission;
c. Modernity and development, as well as
technological and infrastructural progress are
perceived as inescapable facets of societal life
and progress;
d. Being integrated in the complex system
of socio-economic, political and religious
societal spheres enormously and
exceedingly transformed their lives as a
people.
2. The key informants have mixed
feelings about the factors on modernity
and urbanization, technological
advances and infrastructural
developments.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
3. a. They believe that educating and re-
enculturating the youth on the complexities of their
culture could lead to their awareness and
appreciation of their life ways.
b. They have also learned to co-adapt by
strengthening their tribal groups’ recognition.
c. Certain technological innovations such as
computers, the internet, and various sound and
visual recording media have been welcomed
and embraced by both as a means of
communicating to wider society their concerns
about the dilemmas currently being faced and to
forward their own policies and practices
especially by those who have attained higher
education;
They are conscious of the fact that the
copious changes are inevitable and so
they need not only to rely on what they
have already experienced, observed and
learned in their lifetime, but to co-
adapting to the multitude of changes of
the present-day societal life.
CONCLUSIONS
1.Language, education and media,
modernity and development
aggressions, technological and
infrastructural progress, socio-
economic, political and religious
integration were identified by the
key informants as intervening
factors for the socio-cultural
transformation of the people.
2. As a whole, the factors for the socio-
cultural transformation of the Ga’dangs
and Balangaos were viewed as double-
edged sword since they helped enhance
human existence and culture on the one
side, yet devalue or displace them on the
other side;
3. In co-adapting with the myriad and
multifaceted changes that are happening in the
culture center, both Balangaos and Ga’dangs
considered as a welcome respite the
introduction of mother tongue-use in the basic
education, especially in primary grades and the
integration of local history in the secondary
education of their children. as these measures
will help preserve, protect, and promote their
language, history and culture as a people.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1
This study can be
replicated to resurface
other factors which
are influential to the
transformation of the
Ga’dang and
Balangao of
Paracelis.;
2
It is therefore
recommended that a
more comprehensive,
dynamic and wide-
ranging integration in
the political, socio-
economic and moral
fibers or societal
spheres be made.
3 4
A resilient
recommendation
of this study is for
people to embrace
the emerging
concept of co-
adaptation.
They should not regulate their
activities exclusively on
aesthetic expressions but in
sustaining their indigenous
knowledge, systems and
practices and reliving these
IKSPs via creation of schools
of living traditions,
“ May We have the cultural knowledge, cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity, and the cultural desire to be in cultural encounters” that would translate these innovations we talk about to benefit the marginalized and the bereft in our societies.
Mabbalat sicua yu ammin
(Thank you very Much)
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