Dynamics of a Philippine Rainforest People - Essay Example

Running Head: SAN ILDEFONSO AGTA Population Dynamics of a Philippine Rain Forest People: The San Ildefonso Agta. By J. D. Early and T. N. Headland Students Name Course Name Instructor Date Population Dynamics of a Philippine Rain Forest People: The San Ildefonso Agta. By J. D. Early and T. N. Headland, Introduction: Early and Headland thoroughly researched and investigated a semi-isolated tribe in the Philippine Rainforest who call themselves the Agata. Their overall concern was population dynamics but this also by default made them focus on all aspects of the population. These tiny groups are referred to by the larger Philippine population as Negritos. These tribes are scattered throughout the rainforests of the Philippines as well as many other countries of Southeast Asia. The physical distinctions of these people include a dark skin color, fuzzy hair, and a short stature. “Men average 152 centimeters (5 feet) in height and women 141 centimeters (4.5 feet). They are frequently referred to as pygmies, a term more correctly used for the central African Pygmy populations.” (Early & Headland, 1998, p.3-4) They have traditionally been known as aboriginal inhabitants of the Philippine rain forest. For centuries they have been largely and hunter/gather culture using bows and arrows to hunt large game. Over the past hundred years they have interacted more with the Philippine civilization, especially the lowlanders and have worked as casual farm laborers as well. Many of Southeast Asias Negrito populations are quickly disappearing. There number have decreased dramatically in just over the past ten years and continue to decline. In fact, several Negrito populations in the Andaman Islands have disappeared completely in the past one hundred years. “The 10 Negrito dialect groups in peninsular Malaysia number only 1,800 today, far fewer than in the last century. The Negrito groups in Thailand have declined to only 300 people.” (Early & Headland, 1998, p.3-4) Ecology: Luzon has the largest number of Negritos, who reside in the mountains of Zambales, Bataan, Western Pampanga, Western Tarlac, Southwestern Pangasinan, and in the Sierra Madre range, which rims the eastern side of Luzon. The Negritos of the Sierra Madre refer to themselves and their language by the term Agta. The larger Philippine population usually refer to them as "Dumagats.” The Agta have a population of around 9,000 and they are divided into 10 ethnolinguistic groups. The Agta themselves distinguish two types of groups within their communities. The first group resides in the mountains quite a distance from both the coastline and the towns. This population relies more on hunting and gathering and have very little contact with the Filipino lowland farmers. The second group lives much closer to farming settlements and interacts on a regular basis with a wider range of lowlanders and townsfolk. This group is more involved in casual farm labor in addition to hunting, fishing, and gathering. This latter group frequently refers to the Agta mountain residents by a quite derogatory term “…ebuked, which can be roughly translated as hillbilly." (Early & Headland, 1998, p. 4) Social Groups and Behavior: The major social group of Agta society is the family. Agta families are nuclear in nature and usually form a core household which creates various social relationships and responsibilities. Singular camps average six, with a range of three to seven, related nuclear. There is literally no social structure beyond the genetic line of kinship binding together all the various Agta tribal groups. However, there is a wide range of flexibility in Agta social groupings. “Agta families make their own decisions about their daily activities. Traditionally the Agta have daily set out from their camps to hunt or forage in the forests or fish the streams and off-shore waters.” (Early & Headland, 1998, p. 10) For their study Early & Headland have classified foraging societies as having the following characteristics as immediate-return types: “…flexibility in social groupings; freedom of choice in social activities; lack of dependency on specific people or social structures beyond a small family unit; an emphasis on sharing and mutuality.” (Early & Headland, 1998, p. 15) However, as previously mentioned, some Agta have blended lives inside Philippine society. They often enter into personal exchange relationships with lowlander families. These relationships are often from generation to generation, both dies following a history of ritual relationship. “In the Casiguran area, this system of trading partners is known as the ahibay system. These exchanges are similar to reciprocity exchanges, as they are governed by mutual needs rather than the market logic of supply and demand.” (Early & Headland, 1998, p. 15) Values: Their values follow largely from their system of exchange and mutual barter. The logic of this type of exchange system can be expressed as follows: “…from the kin who has to the kin who is in need.” (Early & Headland, 1998, p. 14) The overall assumption is that both kin sides will at different times have an abundance of surpluses or be otherwise be in need. While certainly these relationship can be seen as egalitarian, the overall aim of the exchanges are seen as balancing out over time, although no strict accounting is kept. In a sense their own practical version of Karma. These kinship-exchange relationships alsohave a strong moral or ethical quality and usually cannot be ignored without group sanction, including ostracism. For individuals socialized in competitive market economies with their logic of supply and demand, reciprocity systems may sound utopian. (Early & Headland, 1998, p. 14) However, the authors also note that these relationship systems can become exploitive over time if one kin decides to take advantage of another through the system. Political Life: In a macrocosmic sense the Agta, although a small population, is at the heart of the problems with any rainforest. Their numbers dwindle as rainforests dwindle and their livelihood that is so closely tied to it disappears. “ Social justice demands a careful intellectual scrutiny of these problems and the political will to wrestle with them.” (Early & Headland, 1998, p. 189) They also suffer from prejudice both ethnically and economically. There is a long standing conflict between the peasant Agta and lowlanders. This condition prevents lowlanders from transferring their survival need into the agricultural sector. "Local agriculturists do not want foragers to move into full-time farming. . . . They are dependent on their forager clients as suppliers of protein food, forest products and laborers, and will one way or another, try to block any attempt of foragers to become independent farmers." (Early & Headland, 1998, p. 54) Reproductive Behavior: The Agta are strictly forbidden to marry any person whom they already call by a “consanguineal or affinal kinship term.” (Early & Headland, 1998, p. 87) This covers a wide spectrum of available individuals since an Agtas kin includes “all, conceptually recognized descendants of their eight grandparents, the marriage prohibition excludes a sizable number of people in this small population.” (Early & Headland, 1998, p. 87) Obviously this prohibition will usually exclude their own tribal group as well as many in nearby groups. When it comes time for a young man to marry, his parents select the prospective bride and enter into negotiations with her family. Marriage is essentially the union of two family groups, However, the husband’s parents may seek the services of a marriage petitioner, “This is usually a lowland farmer who is a regular trading partner (ahibay) of the boys parents. The petitioning party is made up of the boys parents, the parents siblings, the petitioner, and sometimes the boy.” (Early & Headland, 1998, p.88) There is no prohibition against prior marriage cohabitation but it usually occurs afterward. There fertility rates are Laos tied to the different phases of their habitation, Forager (the primarily mountain population), Transition (moving camp) and Peasant (causal farm laborer). See Appendix I for more detail. Discussion: While there are certainly many Agta rules for social interaction, there are very few as regards heads of tribes or villages other than the familial household relationship. This is often the case in smaller societies where the family tends to be the dominant force. This is in contrast to the more populous Kiriwinian islanders as studied by Malinowski. “When a chief is present, no commoner dares to remain in a physically higher position; he has to bend his body or squat. Similarly, when the chief sits down, no one would dare to stand.” (Malinowski, 2002, p. 52) On the other hand the Trobiand Islanders bear a much closer relationship to the Agta. In fact their familial groupings define most of their society and have very distinct relationships. IN fact there are three: First there is the matrilineal kinship (veyola), next there is the marriage relationship (husband, wife and children) and finally, the relationship between the husband and the wifes matrilineal kinsmen from a social class of personal ties corresponding to family. (Malinowski, 2002, p. 191) While the Trobiand have become know for their lack of restriction regarding sexual behavior, “…they live in promiscuous free-love, which gradually develops into more permanent attachments, one of which ends in marriage. But before this is reached, unmarried girls are openly supposed to be quite free to do what they like.” (Malinowski, 2002, p. 53) There may be some relationship to this carefree attachment and the ease and attainability of survival needs. The Trobiand have all they seem to need or want while the Agta have always had to work hard and fend for their survival as best they can. This may account for the more restrictive nature as society move forward to what we now call “civilization.” References Early, J. D., & Headland, T. N. (1998). Population Dynamics of a Philippine Rain Forest People: The San Ildefonso Agta. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. Malinowski, B. (2002). Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. London: Routledge. Appendix I Agta Fertility Rates Level of Analysis Rate Age Total Phase* F T P Individual female Total fertility 7.0 7.0 6.5 7.6 Reproductive Age-specific 15 126 121 107 161 population 20 299 265 350 283 25 344 370 315 341 30 282 245 269 320 35 213 208 137 294 40 144 193 115 130 % of total pop. 15-44 22.3 24.8 22.2 20.3 Study population Crude birth 53.3 58.0 47.7 54.7 Number of births Total 455 149 137 169 Male 216 61 71 84 Female 200 55 60 85 Unknown 39 33 6 -- % females of known sex 48.1 47.4 45.8 50.3 *F = Forager Phase; T = Transition Phase; P = Peasant Phase Read More