Philippine

Indigenous
Communities
Jerald Q. Vergara, RPm
PIC 103 - Instructor
LET US PRAY
•Our Father, Who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom
come; Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven. Give us this day our daily
bread; and forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive those who trespass against
us; and lead us not into temptation but
deliver us from evil.

•AMEN.
 Objectives
1. Continuation of Characteristics of
Culture
2. Culture and the Individual
3. Levels of Culture
4. Cultural Relativism
 Write some of the key
words that you remember
from our previous meeting.
Isulat ang ilan sa mga salita na natatandaan mo
mula sa ating nakaraang klase.
 5. Culture and Nature
• Culture takes the natural biological urges we share with animals
and teaches us how to express them in particular ways.
• How we eat, sleep, walk, talk (or even eliminate body waste) is
culturally specific = can you think of examples?
• Alter nature based on cultural practices = beauty enhancements,
therapies, health.
 Kalinga,
Philippines
Whang-od Oggay is known as
the last mambabatok from
the tribe of Butbut in
Buscalan, Kalinga.
Traditional method of
tattooing or “Pambabatok”
that is native to the
Cordillera Region.
 In the Philippines,
what is the cultural or
typical standards of
beauty?
 6. Culture is All-Encompassing
• In anthropology, culture includes more than
refinement, taste, sophistication, education, and
appreciation of fine arts
• To be ‘cultured’ means differently in anthropology and
includes the mundane.
 7. Culture is Integrated
• Cultures are integrated, patterned systems and not haphazard
collections of customs and beliefs.
• Economic system, political system, religious system, etc.
• Each system or aspect affects the other (Political utilitarianism
and culture of extrajudicial executions) = can you cite
examples?
Philippines: Religion
Christian Country Muslim Country

Christian Country
 Philippines: Government
System
Pure Democracy Republic Democracy

Republic Democracy
Philippines: Legislative
Department
Unicameral Bicameral

Bicameral
Philippines: Economic System

Mixed System Market System

Mixed System
 8. Culture can be Adaptive and
Maladaptive
• Besides the biological means of adaptation, we also use
“cultural adaptive kits” that contain customary activities
and tools
• Cultural practices may be maladaptive and disruptive to
society in general (technologies that affect the environment
and benefit only some members). Ex: Globalization,
English Language, Folkways
 9. Culture are Products of History

• Filipino culture for instance is a product

of our colonial history and shared
elements with colonizers.
Which of the following Filipino culture was
greatly influenced by Spain?
A. Love for Labor
B. Public Education
C. Christianity

C. Christianity
Which of the following Filipino culture was
greatly influenced by Japan?
A. Love for Labor
B. Public Education
C. Christianity

A. Love for Labor

Which of the following Filipino culture was
greatly influenced by US?
A. Love for Labor
B. Public Education
C. Christianity

B. Public Education
 Culture and the Individual :
Agency and Practice
• Individuals may be constrained by cultural rules and norms (e.g.
cannibalism).
• Individuals have the capacity to interpret, manipulate the same rules
in different ways.
• Ideal culture – what people say they should do and what they say
they do
• Real culture - actual behavior as observed by the anthropologist
 Agency
• Contemporary anthropologists now emphasize how day-to-day
action, practice or resistance can make or remake culture
(Gupta and Ferguson, eds.,1997b).

• Agency – human action; action individuals take, both alone,

and in groups, in forming and transforming cultural identities.
 Levels of Culture
1. International (beyond national boundaries).
2. National (beliefs, learned behavior, patterns, values and
institutions that are shared by citizens of the same nation).
3. Subcultural (associated with particular groups within society).
Connotations of being “lesser or below”
Guess the Level
of Culture
Subculture
or National
Roman Catholic
Subculture National

National
Ati-Atihan Festival
Subculture National

Subculture
Original Pilipino Music
Subculture National

National
Moro Singkil Dance
Subculture National

Subculture
 Sama Dilaut Sea
Gypsies
Subculture National

Subculture
Araw ng Kagitingan
Subculture National

National
 Adobo
Subculture National

National
 Pindang babi
Subculture National

Subculture
Filipino Hospitality
Subculture National

National
 Cultural
Relativism
Cultural relativism refers to not judging a culture to our
own standards of what is right or wrong, strange or
normal. Instead, we should try to understand cultural
practices of other groups in its own cultural context.
 There are 13 countries where being gay is legally
punishable by death; Yemen, Iran, Brunei, Mauritania,
Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Somalia,
Sudan, United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan.
Cultural Relativism and Human
Rights

• Can the concept of cultural

relativism be reconciled with an
international code of human rights?
 How culture changes
• Discovery and invention – may originate inside or outside a society,
are ultimately, the sources of cultural change
• According to Ralph Linton, a discovery is any addition to knowledge,
and an invention is a new application of knowledge
• Can you think of discoveries and inventions that dramatically
changed cultures? Ex: DSM and Homosexuality
DRILLS!
 Culture
Culture is the complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and
any other capabilities and habits acquired by man
(sic) as a member of society (Tylor 1871/1958, p.1)
 Culture
1. Knowledge – Kaalaman
2. Belief – Paniniwala
3. Arts – Maganda o Hindi
4. Morals – Mabuti o Masama
5. Law – Batas
6. Custom – Tradisyunal na Kaugalian
 9 Characteristics
1. Learned or Acquired - natutunan
2. Commonly Shared - ibinabahagi
3. Has Individual Variations - may pagkakaiba-iba.
4. Symbolic - binubuo ng mga simbolo
5. Nature - likas sa tao
 9 Characteristics
6. All-Encompassing - nasasakop kahit na ordinaryo
7. Integrated - may sistema
8. Adaptive and Maladaptive - nakakabuti or
nakakasama / nakukuha o nawawala
9. Products of History - may impluwensya ng
mananakop
True or False: Culture is acquired
according to Tylor (1871).

True
Identify: What is the process by which
a child learns his/her culture?

Enculturation
Definition of culture which pertains
to the traditional and widely
accepted way of behaving.

Customs
Definition of culture which says that
culture categorized what is beautiful
and what is not.

Arts
Characteristic of culture which
states that culture is acquired

Learned
Characteristic of culture which
says that our culture shared
elements with our colonizers.

Products of
History
Characteristic of culture which
says that culture can be good or
disruptive to society.

Adaptive and
Maladaptive
Characteristic of culture which
says that culture is NOT an
attribute of a single individual.

Commonly Shared
Characteristic of culture which
says that culture can have
subcultures.

Has Individual
Variations
Characteristic of culture which
says that culture has a systematic
pattern.

Integrated
 Characteristic of culture which says
that culture is more than refinement or
sophistication, but it also includes the
mundane.

All-Encompassing
 Characteristic of culture which says
that culture is formed from something
verbal or nonverbal

Symbolic
 Characteristic of culture which
says that culture takes the natural
biological urges.

Nature
 Culture is Commonly Shared

Pampangos are known to have a culture

of being good at culinary cuisine. Which
Characteristic of Culture is being shown?
Culture Has Individual Variations

A students realized that there are various

forms of how Sisig is cooked from one
place to another. What Characteristic of
Culture is being shown?
 Subculture or National
United Methodist “Po and Opo” Pindang
Church Labor Day
Simbang Gabi
Ligligan Parul OPM
Iglesia ni Cristo
Igorot’s Animism
Teduray’s
Lanzones Festival
Sulagad
Pinoy Hospitality Moro Singkil
Questions and
Clarifications
Closing Prayer
Glory Be to the Father, and
to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit. As it was in the
beginning, is now, and ever
shall be, world without end.

Amen.