Pambansang Summit sa W ambansang Summit sa W ... - UP Baguio

Lecture
Colonialism and Gender
A Report on American Colonization and Gender Relations
in Central Cordillera (1900-1941)
By Sabrina Nikki Ramos
Within the social sciences, there is now a
growing critical inquiry into the notion of
diffusionism: the idea that development can
only take place when there is exposure to an
outside group. Accordingly, if left alone, ‘primitive’
or ‘elementary’ forms of life would remain
the same and improvement would be
painstakingly slow. This in turn necessitates
the apparent need to open one’s doors (or culture)
to outside influence (usually in the form
of colonial knowledge and influence).
However, what this idea takes for
granted is that not all influences from
outside are necessarily good and
would contribute to improvement.
One should be careful however not
to draw an equally erroneous conclusion
that cultures are ‘pure’ and
consist of a homogenous and unified
system of ideas and values that if tampered
with, would result in its demise.
Rather, what is necessary is a
grounded and fair analysis of how cultures
mediate outside influences such
that agency and power relations are
not taken for granted nor complacently
evaded.
Many are of the view that gender relations
in the Cordillera are for the most part egalitarian
and that the current power formations that
we see at play in terms of gender could be traced
back to ‘influence’ from outside, more specifically
colonial influence from the Americans.
The question then that we are faced with is
this, are we correct to interpret gender relations
in Cordillera in this light? This is precisely
what Dr. Raymundo Rovillos, the Dean
of the College of the Social Sciences attempted
to address last February 18, 2011 when he delivered
a talk that inquired into the effects of
American colonialism on gender relations in
the Central Cordillera. Employing archival
research as a method, the study explored the
role of education and mission in influencing
gender relations in terms of gender ideology,
gender division of labor and sexuality, com-
paring gender practices prior to and during the
colonial regime.
It was observed that from 1900-1905, the
gender division of labor in Ifugao was supposedly
based on the capabilities that were deemed
‘natural’ to men and women. Thus, men were
given the hardest work such as rice field construction,
blacksmithing and wood gathering.
Women on the other hand were in charge of
basket weaving, planting rice and caring for
the growing rice. Interestingly, one can see that
even if the women were given relatively lighter
load, they in fact did most of the work as can
be seen in the division of labor when it comes
to rice farming. It is worth noting however,
that there were some tasks that both men and
women contributed to such as spading fields,
harvesting, carrying rice, cooking and child caring/rearing.
This then indicates that in terms of gender
ideology it is noticeable that indigenous culture
is one in which women have always had a
measure of equality with men. This is especially
true as can be seen from the examples
above as both men and women contributed to
work outside and inside the home. Since it
was the men who did the difficult work, it was
but fair that women compensate in doing more
work than them. Thus, there seems to be an
equal recognition of the importance of both
Missionary teaching reified
gender stereotypes
men and women’s contribution. Women’s
sexuality however can be seen to be inextricably
related to their role as child-bearers, for
the reproduction of the clan/kinship. In the
same way that they were in charge of caring
for children, they were also tasked with caring
for and planting rice, thus exhibiting their ‘natural’
affinity with nurturing tasks.
However, with the onset of the colonial
regime from 1905 to 1941, there were stark
differences that took place. In line
with the framework of benevolent
assimilation, the colonial regime
gave particular importance to educating
the Igorots. It was imperative
that the culture and customs of
the Igorots be studied with great care
in order to facilitate better governance.
Moreover, the general thrust
of education can be characterized to
be a simple form of industrial training,
equivalent to what we now
know as vocational courses. Igorots
can be educated to be better carpenters,
better gardeners and farmers:
they can be the best that they can
in the realm of manual labor, but they should
not traverse this sphere as doing so would entail
departing widely from their habitual course
of life. Of course one should not forget that
knowledge of a cultivated (colonial) language
is also necessary “to enable them to deal advantageously
with the civilized inhabitants by
whom they are surrounded.”
All of this implies that the colonial regime
looked at the Igorot people as incapable of
development when left alone in their natural
surroundings. The same is true even with Christian
missions as these served as an effective colonial
instrument.
As can be seen in the quote above, the
Igorot people were seen to have a potential for
development, but great care was said to be
exercised in identifying those who have superior
intelligence and capacity for leadership.
continued on page 12
April 2011 TI SIMILLA 7