ohAFRO, Apr 30, 2022 Meet the Aeta Tribe of the PhilipPines. These indigenous people of the Philippines, known as the "Aeta", are a group related to the Negrito ethnic group who occupy Ifugao province of the Philippines They are characterized by their hight, kinky hair, and dark skin. The Negritos are thought to be one of the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines about 30,000 years ago.
Aeta communities were historically nomadic hunter-gatherers,
typically consisting of approximately 1 to 5 families per mobile group.[5]
Groups under the "Aeta" umbrella term are normally referred to after
their geographic locations or their common languages.[6][7][8][9]
[...]
Definition
Aeta (also Ayta, Áitâ, Ita, Alta, Arta, Atta, or Agta) is a
collective term. Although commonly thought of as a single group, it is in
reality composed of several ethnic groups that share similar hunter-gatherer
lifestyles and physical features. They are usually divided into three main
groups: the Aeta from Central Luzon; the Agta of Southeastern Luzon; and the
Dumagat (also spelled Dumaget) of Eastern Luzon. These divisions, however, are
arbitrary, and the three names can be used interchangeably. They are also
commonly confused with the Ati people of the Visayas Islands.[6][4][12]
[...]
The Aeta people in the Philippines are often grouped with
other Negritos, such as the Semang on the Malay Peninsula, and sometimes
grouped with Australo-Melanesians, which includes groups such as the natives of
Australia and Papuans; as well as partially, the Melanesians of the Solomon
Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and the French overseas special collectivity of New
Caledonia. Australo-Melanesians are genetically diverse due to the thousands of
years they have been isolated from each other, but they all display high
percentages of Denisovan gene flow.[13]
The Aeta, like other Negritos, are the descendants of the
earliest modern human migrations into the Philippine islands during the
Paleolithic, around 40,000 years ago. In contrast with the later seaborne
Austronesian migrations (c. 5,000 years ago), the Negritos arrived through the
Sundaland land bridges that linked the islands with the Asian mainland.[13]
Despite this, the Aeta, like other modern Philippine Negrito
groups, have significant Austronesian admixture (~10% to 30%) due to population
mixing after Austronesian contact. The Aeta speak Austronesian languages and
follow Austronesian cultural practices to a limited extent. Conversely, other
Filipino ethnic groups not traditionally considered Negritos, also have Negrito
admixture (~10 to 20%). Aetas are most closely related to the Batak people of
Palawan.[14][13]"...
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Journal of Anthropology / 2013 / Article
Indigenous Aeta Magbukún Self-Identity, Sociopolitical
Structures, and Self-Determination at the Local Level in the Philippines
Vincent S. Balilla,1 Julia Anwar McHenry,2 Mark P. McHenry,3
Riva Marris Parkinson,1 and Danilo T. Banal4
"Abstract
[…]
1. Introduction
[…]
Indigenous identities are contested in the Philippines as a
result of successive ways of migration of many different peoples throughout the
Asian region, long before the arrival and colonisation by Europeans [8]. The
Philippines contains a great diversity of peoples with over 169 living
ethnolinguistic groups, about 140 of which are acknowledged as Indigenous [9].
Of the 78 provinces that make up the Philippines, Indigenous peoples are
present in more than 50 and, depending on the definition of Indigenous
populations used, represent from 10 to 20 percent of the total Philippine
population [9, 10]. Such a high density of cultural, language, and ethnicity
differentiation among Indigenous peoples in the Philippines arose as a result
of geographical segregation, and many of these populations retreated into
isolated regions during successive events related to immigrations,
displacement, discrimination, and more recently economic development [2].
One of the most well-known Indigenous groups in the Philippines is the Aeta, found in central (Aeta, Ita), eastern (Dumagat), and southeastern Luzon (Agta), as well as several islands in the Visayas (Ati). In the Bataan Peninsula of central Luzon, a single Indigenous group, known as the Aeta Magbukún can be found living near the fringe of the Manila Bay/South China Sea and the forest cover of Mount Mariveles in the Philippines. The Aeta Magbukún are one of the least studied Indigenous groups in the Philippines, and despite the encroaching population of non-Indigenous peoples, they have maintained a primarily traditional hunter-gatherer existence [11]. Mariveles is a municipality with a population of 102, 844 (in 2007), located at the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula, about 173 km from the capital Manila with a cove bounded on its eastern, western, and southern sides by the Manila Bay and South China Sea (Figure 1). Mariveles is composed of eighteen barangays (settlements) lying along the coastal and flat lands, with larger and predominantly undeveloped mountainous areas where the Aeta Magbukún live. The Aeta Magbukún’s bayan-bayanan (village/hamlet), recently constructed by an NGO, is a separate site within barangay Biaan, the smallest barangay in terms of population, yet one of the largest in terms of land area. Only two years ago, an overgrown and unmaintained earthen road led to the Aeta Magbukún’s bayan-bayanan from the local town centre. Recently the road has been upgraded and renamed to become the Mariveles-Bagac Highway. This and other related developments have resulted in a cultural upheaval for Aeta Magbukún and a growing fear of losing their unique language and culture.
[…]
2. Basic Demography and Population Structure
At the end of 2008 the total population of the Aeta
Magbukún’s bayan-bayanan was 107, with a total of 21 nuclear families.
(The authors would like to note that most of the tribe remains nomadic and
travels extensively within the Mariveles forests. The bayan-bayanan with
permanent buildings is primarily a development derived from the establishment
of an Aeta school at the site provided by another NGO. As such, many children
stay in the bayan-bayanan due to practicalities of proximity, as the Aeta
Magbukún place a high value on their children’s education.) Population sex
ratios included 63 (59 percent) males and 44 (41 percent) females, with 72 (67
percent) of the total population aged between zero and thirty (Figure 2). The
average size of an Aeta Magbukún nuclear family is five family members,
including the mother and father. In the period from 1990 to 2008, there was an
average of three live births per annum. Only ten (nine percent) of the
community are non-Aetas, and all of them are spouses of Aetas. Thus, ten out of
twenty-one (47 percent) married couples in the bayan-bayanan are of mixed
marriage, which is a recent phenomenon, as genetic studies indicate a distinct
homogenous genetic history, quite apart from the rest of the Philippine
population and Asia-Pacific generally [13–18].
3. Aeta Magbukún Group Psychology: The “Aeta” Self-Representation
Common names that identify Aetas from non-Aetas in the
Philippines include kulot (curly haired Aetas) as opposed to unat
(straight-haired non-Aetas) and Aeta as opposed to Tagalog. (Tagalog is
the most common ethnolinguistic group in Luzon, Philippines.) The Aeta Magbukún
often refer to non-Aetas in the third person as tao, which, in Tagalog,
literally means “a person.” When asked in the Aeta Magbukún language, “Kung
tao ako, eh ano ka?” (translated into English as “If I am a person, then
what are you?”), an Aeta Magbukún would simply answer “Aeta.” The use of these
terms does not suggest that the Aeta Magbukún have a different existential
philosophy; it is simply how they recognise themselves as distinct from
non-Aetas. Conversely, within the several groups of Indigenous peoples of the
Philippines and other closely related Aeta groups, such sharp distinctions are
common.
The Chieftain of the Aeta Magbukún explained the term Magbukún originated from the word bukud/magbukud, which literally means “to separate from” in the Aeta Magbukún language. Aeta Magbukún, and women in particular, are known for their reclusive shyness in social situations, particularly outside of their own bayan-bayanan. Despite this shyness, in some situations Aetas are known to passionately defend their distinctiveness as Aeta Magbukún as opposed to other Aeta groups and non-Aeta alike. For example, a shy Aeta Magbukún mother of two was mistaken for a “Pinatubo Aeta” (“Pinatubo Aeta” is the common name given by Aeta Magbukún to describe displaced Aetas from the Mount Pinatubo locale of Zambales, Tarlac, or Pampanga to the north of Bataan who are stereotypically viewed as beggars. This is relatively common in some places as a result of the devastating 1990 Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption, evacuation, resettlement, and associated social upheaval) by a vendor at the local marketplace, who had subsequently driven her away. Despite her shyness, the mother was so irritated that she confronted the vendor saying “’Di ako namamalimos! Hindi ako Pinatubo! Heto ang pera ko!” (“I am not a beggar! I am not from Pinatubo! Here’s my money!”). The Chieftain’s wife described how she felt ashamed when she sees “Pinatubo Aetas” begging around Mariveles and the marketplace. As a result she also tends to be very reclusive outside of her own bayan-bayanan, as she fears she will be mistaken as a “Pinatubo Aeta” and treated as such. On one occasion, while selling honey (an important Aeta Magbukún traditional food gathered seasonally from the forest) a man approached the Chieftain’s wife and gave her a five Peso coin. She immediately answered “’Di ho ako namamalimos…nagbabanat ho ako ng buto…” (“Please, I am not a beggar…I work to the bone…”). She then gave the five Peso coin back to the man. These examples show both the pride and sensitivity of the Aeta Magbukún’s sense of self-identity. The specific annoyance towards being recognised as “Pinatubo Aetas” stems from their belief that it is particularly shameful for an able-bodied Aeta to resort to begging. This is compounded by the relatively short travelling distance between main centres in the Bataan and Zambales regions and shared physical features between Aeta groups. The differentiated Aeta identity enables the Aeta Magbukún to present themselves as a distinguished Aeta group that has lived relatively independently since pre-European colonisation.
[…]
7. Conclusion
The Aeta Magbukún way of life has remained independent from
mainstream Philippine society over several thousands of years. However, due
increased economic activity and encroachment of non-Aeta on traditional lands,
the Aetas traditional livelihoods and way of life are threatened. To ensure
their basic human rights and quality of life, the Aetas are increasingly
required to participate in the formal and informal non-Aeta economy with whom
they increasingly share their traditional lands [2]. The Aeta Magbukún
acknowledge that they are, as with most Indigenous peoples around the world,
both socially and economically marginalised. Yet they have a strong sense of
self-identity and are committed to self-determination for the betterment of
their people, culture, and unique way of life.
Drawing attention to the plight of various Indigenous
peoples generally is commonly illustrated through historical discrimination and
oppression [22]. Increasing awareness of the livelihood, sociopolitical
structure, and general predicament of specific Indigenous peoples can
contribute to improved political representation, further claims for special
protection, and potentially secure future self-determination [12]. However,
progress with Indigenous rights will be particularly challenging without
support from national governments, non-government organisations, and the
broader non-Aeta community."
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