Notes on Cultural Variations and Social Differences in Ethnicity, Religion, and Nationality

Ethnicity, Ethnic Groups, and Race

• Ethnicity: refers to a shared culture of ethnic groups, including aspects such as language or dialect, religion, traditions and rituals, norms, values, beliefs, and other practices that create a distinct cultural identity.
• Race: a socially constructed category attributed to people who share certain biological traits or attributes.
• Ethnic Groups: a group of people defined by shared cultural identity and practices that distinguish them from others in the community or society.

Ethnic and Ethnolinguistic Groups in the Philippines

• LUZON

  • Igorot: Igorot, or Cordilleras, is the collective name of several Austronesian ethnic groups in the Philippines, who inhabit the mountains of Luzon.
  • Bontoc: Bontoc is home to the Bontoc Tribe, a feared war-like group of indigenous people who actively indulged in tribal wars with its neighbors up until the $1930s$.
  • Ifugao: The Ifugao call themselves as i-pugao or “inhabitants of known earth.” Other variations of the name are Ifugao, Ipugao, and Yfugao. They live primarily in the Province of Ifugao in Central Cordillera, in Northern Luzon.
  • Mangyan: The term “Mangyan” is an umbrella term that refers to several indigenous communities on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines. There are $8$ recognized groups: Iraya, Alangan, Tadyawan, Tawbuid, Bangon, Buhid, Hanunuo, and Ratagnon.
  • Tagbanua: The Tagbanua, meaning “people of the village,” are one of the Philippines’ most ancient tribes. Some trace their lineage back to the Tabon Man, among the earliest inhabitants of the archipelago. They primarily inhabit central and northern Palawan, particularly Coron Island and its surroundings.

• VISAYAS

  • Sulodnon: The Suludnon, also known as the Panay-Bukidnon, Pan-ayanon, or Tumandok, are a culturally indigenous Visayan group of people who reside in the Capiz-Lambunao mountainous area and the Antique-Iloilo mountain area of Panay in the Visayan islands of the Philippines.
  • Eskaya: The Eskaya is an indigenous tribe found in the hinterlands of the towns of Duero, Guindulman, Pilar and Sierra Bullones, Bohol’s southeast interior. The settlement of this tribe is at Biabas, Guindulman, established in the early 20th century by Mariano Datahan.

• MINDANAO

  • Yakan: The Yakans are concentrated in Tipo-tipo, Lamitan, Sumisip, and Tuburan in Basilan Island of ARMM. There are also scattered populations on the islands of Sakol, Malanipa, and Tumalutad east of the Zamboanga Peninsula. The word Yakan means “Dayak Origin,” as they are believed to be descendants of the Orang Dyaks or Tagihamas of eastern Indonesia.
  • B’laan: The Bilaan or B`laan are a tribal community of Southern Mindanao. The name of this indigenous group comes from the words Bla and An, meaning Opponent People.
  • Bagobo: The Bagobo constitute one of the largest groups among the indigenous peoples of southern Mindanao. They are composed of three (3) sub-groups, namely the TAGABAWA, the CLATA or GUIANGAN and the UBO.
  • Badjao: The Badjao are a nomadic seafaring tribe. The men are skilled fishermen, especially the art of pantana fishing (spear fishing). They traditionally lived on house boats moving through the sea wherever was needed to fulfill their fishing requirements.
  • Tausog (Tausug): Tausug is a combination of tau (person) and suug (the old name of Jolo Island). The present generation of Tausugs are believed to be descended from the different ethnic groups that had migrated to the Sulu archipelago.

Religion in Ethnicity

• Religion is a set of beliefs and ritual practices related to symbols, which are considered sacred. Ethnic groups may have different symbols, which they consider sacred; and the differences of these symbols also entails the differences in how these symbols are expressed in a cultural group’s belief system and rituals.
• Paganism: Believing in multiple gods, goddesses, and spiritual entities.
• Animism: Believing that spiritual forces reside in natural elements of the physical world (trees, oceans, wind, etc.).

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF DIVERSE ETHNICITIES

• PREJUDICES: Faulty generalizations about an entire group of people that is based on little or no evidence.
• STEREOTYPES: Oversimplified assumptions that describe a whole ethnic group.
• PREJUDICE AGAINST MUSLIMS IN MINDANAO: A contextual example of prejudice within Mindanao where Muslim communities experience discrimination.

NATIONALITY

• Nationality: A person’s belonging to a specific nation or nation-state. It places high value on one’s membership and allegiance to a particular country for the determination of one’s nationality.
• Nation: A large group of people with autonomous status and has its own government. They usually own a specific territory called states and non-states.

ACQUISITION OF ONE'S NATIONALITY

• $ext{JUS SANGUINIS}$: "Right of Blood" — Acquisition of nationality by descent.
• $ext{JUS SOLI}$: "Right of Soil" — Acquisition of nationality by birth within a territory.