Philippine E-Journals

The Writing of the Ethnohistory of the Bagobos

Heidi K. Gloria

Discipline: History, Philippine History

 

Abstract:

The article discusses the ethnohistory of one of the major ethhnolinguistic groups in the Davao region, the Bagobos. Since their first exposure to Western culture brought by the Spaniards in the late nineteenth century, their autochthonous traditions, and their culture in general, are presumed to have undergone changes within a hundred year-period during which foreign rule and culture were brought to bear upon the Bagobo's own. Since change as well as persistence are both intrinsic to history, a problem to which this study addressed itself is that of change and/or unchange. Why and how do people change? Another problem with which the study is concerned is the role of the human agency in decision and change, and lastly, because change can either be a change for the better or a change for the worse, the third problem that must be inquired into is that of growth and development among the Bagobos today.