Culture, Heritage, and Indigenous Perspectives

Culture and Indigenous Peoples

Definition of Culture

• UNESCO defines culture as "the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group that encompasses not only art and literature, but lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions, and beliefs." (Tauli-Corpuz, Enkiwe-Abayao, & de Chavez, 2010)
• In multicultural countries like the Philippines, government policies historically aimed to assimilate minority ethnic groups (indigenous peoples or IPs) into the dominant culture.
• This assimilation led to resistance from IPs due to the erosion of their diverse cultures.

United Nations' Recognition and Recommendations

• The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, influenced by IP lobbying, recommended:
  • Recognizing and respecting indigenous distinct culture, history, language, and way of life as an enrichment of the State's cultural identity and promoting its preservation.
  • Ensuring the freedom and equality of IPs in dignity and rights, free from any discrimination based on indigenous origin and identity.
  • Providing IPs with conditions for sustainable economic and social development compatible with their cultural characteristics.
  • Ensuring IPs have equal rights to participate in public life and that no decisions directly relating to their rights and interests are taken without their informed consent.
  • Ensuring indigenous communities can exercise their rights to practice and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs and to preserve and practice their languages. (Tauli-Corpuz, Enkiwe-Abayao, & de Chavez, 2010)

UN Report on Indigenous Peoples

• The UN report emphasizes:
  • IPs have rich and diverse cultures based on a profound relationship with their land and natural resources.
  • Dichotomies such as nature vs. culture do not exist in indigenous societies.
  • IPs see themselves as part of nature, with specific attachments to their land and territory and unique modes of production based on their knowledge of the environment.
  • IPs do not emphasize a radical duality between the sacred and the mundane, unlike Western culture.
  • Social and political institutions are part of the cosmic order; worldview, beliefs, values, and customs define customary laws and norms
  • Indigenous cultures are based on a collective perspective, where lands, resources, cultural values, and activities are seen as functions of the group, not just individuals. (Tauli-Corpuz, Enkiwe-Abayao, & de Chavez, 2010)

UNDP's Recognition of IP Culture (2001)

• The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) recognized that:
  • Indigenous cultures comprise a heritage of diverse knowledge and ideas that is a resource for the whole world.
  • Attention has been placed on indigenous peoples largely owing to their sustainable development practices.
  • Recognition of indigenous peoples' assets and traditional knowledge (such as terrestrial and marine ecosystems, naturally occurring medicines from plants and insects, cultivated plant varieties, and animal husbandry) can be helpful to national and international development.
  • Indigenous peoples' continued existence is a testimony to the sustainability and viability of indigenous economic production systems, and social and governance practices that should be supported and enhanced, and most importantly, incorporated into mainstream development practices. (Tauli-Corpuz, Enkiwe-Abayao, & de Chavez, 2010)

UNESCO's Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001)

• UNESCO adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, which establishes:
  • The guarantee for cultural diversity to flourish is the respect of human rights.
  • The right to culture establishes an enabling environment for cultural diversity (Article 5).
  • Cultural diversity is one of the roots and a factor of development (Article 3) as well as a means to achieve intellectual, moral, emotional and spiritual existence.
  • The defence of cultural diversity is an ethical imperative, inseparable from respect for human dignity.
  • Cultural pluralism should be promoted through intercultural exchange and dialogue.
  • A commitment should be made to respect the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples (Article 4). (Tauli-Corpuz, Enkiwe-Abayao, & de Chavez, 2010)

UN Commission on Human Rights (2002)

• The UN Commission on Human Rights affirmed:
  • Each culture has a dignity and value that must be respected and preserved.
  • Every people has the right and duty to develop its culture.
  • States have the primary responsibility to promote the full enjoyment of cultural rights by everyone.
  • Respect for different cultural identities is vital for the protection of cultural diversity in the context of globalization.
  • All peoples have the right of self-determination (Stamatopoulou, 2007, as cited in Tauli-Corpuz, Enkiwe-Abayao, & de Chavez, 2010).

Cultural Heritage

• Defined by UNESCO (n.d., para. 1) as “both a product and a process, which provides societies with a wealth of resources that are inherited from the past, created in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations.”
• It is a “process” – a selection process – which entails that the members of the community are creators and transmitters of their own culture.
• Responding to the changing times, they are continually engaged in selecting which elements of their culture are worthy of preservation for the present and future generations.
• Cultural heritage is considered “our bond to the past, present, and future.”

Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage

• Cultural heritage includes tangible and intangible creations of human beings.
• Tangible cultural heritage refers to:
  • Monuments: architectural works, works of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings, and combinations of features that are of outstanding value from the point of view of history, art or science;
  • Groups of buildings: groups of separate or connected buildings, which because of their architecture, their homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of outstanding value from the point of view of history, art or science;
  • Sites: works of man or the combined works of nature and man, and areas including archaeological sites, which are of outstanding value from the historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of view. (para. 16)
• Intangible cultural heritage refers to:
  • practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. These are manifested in the following domains:
    • oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage;
    • performing arts;
    • social practices, rituals and festive events;
    • knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;
    • traditional craftsmanship. (para. 19)

Importance of Cultural Heritage

• UNESCO explains it promotes the study, preservation, and management of cultural heritage
• The notion of heritage is important for culture and development insofar as it constitutes the ‘cultural capital’ of contemporary societies.
• It contributes to the continual revalorization of cultures and identities and it is an important vehicle for the transmission of expertise, skills, and knowledge between generations.
• It also provides inspiration for creativity and innovation, which result in contemporary and future cultural products.
• Cultural heritage holds the potential of promoting access to and enjoyment of cultural diversity.
• It can also enrich social capital by shaping an individual and collective sense of belonging, which helps supporting social and territorial cohesion.
• Moreover, cultural heritage has acquired great economic significance for the tourism sector in many countries, while at the same time engendering new challenges for its conservation. (para. 3)

Cordillera Heritage (Tawid Kordilyera)

• Cordillera refers to the region composed of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Baguio City, Ifugao, Kalinga, Tabuk City, and Mountain Province.
• The ethnolinguistic groups residing in the region are called Cordillerans, marking their regional identity.
• Tawid Kordilyera refers to the shared history and similar tangible and intangible culture of these diverse groups.
• As defined by Yangyang, Ngohayon, and Anduyan, Jr. (2023), Tawid Kordilyera encompasses “the knowledge systems, practices, settlements, and institutions that have been developed since time immemorial, that may be advanced … that are safeguarded for the future by the people who ascribed themselves as Cordillerans.” (p.7)

Cultural Amnesia

• Studying cultural heritage helps us become aware of our cultural roots as Filipinos and combat cultural amnesia.
• Harvard.edu (2021) defines cultural amnesia as:
  • “… the abandonment of tradition, heritage, community, and landscape that occurs when societies have their history and heritage manipulated and targeted by groups that have the ability to exert a certain sense of power or control over them. It is the loss of collective memory that once bound a community or a people together and strengthened their bonds and sense of identity…”
  • Cultural amnesia can permeate a society’s social structure following the destruction or repurposing of sacred and culturally significant sites/relics.
  • By hijacking the visual and material culture of a group, governments and other entities hold the power to manipulate or even erase values and symbols that may have been held by a community for countless generations. (para. 1, 4)