Title: Verbal Arts in Philippine Indigenous Communities. Poetics, Society, and History by Herminia Meñez Coben (review)
Abstract: Verbal Arts in Philippine Indigenous Communities. Poetics, Society, and History. By Herminia Menez Coben. (Manila, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2009. Pp. x + 392, acknowledgments, notes, references, index.)This tour-de-force from a Filipina folklorist is a fascinating and welcome analysis of verbal poetics of indigenous groups from coastal, inland, and mountain areas of Philippine archipelago. The work takes a much-deserving subject, verbal art of ten ethnic groups (the Isneg, Kalinga, Ifugao, Kankanay, Mangyan, Subanon, Bukidnon, Bagobo, Tausug, and Sama Dilaut) and illustrates centrality of this lore in social life of communities, with addition of a historical context that accounts for impact of colonial encounters that in turn affected performance and content of myth, narratives, epics, and chants. Folklore-in this case, verbal poetics of indigenous peoples-reveal often violent impact of historical and social change, and as Coben adeptly illustrates, verbal artists themselves are not just active bearers of tradition but also agents of cultural change who balance the new with old, while charting a new course for future (p. 359).A graduate of University of Pennsylvania's Folklore and Folklife department, Coben's training in performance theory and aesthetics along with her insights into gender politics and understanding of Philippine history within Southeast Asian context combine to create a fine analysis that considers role of women, as well as men, in poetic lore of ten groups. The beginning prologue of book discusses prevailing opinion among Filipino writers and other scholars about insignificance of Philippine poetry and oral traditions, and it lays challenge that Coben sets out to refute. And this she does, and with aplomb. Each chapter begins with an overview of ethnic group, preceded by a short example of their verbal art. Coben then deftly combines a background incorporating history, economy, politics, and social organization with a strong sense of place, followed by a comparative analyses of verbal poetics of group in question vis-a-vis narrative lore of other groups.Her broad knowledge of Philippine history allowed Coben to fine-tune her analyses. For example, noting that Bagobo political organization was a traditional leadership not based on lineage or inherited wealth, that a chief came from a warrior class called magani, Coben writes how this political tradition was kept in place by Spanish only to be altered drastically by Americans who chose one regional ruler or datu who was given a bigger area to govern. This was system in place when American scholars studying Bagobo culture arrived in early twentieth century, and it was thus erroneously understood as hereditary chieftainship (p. 265). Such an example reveals need to analyze traditions with context of political-economy and social changes, of which Menez is keenly aware.It is precisely because such well-textured analysis comes from insights of author that this reader would have appreciated a short inclusion of author's background, as it could have imparted further insight into interpretation of material. Although it was obvious that material being analyzed was in part from painstaking research of numerous catalogues and private collections, it was not clear if Coben herself witnessed a few of these ceremonies or if she visited some of places. If so, how did these observations play a role in description as well as choice of ten ethnic groups' cultural expressions?The book is a good choice for advanced seminars in narrative, or classes on Southeast Asian cultures and history, and it could also be utilized in women's studies and, of course, in folklore courses. However, if included in a beginning Asian folklore class, it should be supplemented by explanatory texts on tools of folklorists, such as genre and use of motif index, as basic understanding of common folklore terms needs to be in existence to fully grasp nuances of this work. …
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-04-01
Language: en
Type: article
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