Abstract
Writing workshops have truly established their niche as a method of enhancing written language skills and promoting culture. In 2019, the University of the Philippines Diliman Extension Programs in Pampanga and Olongapo (UPDEPPO) implemented such a project for post-secondary school and young professional Aytas (also spelled Aetas), a Philippine Indigenous people group. Pictured as a venue for expression and reflection and a way of preserving Ayta language and culture, the workshop aimed to help Ayta youth retain their Indigenous identity. As I reflected on the program, however, I started asking: Did UPDEPPO inadvertently do more harm than good by introducing colonial literary methods? Can writing workshops truly recognize, protect, and promote Indigenous culture or are they just another tool for colonization? Writing workshops held specifically for Indigenous cultural communities are indeed meant to enable them to safeguard, revitalize, and promote their language and culture through the written word, but when the methods used in these trainings espouse literary ideals that disenfranchise Indigenous ways of knowing and thinking, such workshops can turn into instruments of colonization, fortifying foreign influence instead of demolishing Western hegemony. Limited to analyzing writing workshops conducted in local languages, this paper first details the benefits of implementing such projects among Indigenous people. It then discusses how certain literary methods may delegitimize Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSPs). Finally, it proposes recommendations for designing writing workshops that do not nullify Indigenous beliefs and experiences.
Presenters
Cynthia Grace Suguitan SanguyuAssistant Professor, Extension Program in Pampanga, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2022 Special Focus—At the Crossroads of Paradigms: Considering Heterodoxy in the Social Sciences
KEYWORDS
Indigenous Writing Workshops, Decolonization
