| Abstract: |
This research focuses on the changing gender relations of the Tagbanua in the center of the Philippine island of Palawan. It examines change and continuity with a focus on gender relations of Tagbanua society, which is being reshaped by economic development and commercialization. The objectives of the research are presented in Chapter One. The second chapter describes the ecological and cultural changes on the main island of Palawan through history, including the Spanish and American colonial eras. Chapter Three analyzes the rapid changes in the allocation of household resource that have resulted from the increasing presence of immigrants in contemporary Tagbanua society. Chapter Four represents the way in which Tagbanua kinship systems have been transformed due to the increase in intermarriage of predominately female Tagbanua and male immigrants. Chapter Five delineates men and women's attitudes toward land, livestock and other resources. Chapter Six portrays the constraints and opportunities of the Tagbanua as dry-rice growers and the immigrants as wet-rice producers. Different subsistence systems result in various means of time allocation, which reflect the decision-making strategies of men and women in an agricultural society. Socialization is also reflected in changes in decision-making processes resulting from Christian immigrants to Barake and Uwayan who have gradually transformed the religious life of the Tagbanua. Religious transformation and the alteration of the economic and political institutions in Tagbanua society is described in Chapter Seven. Through an analysis of the transformation in natural resources, marriage patterns, kinship systems, religions, as well as men and women's attitudes toward natural resources, I am able to show the heavy responsibility of Tagbanua women in the horticultural economy. However, the Tagbanua society is in a transitional period. More and more young Barake Tagbanua have learned intensive agriculture. They engage in not only plowing but also taking care of draft animals. In contrast, the older Tagbanua persist in swidden agriculture believing that the Tagbanua have always been and will continue to be swiddeners. Changing from an isolated society to a part of state-nation system have altered not only the gender relations but also reduced women's power in decision-making in contemporary Tagbanua society.* *Originally published in <italic>DAI</italic> Vol. 59, No. 12. Reprinted here with corrected abstract.
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