Ifugao Archaeology: Collaborative and Indigenous Archaeology in the Northern Philippines

• Published in: Advances in archaeological practice : a journal of the Society of American archeaology 2017-02, Vol.5 (1), p.1-11
• Main Authors: Acabado, Stephen, Martin, Marlon, Datar, Francisco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anthropology; Archaeology; Collaboration; Community; Cultural heritage; Empowerment; Mountains; Museums; Participation; R&D; Research & development
• ISSN: 2326-3768; 2326-3768
• DOI: 10.1017/aap.2016.7

Recent trends in the practice of archaeology have seen the emergence of the active involvement of stakeholders in the research process. This is an important development, given that the relationship between archaeologists and the communities that they work with has been tenuous, particularly when archaeological findings contest ethnic identities. As a case in point, the findings of the Ifugao Archaeological Project (Philippines) question the bases of Ifugao identity. Ifugao identity is centered on wet-rice production and resistance to colonialism. Previously, the dating of the inception of the Ifugao rice terraces was placed at 2,000 years ago. The findings of the Ifugao Archaeological Project (IAP), however, suggest that the construction of the terraces coincided with the arrival of the Spanish in the northern Philippines. Initially, this finding did not sit well the larger Ifugao descendant communities, but, as our article narrates, the pursuit to actively involve stakeholders in the research process resolved this issue. Our experience in Ifugao has shown that the inclusion of the voices of stakeholders in the interpretation of the past is inadequate because it suggests that indigenous stakeholders are simply contributors to, and not co-investigators of, research projects. As our work in Ifugao demonstrates, primary stakeholders are now co-investigators (exemplified by this coauthored article). Una tendencia reciente en la práctica arqueológica es la participación activa de las comunidades de descendientes en el proceso de investigación. Esto representa un desarrollo importante, ya que la relación entre los arqueólogos y las comunidades con las que trabajan ha sido endeble, particularmente cuando los hallazgos arqueológicos tienen el potencial de poner en tela de juicio las identidades étnicas de estas mismas comunidades. Un ejemplo de ello son los descubrimientos del Proyecto Arqueológico Ifugao (IAP por sus siglas en inglés) los cuales nos obligan a repensar la historia y la manera en que los habitantes de Ifugao, Filipinas, se conciben en relación a la manera en que han sido presentados en la narrativa histórica filipina. La identidad de los habitantes de Ifugao está basada en la producción de arroz anegado y en la narrativa histórica que destaca el hecho de que los españoles nunca los colonizaron. Anteriormente se consideraba que las primeras terrazas de arroz fueron construidas hace 2,000 o 3,000 años. Sin embargo, los hallazgos del IAP sugieren que