Pulotu - Culture Ifugao

Ifugao

The Ifugao are one of several large, historically non-Christian ethnic groups living in the mountains of northern Luzon. The Ifugao have been noted for worshipping a very large number of supernatural agents (over 1000, according to Barton, 1946). Since the 1960s, most Ifugao have converted to Christianity.

Traditional Culture (1851)

Isolation

Question	Response	Source
Pre-Austronesian population	Present: Clear evidence of human occupation prior to Austronesian settlement	Bellwood 1995: 109
Christian influence on supernatural belief	No evidence of influence but in a region where contact is likely (No evidence of Christian influence on supernatural belief, but culture is known to have had (or is likely to have had) contact with Christian societies at or prior to the time focus in question.)	Dumia 1979: 38-39
Hindu / Buddhist influence on supernatural belief	Evidence of influence (Evidence of Hindu / Buddhist influence on supernatural belief.)	Barton 1946: 13
(Low) contact with other societies (SCCS v 787)	Frequent, through trade, warfare, travel, etc. (e.g. yearly or most years)	Dumia 1979: 28
Islamic influence on supernatural belief	No evidence of influence and not in region of known contact (No evidence of Islamic influence on supernatural belief, and culture is unlikely to have had contact with Islamic societies at or prior to the time focus in question.)	Cribb 2000: Map 2.21
Distance to closest landmass inhabited by a different culture (km)	0	Barton 1919: 8-9
Distance to nearest continent (km)	817	Lebar (eds.) 1975: 78

Physical Environment

Location

Question	Response	Source
Longitude of culture’s location (°)	121.2	Barton 1922: 386
Latitude of culture’s location (°)	16.7	Barton 1922: 386

Geographical Range of Culture

Question	Response	Source
Number of islands inhabited by culture	One	Hockings 1993: 99

Features of Island with Largest Culture Population

Question	Response	Source
Island type (island with largest culture population or largest island if unknown)	Volcanic high island (an oceanic island of volcanic origin, e.g. Hawaii)	Yumul et al. 2009: 732-733
Maximum elevation (meters)	2930	Luzon 2019
Island Size (km²)	104688	Luzon 2019

Social Environment

Question	Response	Source
Estimate of culture population size at relevant time focus	40000	Conklin 1980: 36; of the Philippine Islands 1921: 28, 900
Importance of Matrilateral descent (V.2)	Medium (Matrilateral descent plays an important role in determining social status and / or group membership, but is not the most important form of descent.)	Hockings 1993: 99-100
Importance of Patrilateral descent (V.2)	Medium (Patrilateral descent plays an important role in determining social status and / or group membership, but is not the most important form of descent.)	Hockings 1993: 99-100
Polygamy (SCCS 861)	Monogamy prescribed	Alarcón and Scott 1965
Marital residence (SCCS 69)	Neolocal - separate from kin	Hockings 1993: 100
Estimated population of largest political community	99 or fewer	Barton 1919: 19
Political Authority	Absent, or restricted to a group no larger than the household	Barton 1919: 9

Conflict

Question	Response	Source
(No) conflict (social or political) within the local community (SCCS v 767)	Low (Conflict seldom occurs, and is almost never violent.)	Barton 1922: 387; Alarcón and Scott 1965
(No) internal warfare (between communities of the same society) (SCCS v 773)	Frequent, occurring at least yearly	Barton 1919: 77; Alarcón and Scott 1965
(No) external warfare (with other societies) (SCCS v 774)	Common, at least every five years	Dumia 1979: 7

Subsistence and Economy

Question	Response	Source
Metalworking	Present	Lebar (eds.) 1975: 80

Land-based means of subsistence

Question	Response	Source
Animal husbandry as a source of food	Minor	Barton 1922: 398, 421
Land-based hunting performed by individuals	Minor	Barton 1922: 391-392, 394, 397
Land-based gathering	Minor	Barton 1922: 397
Land-based hunting performed by one or more groups	Minor	Barton 1922: 391-392, 397
Agriculture / Horticulture	Principal (more important than any other source of food)	Barton 1922: 398

Water-based means of subsistence

Question	Response	Source
Water-based gathering	Medium	Barton 1922: 396-397
Fishing and water-based hunting performed by one or more groups	Minor	Barton 1922: 396-397
Fishing and water-based hunting performed by individuals	Minor	Barton 1922: 396-397

Commercial Activity

Question	Response	Source
Trade / wage labour as a source of food	Minor	Barton 1922: 398

Post Contact History (1851-2014)

Religious History

Conversion

Question	Response	Source
Use of force in conversion	Low (most communities adopted the new religion either voluntarily or due to pressure from other communities of the same culture)	Dumia 1979: 38-40
Adoption of a world religion	Present and predominant (At one time or another during the post-contact period, at least 75% of the indigenous population practiced a world religion.)	Kwiatkowski 2004: 499; Dumia 1979: 24, 83
Resident missionary involvement in conversion process	Present, and from non-Austronesian societies (Resident foreign missionaries, at least one of whom was from a non-Austronesian society, played an important role in the conversion process.)	Dumia 1979: 24, 38-39

Syncretic Movements

Question	Response	Source
Syncretic religious movements	Absent	Dumia 1979: 38-40

Secular History

Demographic and Social Changes

Question	Response	Source
Replacement-level immigration	Absent (Replacement-level immigration did not occur – an immigrant culture was never present in the area, or was present but had a population size less than 10% of that of the indigenous culture.)	Kwiatkowski 2004: 498
Foreign education systems	High (At one time or another during the post-contact period over 75% of children received some at least a basic non-indigenous education.)	Kwiatkowski 2013: 371; Dumia 1979: 82
Foreign government systems	Present, and of high importance (At one time or another during the post-contact period the culture was subject to a foreign government system that controlled most important decisions.)	Kwiatkowski 2013: 267-368

Economic Changes

Question	Response	Source
Changes in means of subsistence	Medium (Principal and major means of subsistence have changed from their indigenous states (e.g. through gain or loss of major and / or principal means of subsistence), but at least one of the major or principal means of subsistance has persisted.)	Kwiatkowski 2004: 498; Wardini 2008: 71-72
Exportation of goods to other cultures	Present and substantial (At one time or another during the post-contact period, exports were a primary focus of economic activity for over 10% of the population.)	Kwiatkowski 2013: 374

Modern Infrastructure

Question	Response	Source
Vehicles and roads	Present and widely used (At one time or another during the post-contact period, motor vehicles were used by a substantial proportion of the population.)	Dumia 1979: 43-44, 54

Loss of Autonomy

Question	Response	Source
Loss of autonomy during postcontact period	High (On at least one occasion during the post-contact period, the culture came under the political dominance of a foreign power, and this event resulted in considerable loss of autonomy.)	Kwiatkowski 2013
Nature of loss of autonomy – voluntary vs. forced	Partly voluntary (e.g. Autonomy was ceded voluntarily but under duress; some communities ceded their autonomy voluntarily but others were forced to do so by an foreign power.)	Dumia 1979: 27-28

Coordinates WGS84

16°42'N, 121°12'E
16.70, 121.20

Also known as

Ifugaw; Ipugao; Yfugao

Sources

Alarcón and Scott 1965: 'A Description of the Customs of the Peoples of Kiangan, Bunhian and Mayoyao, 1857,' by Fray Ruperto Alarcón
Barton 1919: Ifugao Law
Barton 1922: Ifugao Economics
Barton 1946: The religion of the Ifugao
Barton 1955: The Mythology of the Ifugaos
Bellwood 1995: Austronesian Prehistory in Southeast Asia: Homeland, Expansion and Transformation
Beyer 1913: Origin Myths among the Mountain Peoples of the Philippines
Blevins 2008: Some Comparative Notes on Proto-Oceanic *Mana: Inside and Outside the Austronesian Family
Blust 2007: Proto-Oceanic *Mana Revisited
Conklin 1980: Ethnographic Atlas of Ifugao
Cribb 2000: Historical atlas of Indonesia
Dumia 1979: The Ifugao world
Hockings 1993: Ifugao
Keesing 1984: Rethinking "mana"
Kwiatkowski 2004: Ifugao
Kwiatkowski 2013: Globilization, environmental change, and coping strategies among the Ifugao of the Philippine Cordillera mountains
Lambrecht 1932-1941: The Mayawyaw ritual: Parts 1-5
Lambrecht 1962: The religion of the Ifugao
Lebar (eds.) 1975: Ethnic Groups of Insular Southeast Asia. Volume 2: Philippines and Formosa
Luzon 2019: Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Retrieved https://www.britannica.com/place/Luzon
Villaverde 1909: The Ifugaos of Quiangan and vicinity
Wardini 2008: Food for the ethnic minority: Maintaining food security for the Ifugao community, in Northern Luzon, in the Philippines. Confluences and Challenges in Building the Asian Community in the Early 21st Century, 65-77.
Worcester 1906: The non-Christian tribes of northern Luzon
Yumul et al. 2009: Philippines, geology
of the Philippine Islands 1921: Census of the Philippine Islands taken under the direction of the Philippine Legislature in the year 1918 (Vol. II: Population and Mortality)