Labels, Stigma Management and Social Identity Formation of a Mountain People in Central Panay, Philippines

Year 2019, Volume: 13 Issue: 1, 79 - 92, 30.06.2019

Mary Acel D. German

Abstract

Throughout history, mountain dwellers in the Philippines have been attributed with a range of pejorative labels that came to stereotype and spoil the identities of mountain people collectively, including the indigenous groups in the highlands of central Panay. This paper looks into the landscape of labels and names accorded to the people and the process foregrounding the role played by “outsiders” (i.e., colonial scholars, local anthropologists, and state agencies) in the construction of identities. Ethnohistory is employed to examine the people’s social identity formation—that complex and continuous dialogue of externally-driven label constructions and articulation of internally-ascribed constructs of identities. Local narratives revealed that social identity formation in this mountain community was borne out of the locals’ need to manage the stigma of past labeling and redress misrecognition. This paper hopes to contribute to the current discourse on the sociopolitical dimension of identity formation, assertion and recognition as well as to the pool of literature on the historical experience of the mountain people of the Philippines.

Keywords

Identity formation, labels, stigma, banditry, Panay Island

Etiketleme, Stigma Yönetimi ve Sosyal Kimlik Oluşturma: Filipinler’de Cenrtal Panay

Abstract

Tarih boyunca, Filipin dağlarında yaşayanlara, özellikle Cantral Panay’ın tepelerinde yaşayan yerel halkın içinde olduğu dağ insanlarının tamamının kimliklerini tek tipleştirip bozacak birçok küçük düşürücü ifade atfedilmiştir. Bu çalışma, bu insanlara yapıştırılan yaftaların ve isimlerin incelenmesinden ve bu süreçte “dışarıdan gelenlerin” (örn. Sömürgeci akademisyenler, yerel antropolojistler ve devlet temsilcileri) bu kimlik oluşturma sürecinde oynadıkları rolleri ön plana çıkarır. Kişilerin sosyal kimlik oluşturmalarının incelenmesinde etnik tarihten faydalanılmıştır ve kişilerin daimi olarak dışarıdan gelen etiketleme ve kendi içlerinde oluşturdukları kimliklerin çatışması incelenmiştir. Yerel anlatılar, bu dağ topluluğunda sosyal kimlik oluşumunun, yerlilerin onlara atfedilen eski etiketlerin stigma’sını yönetme ve yanlış tanımlanmayı değiştirme isteğinden ortaya çıktığını göstermiştir. Bu çalışmada hedef, kimlik oluşumu, ifadesi ve tanınması ile ilgili sosyo-politik açıdan güncel söylemlere ve Filipinlerde yaşayan dağ insanlarının tarihsel deneyimini anlatan edebi eserlere katkıda bulunmaktır. 

Keywords

Kimlik oluşumu, etiketleme, stigma, eşkıyalık, Panay Adası

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