What do you think?
Rate this book
Anthropology of the Filipino People #1
Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Precolonial Heritage
'This book is the revised and expanded version of Philippine Prehistory: An Anthropological Overview. Many new archaeological materials have been recovered since its publication in 1975, requiring changes in the earlier descriptions and interpretations of Philippine prehistoric society and culture." -- www.kabayancentral.com
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
42 people are currently reading
940 people want to read
About the author
F. Landa Jocano
41 books44 followersFelipe Landa Jocano was a Filipino anthropologist, educator, and author known for his works in Philippine Anthropology, in particular for documenting and translating the Hinilawod, a Western Visayan folk epic. Jocano served as Professor Emeritus at the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines and Executive Director of PUNLAD Research House, Inc. He has authored numerous books on various aspects of Filipino society and culture.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 1, 2011
Not for nothing is Jocano the definitive text when it comes to Philippine Anthropology.
January 11, 2021
Divided into four major parts treading on prehistoric setting, culture, and civilization, it would be hypocritical to say reading this wasn’t overwhelming. But no need to be intimidated—most of its academic content was written in a conversational tone, with accompanying images, photos, and images for easier digestion of information.
Read full review on Bookbed.
Please note: We don't use ratings but for this purpose, we tag books with three stars by default.
Would like to be a reviewer/contributor to Bookbed? Sign up here!
We also accept review requests. More info here.
Read full review on Bookbed.
Please note: We don't use ratings but for this purpose, we tag books with three stars by default.
Would like to be a reviewer/contributor to Bookbed? Sign up here!
We also accept review requests. More info here.
July 10, 2013
Hope, I can read. :)
October 13, 2022
Initially, I was only looking for a book like William Henry Scott's Baranggay, but from a Filipino's perspective. I thought this book would be a rehashing of the information from Baranggay, but it is pleasantly so much more. In fact, only a sliver of the book overlaps with the information in Baranggay.
This book spans thousands of years. Jocano looks at archeological evidence, geography, and historical records to construct a timeline of Filipino civilization that reaches much farther into history than what mainstream Filipino cultural awareness is used to. As someone who grew up reading Filipino history books that "start" in the 1500s, I really appreciate how far back Jocano was willing to start Filipino history.
One other thing that I really appreciate about this book is the perspective on Filipino indigeneity. (I know that the term "indigenous" in the Philippines is now reserved only for certain ethnic groups, but for the sake of this review, I'll be using the term to refer to all of the ethnic groups that developed on the islands before colonization.) I didn't realize it, but so much of how Filipino history is taught hinges on foreign influence. Just think of the various migration theories. The three-wave migration theory goes: first there were the Aetas, then the Malays, then the Indones. But Jocano challenges this by asking, why is it that we consider Malays and Indonesians to have existed before Filipinos, when in reality, there were peoples across the archipelago who were developing at the same time? And why is it that we consider Filipino culture only as a sum of these foreign parts, when much of our culture was actually developed to suit local conditions?
The archeological data... indicate that many of the dominant Filipino institutions and traits are products of local adaptation and developments. They were not carried by the immigrants into the archipelago ready-made... In spite of the claims made by earlier writers, available materials show that no prehistoric culture that seeped into the Philippines became dominant.
I also like that he challenges the western concept of "civilization." So much of its definition holds double standards to exclude precolonial Filipino society from being considered as civilized. Take megalithic structures, for example. I'm still laughing at this:
Critics of the view that we had a prehistoric civilization point to the fact that we did not possess megalithic structures to document such accomplishments. This is true. We did not build pyramids, a Great Wall, a Taj Mahal, an Angkor Wat, or a Borobodur. There was no need for these structures because we did not have despots and tyrants as leaders. We were free and democratic.
Regardless of whether or not Filipinos didn't have these because our leaders weren't tyrannical, it still gets me thinking why the definition for "civilization" requires something that certain people in certain regions of the world just didn't need. And that's basically what this book does. It makes you think about all the different definitions and paradigms and frameworks that were imposed on the Filipino peoples, just to measure us against metrics other people made up. When in reality, we would be much better served by studying how our culture developed within our local circumstances.
This book spans thousands of years. Jocano looks at archeological evidence, geography, and historical records to construct a timeline of Filipino civilization that reaches much farther into history than what mainstream Filipino cultural awareness is used to. As someone who grew up reading Filipino history books that "start" in the 1500s, I really appreciate how far back Jocano was willing to start Filipino history.
One other thing that I really appreciate about this book is the perspective on Filipino indigeneity. (I know that the term "indigenous" in the Philippines is now reserved only for certain ethnic groups, but for the sake of this review, I'll be using the term to refer to all of the ethnic groups that developed on the islands before colonization.) I didn't realize it, but so much of how Filipino history is taught hinges on foreign influence. Just think of the various migration theories. The three-wave migration theory goes: first there were the Aetas, then the Malays, then the Indones. But Jocano challenges this by asking, why is it that we consider Malays and Indonesians to have existed before Filipinos, when in reality, there were peoples across the archipelago who were developing at the same time? And why is it that we consider Filipino culture only as a sum of these foreign parts, when much of our culture was actually developed to suit local conditions?
The archeological data... indicate that many of the dominant Filipino institutions and traits are products of local adaptation and developments. They were not carried by the immigrants into the archipelago ready-made... In spite of the claims made by earlier writers, available materials show that no prehistoric culture that seeped into the Philippines became dominant.
I also like that he challenges the western concept of "civilization." So much of its definition holds double standards to exclude precolonial Filipino society from being considered as civilized. Take megalithic structures, for example. I'm still laughing at this:
Critics of the view that we had a prehistoric civilization point to the fact that we did not possess megalithic structures to document such accomplishments. This is true. We did not build pyramids, a Great Wall, a Taj Mahal, an Angkor Wat, or a Borobodur. There was no need for these structures because we did not have despots and tyrants as leaders. We were free and democratic.
Regardless of whether or not Filipinos didn't have these because our leaders weren't tyrannical, it still gets me thinking why the definition for "civilization" requires something that certain people in certain regions of the world just didn't need. And that's basically what this book does. It makes you think about all the different definitions and paradigms and frameworks that were imposed on the Filipino peoples, just to measure us against metrics other people made up. When in reality, we would be much better served by studying how our culture developed within our local circumstances.
December 4, 2021
Actually surprised to have found solid suggestions and frameworks as an aid to his Core Population theory. Though criticisms on Beyer was valid given justifications, I found the tone of the author more condescending in multiple attempts to invalidate Beyer’s points. Despite this, the book’s strongest point for me was the question of Racial Affinities. It opens a trajectory of racial theories that permeate its way (unconsciously) in the academe. The negritos are not aborigines of the country. It is even more surprising that a lot of fundamental studies on Filipino race and ethnicity are backed by the said misconception. Could this have been an unconscious byproduct of anthropology’s servitude on colonialism? Of an inextricable Othering that led us to impose and even accept anthropometric measurements to characterize prehistory groupings? These are important questions to ask in viewing the extent of the effects of colonialism, and how it continuously affects anthropology and conversely.
Read this book as a source for Austronesian cultures. Despite its contestation of culture “inheritance” among Austronesians to Filipinos, its suggestion of Filipinos adapting their own localized cultures (without dismissing austronesian presence) and actualizing these as core achievements remains a prominent perspective in Filipino anthropology and prehistory.
Read this book as a source for Austronesian cultures. Despite its contestation of culture “inheritance” among Austronesians to Filipinos, its suggestion of Filipinos adapting their own localized cultures (without dismissing austronesian presence) and actualizing these as core achievements remains a prominent perspective in Filipino anthropology and prehistory.
January 11, 2021
This book may have been published in 1998, but its points remain relevant to this day, given our continued discussion of national identity. It gives not only a thorough discussion on what our country and people were like before we were colonized, but also presents a lot of intriguing questions that contribute to forming who the Filipino truly is, and why we are the way we are, through our own lens.
Read my full review on Bookbed.
Everything I read in 2021 here.
Read my full review on Bookbed.
Everything I read in 2021 here.
March 26, 2019
Want this for Research Purposes
Read
December 14, 2023I have been looking for this book everywhere on the internet but cannot find it. I am in San Diego. If anyone has leads for borrowing or purchasing in my area it would be greatly appreciated!
March 9, 2013
Done with my anthro class!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews