Tradition and Transformation gathers in one volume some of June Prill-Brett’s most important works on the indigenous societies of the Northern Luzon highlands. Written over a period of some 25 years, these works deal with Cordillera indigenous political institutions, local concepts of territorial boundaries, common property regimes, agricultural practices, customary law governing the use of natural resources, gender relations, “tribal” war, old burial practices and indigenous rituals. The anthology ends with an ethnohistory of the city of Baguio which narrates the events leading to the establishment of a colonial hill station in the Benguet highlands and the subsequent displacement of the native Ibaloy.
As the book’s title suggests, traditions may persist but must eventually submit to change—indigenous political institutions may still be in place but in altered forms; indigenous knowledge on natural resource management continues to have some sway but its authority is continually challenged by new values; rituals are still enacted but with modified aspects of performance. What emerges from Prill-Brett’s work is a picture of rapidly changing traditional societies as the peoples of the Northern Luzon Cordillera deal with the challenges posed by competing social, cultural, political, economic and jural systems.
WINNER 35th National Book Award for Best Book in the Social Sciences
Physical description: 305 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm
