Philippine E-Journals

Power and Leadership in the Balakanon Epic of the Tumandok of Central Panay

Tomasito T. Talledo

 

Abstract:

The paper explores the notion of leadership and its cognates of power and authority in the Balakanon Epic of the Tumandok, or the indigenous people of central Panay. In teasing out these concepts, the texts of this epic are exemplified and interpreted. The erstwhile Western frame often used to analyze notions of power and leadership limned differently when made to grapple with the epic world of the Tumandok. A sounder hermeneutical project for social scientists is to rethink those erstwhile constructs to find better explanation of power and leadership.