Description
Drawing from performance ethnography and utilizing “Creative Voice” as an innovative, arts-based methodology, this ethnographic inquiry presents A Tale of Clans, an exploration of systemic conflict and Panagkauli (reconciliation) among the Manobo-Pulangiyon of Bukidnon province in the Southern Philippines. This ethnographic work reveals that protracted intra-communal conflicts are deeply rooted in historical ruptures, namely colonial legacies, capitalist expansion, and plantation economies that weaponize “divide-and-conquer” strategies. Furthermore, the intersection of asymmetric power dynamics, divergent interests, and cultural hegemony over ancestral domain claims profoundly underlies these disputes. Consequently, these fractures have severed indigenous rituals, cultural belief systems, and kinship ties, engendering collective trauma, existential despair, and acute psychosocial distress. Conversely, the community's return to their ancestral homeland encapsulates decades of indigenous resistance against encroaching corporate interests. While enduring divisions persist, “A Tale of Clans” conceptualizes Panagkauli as a vital conduit for collective memory, reconciliation, social cohesion, and transformative hope in times of ruptures. Overall, this paper emphasizes that the Manobo-Pulangiyon maintain that, through the divine intervention of Magbabaya (the Supreme Being), Panagkauli serves as an indispensable mechanism for reunifying both the clan and their ancestral lands.