The document discusses discovering, honoring, and documenting local knowledge in the Philippines. It outlines phases of cultural domination by the West and defines local knowledge as the total perceptions, beliefs, understandings, and skills of a community that are gender-based, age-graded, and embedded in local practices and relationships. The author shares their experience researching the knowledge of Aytas in Pampanga and emphasizes the importance of participatory and respectful methods like ethnography.

1. DISCOVERING, HONORING AND DOCUMENTING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE Victoria N. Apuan Miriam College

3. Phases of cultural domination by the West a. Denial and withdrawal of what was considered “local”, “native” (e.g. deities) b. Destruction and desecration (e.g. burning manuscripts, desecrating burial grounds) c. Denigration and marginalization (e.g. cultural forms, indigenous healing practices) d. Redefinition and token utilization (e.g. surface appreciation and utilization of indigenous cultural rituals, traits) e. Commercialization and commodification (e.g. rituals performed for tourism’s sake, commercializing the genetic diversity of indigenous plants, appropriating herbal knowledge)

4. What is local knowledge? Local Knowledge Totality of perceptions, beliefs, understandings & skills Gender-based Age-graded Varied Lens Use value Social Embedded in practices, institutions & relationships

5. What is Local Knowledge? Popular? Local? Native? Indigenous?

6. Local Knowledge outside emic etic local context global universe external internal inside objectivist phenomenological experience-near experience-distant

7. Local Knowledge: a question of purity outside emic etic Local context Global universe external internal inside objectivist Phenome-nological Experience-near Experience-distant

9. What could we find out? (participatory listing)

11. More importantly: how do we undertake the process of discovery/recovery? (participatory listing)

13. Key informants – oldest residents

25. Thank you!