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THE PORTRAYAL OF ASWANG IN POPULAR PRINT MEDIA: A GROUNDED

THEORY STUDY

Aswang Paradigm and The Communication of Culture

Bryan Mari Argos, MPS-DC, D.COMM

Faculty of Information and Communication Studies,

University of the Philippines – Open University, Los Baños

Abstract

The aswang folklore is a perennial phenomenon in the Province of Capiz. This

study takes 202 popular print media articles about the aswang and utilizes the grounded

theory methodology to attempt to extract theories from the data set. The data set

consist of articles from different time periods, of various languages and diverse genres.

Critical sampling was used which involves purposive homogenous sampling and

theoretical sampling. Both required a reiterative process to ascertain fit and theoretical

saturation of the concepts that emerged. The initial analysis of the data was done by

identifying open codes from the data set and determining the properties that would

qualify data entries for each open code. Then, a set of axial codes were identified to

group open codes having common relationships. Finally, core variables were drawn

from the axial codes and the data was revisited to ensure that all the core variables

comfortably accommodated the data set. It has to be pointed out that the process of

grounded theory is barely chronological as critical sampling can occur numerous times

during the analysis of data.

The resulting ‘grounded theory’ are core variables or concepts firmly anchored in

the data. These are divided among three research questions, two of which emerged
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during the iterative analysis process. The main research question was, “How did

popular print media portray aswang?” which surfaced the core variables that popular

print media portrayed the aswang as not real, as marginalized and as real. The two

other research questions emerging from the initial core variables of the first research

question were, “How did popular print media marginalize aswang?”, and “How did

popular print media bridge the gap between aswang myth and reality?”. The first

secondary research question gave rise to the core variables that popular print media

marginalized aswang by portraying it as an outsider in a human community and as

something that should be avoided at all cost or even eliminated from the human

community. The second secondary research question gave rise to the core variable that

popular print media bridged the gap between aswang myth and reality by incarnating

aswang or giving it flesh. These three selective codes rationalize the two initial core

variables (aswang is marginalized and aswang is real) which emerged from the initial

research question where the first core variable of the aswang being portrayed as not

real has already been saturated during data analysis.

Apart from the selective codes or core variables that emerged from the data, a

set of paradigms were also built to illustrate the phenomenon of how popular print

media portrays the aswang. Such paradigms show how aswang is portrayed in popular

print media, how popular print media resulted in the marginalization of aswang, and how

popular print media served to bridge the gap between aswang myth and reality. These

paradigms have generalizability potential and can be applied to other phenomena

similar to or related with this particular study giving rise to other studies and possibly

even fresh perspectives in print media and communication.

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Introduction

Communication is such a broad subject to rethink. Add to this nature of

communication is the reality that it is such an established subject matter that viewing it

from uncommon or innovative perspectives usually challenges the status quo.

Nonetheless, when communication is viewed from the lens of the past and when fresh

perspectives of it are anchored on and emerge from established realities (or ‘un-

realities’), the ‘re-thought’ perspectives of communication are founded on decades, or

even centuries of constants. This is why rethinking communication is not always and

only about uncovering unknown perspectives of it but also about coming up with ways

of how to look at communication and update it from already existing knowledge of it.

This study is a classic example of how to look at communication with a new perspective

while anchoring it on traditional or folk knowledge. It is unlikely that one would look at

communication while anchoring it on something that was much despised in the past, but

most of the time, if not all, one’s ability to see something is clouded by initial or

established negative perceptions that are metaphorical “keep-out” signs for

unadventurous academics. However, if we all develop the courage to disobey these

“keep-out” signs we might be uncovering a treasure trove of knowledge; knowledge that

we would have missed out on had we not trusted our curiosity.

The findings of this study emerged from existing print knowledge (data) of a

Philippine creature known as aswang. A Spanish Friar, Alcina, in his 1668 Historia delas

Islas Filipinas, which is possibly the earliest written account of the creature, describes

the topic of “witches, unglos” (Alcina, 1668:241) as a “questionable” (Alcina, 1668:241)

subject matter. Alcina recounts that the creatures were referred to as the Aswang in
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Samar, Leyte, and Ibabaw (Eastern Visayas), and as unglos or aluk in Cebu and Bohol

(Alcina, 1668:241). Alcina goes on to describe this creature as “able to fly because of

bat-like wings, had a bird born in their entrails, and devoured both the living and the

dead, (Alcina, 1668:243) … able to transform themselves into different animals like pigs,

dogs, crocodiles, and such, and are fond of drinking the blood of infants and children”

(Alcina, 1668:243). Clearly, if one valued his/her life he/she would tread lightly when

exploring this particular subject matter not only because it is apparently very dangerous

but also because aswang is associated with the Visayas Islands, in particular, Capiz,

and mere mention of aswang in these areas will earn one the ire of the locals. It is

unlikely that communication be viewed from the perspective of aswang knowledge

simply because using such a folk creature as an anchor for emergent communication

knowledge could likely result to communication concepts tarnished by the negativity

attached to such aswang. However, if one was to look at how aswang came to be

beyond its existence in a pre-colonial myth, one would find that it was used as a means

to discredit normal, somewhat heroic individuals and even as propaganda against

political untouchables, rivals, or threats. For instance, “an actual incident in Capiz in

1859 [tells] of two pursuing platoon soldiers who encountered flesh-eating women who

drained blood and carved out the men’s livers and hearts when they were dispatched to

the hinterlands to track down a Spanish friar” (Tan, 2010). This account, however, can

be traced to a politically motivated Kinaray-a transcription about Babaylan women who

were out to seek revenge for the abuses committed by the Spanish friars (Tan, 2010).

The motivation of the account lends a glimpse into what the writers wanted to achieve

by creating this account. Despite the possibility of a smear campaign against these
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spiritualist women because of how it was written, the account was written and had

created fear and terror among residents eventually becoming one possible origin of the

Capiz Aswang myth. This politically motivated smear campaign using the aswang as its

centerpiece is actually echoed in many theoretical positions offered by academics and

scholars such as that offered by a Palanca-award winning fictionist, Eugene Evasco

(2000:87-88) who posits that the images of demons, witches, and the aswang in

particular were used to discredit our ancestral leaders. Evasco (2000:88) adds that one

Constantino Tejero had claimed that Spanish authorities initiated the belief in the

aswang to identify whom among the civilians were Katipuneros because when the belief

had become widespread, civilians tended to stay in their homes in the evenings and

those who were most likely to have the courage to leave their homes in the evenings

were either aswangs or Katipuneros (Evasco, 2000:88). Of course, because aswangs

were just myths, then it became easy for them to identify who the Katipuneros were.

If aswang is viewed from this perspective, in itself, it is a potent communication

tool when, at the very least, it is considered as an effective material for propaganda or

negative publicity. This study, however, goes a step further and looks at aswang in

popular print media. In effect, aswang in this study appears as a feature of

communication media and it is how it is portrayed that is given preferential attention on

the premise that such a perspective could reveal many things about the media in which

it is portrayed and the approaches utilized in its portrayal. In addition, despite the

already negative perspective attached to aswang, this study set that perspective aside

and looked at the data without initial boundaries to allow core concepts to emerge which

do not only focus on aswang but also on other communication issues, in general. While
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the recommendations in the full study focuses on general recommendations based on

the actual core concepts, this article shall take those core concepts and look at their

applicability in actual communication practice.

The Study

This study utilizes the method known to many as grounded theory. Such a

methodology has been heavily debated upon because of its unorthodox techniques in

extracting concepts from voluminous data. To begin with, this method does not utilize

an a priori design and is heavily grounded on data. Many existing studies do not even

use it as a main methodology but merely as a complement to other methods of study,

and most of these studies, if not all, utilize data transcribed from interviews. The primary

reason for this utilization approach of grounded theory is that it is widely recognized that

the kind of knowledge that one usually acquires from grounded theory cannot be

acquired using any other methodology. What one is left with at the end of a grounded

theory study are what are referred to as “core concepts”. Core concepts are significant

in the knowledge that this study sought to acquire for three reasons, first, because the

core phenomenon is a folk concept, second, because secondary information emerging

from such a folk concept are in themselves concepts, and third, because the

manipulation of future approaches to the core phenomenon must also be done

conceptually.

There are two schools of grounded theory that have distinct features from each

other and this study has features of both schools. These two schools of grounded

theory thought are the Glaserian and Straussian (Jones & Alony, 2011:5-6) schools of
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thought. Theoretical sensitivity in this study emerged from being immersed in the data

on which the theory is grounded and from where the theory derives its credibility. The

bulk of data collection in this study was done using processes known as purposive and

theoretical sampling where the purposive sampling conducted in this study was

homogenous in nature because only popular print media articles about the aswang

were preferred.

In the course of two years prior to the actual writing of the manuscript, this

researcher had already begun to gather data in the form of popular print media articles.

The research began with a meager seventy (70) popular print media articles about

aswang gathered in the span of around half a year, taken from various sources to

include those published in online venues. This number grew to two hundred and two in

the course of three years and due largely to the theoretical sampling process which is

highly iterative. It is important to note that throughout the entire study, no process was

chronological; because of the iterative nature of theoretical sampling and the

methodology itself, the research cycled from sampling to coding to sampling again.

From the initial data set seven open codes emerged, these being that popular print

media portrays aswang as 1) a character in folklore, 2) a monster, 3) as a human with

qualities not normal for a human, 4) a historical construct, 5) a real attacker of human

beings, 6) a central theme in events and activities, and 7) a central theme in cultural

products. These open codes are a direct response to the question of how popular print

media portrays aswang. These seven open codes were the grouped according to the

common relationships between them, relationships that were also evident in the initial

data set. Such a grouping is referred to as axial coding and from these initial seven
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open codes, three axial codes emerged, these being that aswang is portrayed in

popular print media as 1) an imagination of human beings; as a fictional character, 2)

not normal; not human, and 3) a material, tangible presence that can concretely inflict

harm. Hence, the open and axial codes considered, logical fit was ascertained by going

back to the data set and determining the core variables or core concepts that would

successfully accommodate the entire/existing data set. These core variables or

concepts are referred to as selective codes thus, it can be said that popular print media

portrays aswang as 1) not real, 2) belonging to the margins of a human community, and

3) real.

Looking at these three core variables/concepts, however, one would notice that

of the three, only the first concept is theoretically saturated, the two other core variables

beg further study. Hence, the cycle of theoretical sampling and coding had to begin

again, this time, addressing the two other core variables that deserve further

examination. On gathering more data, new open codes emerged to accommodate the

second and third core variables. The open codes that emerged from the second core

variable, this time in direct response to said variable are that popular print media

portrays aswang as belonging to the margins of the human community by portraying it

as 1) evil, 2) not human, 3) a danger to human beings, and 4) a human with a disease.

The relationships between these open codes are that aswang is portrayed as belong to

the margins of the human community because it is portrayed as 1) not part of the

inherently good human community and cannot be classified as a human being, and 2) a

threat to human beings that can transfer their illness to others and thus threaten the

specie. These two axial codes, when applied to the entire data set, including the newly
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acquired data resulted to two selective codes that explain how popular print media

portrays aswang as belonging to the margins of the human community, and these are

that aswang is 1) an outsider in a human community, and 2) should be avoided at all

cost, even eliminated from society. Finally, in perusing the third initial core variable

stating that popular print media portrays aswang as real, further data collection had to

be done to fully saturate such a core variable. The third wave of data gathering resulted

in the emergence of three more open codes responding to the question of how popular

print media bridged the gap between aswang myth and reality. It had done this by

portraying aswang as 1) having identity and by attributing material features to it and

giving it personality by not clearly designating it as myth in factual articles, 2) by

entertaining unverified accounts and treating these as fact, and 3) by capitalizing on the

popularity of aswang when it is used as a central theme in media products. These three

open codes can be grouped together according to their relationships ins a singular axial

code where popular print media extracted aswang from the myth, placed it in the realm

of reality and gave the aswang significance/celebrity status. This axial code was set

against the entire data set and the core variable that emerged was that popular print

media bridged the gap between aswang myth and reality by incarnating it or giving it

flesh. All the findings in this study can be seen in the following paradigm that shows the

summative achievements of popular print media in portraying aswang:

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WHEN POPULAR PRINT MEDIA
PORTRAYS ASWANG AS…

A character in
folklore or as a Evil, not human, Having
central theme in dangerous, or a personality and
cultural products, human with a identity, as fact
events, and disease and as a popular
activities fixture in media
products

IT PORTRAYS ASWANG AS…

SOMETHING TO ASWANG
NOT REAL AN OUTSIDER
AVOID INCARNATE

MARGINALIZED REAL

Figure 1 A paradigm illustrating how popular print media portrays aswang.

Re-Thinking Communication of Culture in The Context of Aswang

Cultural communication is different from the communication of culture. There is

barely anything written about cultural communication simply because the act of

communicating is a part of culture. Most of the seeming disregard for communication in

the context of culture comes from the reality that such a regard does not seem

necessary as culture and communication always come hand in hand or are closely

related to each other. What most don’t realize is that most perspectives of

communication in the cultural context are limited to “the exchange of cultural information
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between people with significantly different cultures (intercultural communication)”

(Lahey, Trant, Verderber, and Verderber, 2005:7) and the “exchange of meaningful

messages between members of the same cultural group (intracultural communication)”

(Lahey, Trant, Verderber, and Verderber, 2005:5). In the field of anthropology, the

transfer of culture can be explained through processes known as enculturation and

acculturation which are “the process by which the values and norms of a society are

passed on to or acquired by its members…and adaptation to an alien culture”

(Shimahara, 1970), respectively. In both of these processes, it is widely accepted that

communication plays an important role in cultural transfer or transmission. However,

while such a role is recognized, what is barely considered in these processes is how the

transmitted culture is affected relative to how it is communicated, hence, the focus of

the communication of culture in this paper.

Aswang, for the purpose of this discussion, shall be used as embodiment of the

culture being transmitted. In this case, aswang is viewed as a folklore, a myth and as an

element of Philippine culture and apparently, based on its obvious existence over the

centuries, it has been transmitted to generations of Filipinos. In this study, taking into

account how the culture is transferred via popular print media, one notices that

something happens to the culture as it is being transmitted. In the paradigm earlier

presented, the properties of the culture transmitted are hugely dependent on how it is

being transmitted. On the outset, from being simply a story or a myth, the cultural

component presented here transforms into something more such as a character in

cultural products, a standard for marginalization, and an actual, tangible, material entity.

One barely realizes the gravity of this phenomenon until it is often too late to go back to
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what has been done and rectify it. In the case of aswang, it is apparent that because of

how it is communicated through generations it has earned an extremely unsavory

reputation and has contributed its share to shaping the culture of the current era and the

people unto which it has latched itself. Of course, this cannot be avoided because as

the pre-Spanish myth narrates, aswang is truly an evil spirit, but what can be avoided is

making this cultural feature much more than what it is supposed to be. Clearly, the

objective of the communication of culture based on the findings of this study has to be

the prevention of adulteration where the culture transmitted has to remain as pure as it

can possibly be as it is transmitted. In this respect, we might challenge the concept of

the enrichment of culture as an inevitable effect of cultural transmission, because as

culture is transmitted over generations, it evolves. At the very least, however, peoples

all over the world have to accept that culture, as it is, and where enrichment of such

cultures must occur, is not usually affected significantly by the enrichment and so the

major properties of such a culture as a whole remain intact. For instance, the different

versions of adobo in the Philippines enrich the adobo culture but in this case, the

mother culture is kept intact. This is what happens when the enrichment of such a

culture remains faithful to its mother form; in the case of adobo, all enrichments have to

do with its culinary nature which is what it was meant to be in the first place. When

culture evolves and when elements foreign to it are assimilated with it along the

evolutionary process, then the true form of the culture is corrupted. With aswang and

popular print media, one notices that only one core concept is faithful to the true nature

of this cultural element, the two other core concepts have drastically changed it in ways

that can affect how such a culture is perceived even in the society where it belongs.
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At this point, it is important to reiterate that the phenomenon being discussed is

the transmission of culture through communication or the communication of culture; it is

true that there are ways of transmitting culture apart from just through communication,

but if the transmission of culture through communication is addressed, other forms of

cultural transmission can follow suite. It is in this light that we attribute as much weight

as possible to the findings of this study because apparently, based on the core concepts

emerging from the data set, popular print media has veered toward the direction of

cultural corruption in the case of aswang. Fortunately, because it has become more

apparent now how popular print media was able to do this then it is imperative that

steps must be taken to prevent further corruption of this specific cultural element and of

other cultural features that this particular form of media and other forms of media in

general might deal with in the future. Hence, it is but natural that from the core concepts

of this study a more efficient and culturally sensitive approach to the communication of

culture must be employed.

The Aswang Paradigm in the Communication of Culture through Print

The paradigm modelled from the core concepts extracted from the data set in

this study can be alarming to most, if not all media practitioners, and whether there have

been steps to address the phenomenon that this study illustrates or not, what is more

important at this point is to work with whatever is available to, at least, generalize the

findings of this study for application to the communication of culture. The aswang
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paradigm of the communication of culture through popular print media as shown in this

study finds relevance in how culture is communicated through print media.

For purposes of this study, we look at a very appropriate perspective of culture

coming from Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952:145) who say that “The history of the

concept of culture as used today in science is the story of the emergence of an idea that

was gradually strained out of the several connotations of an existing word.” From this

perspective one sees that the ‘concept of culture’ and not culture itself is anchored on a

process that spans many decades or even centuries and hints on the possible

diminutization of the concept as gleaned from the word “strained”. Hence, what one

sees as culture today has been literally extracted from a concept that was too general to

make sense of back in the day. The modern concept of culture, if Kroeber and

Kluckhohn have to be believed is merely a fraction of what it used to represent. With

this in mind it seems logical to conclude that the concept of culture before must have

encompassed many other things and not only the ones that we know of today. It is

therefore very likely that the ‘straining’ continues to this day, and like anything else in

the universe, culture continues to evolve (or devolve?). Of course, even to this day,

there are existing arguments as to what culture is which is an indication of its continued

dynamism. Culture, therefore, is dynamic in the sense that it moves across the years.

One thing for certain at this point is that while Kroeber and Kluckhohn initially posited

that the concept of culture now is condensed from concepts of it in the past, culture also

adds unto itself. Hence, while culture shrinks over the years, it also grows, much like the

process of evolution where only the qualities that make a specie hardy are retained and

those that make it weak are eliminated from future evolutions. This is a very interesting
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perspective of culture because then we are posed with the question of what or who

decides what remains in the concept of culture and what goes. If this perspective of

culture is applied to perspectives of media, it is obvious which media has evolved the

farthest and has retained most, if not all of its qualities throughout its evolution. Some

forms of media have evolved to include qualities that improved it but have unfortunately

been too less of a necessity to achieve permanence and some have vanished from the

universe altogether. Nonetheless, it is clear that all types of media have retained their

core qualities throughout their evolution and that which has remained virtually

unchanged over the years is print media. If communication media is a culture in itself,

then it has proven quite robust through the years for it to become part of the concept of

culture, specifically its transmission.

That being said, this study presents two perspectives, one of the communication

of culture, and second, the culture of print communication. It gives us a view of what

happens to a culture when it is communicated in certain ways, and what qualities of the

culture of print communication have remained or were added unto it over the years as

enduring remnants of its evolution or as new additions to its shot at permanence. So, let

us now look at the aswang paradigm and consider these perspectives. One sees that

when one intends to retain the core properties of culture, then one has to communicate

those core properties as they are and use the core properties of a culture or the culture

itself as a central anchor in products that are consistent with the nature of the concept of

such a culture. If one intends to change the core property of a culture into a polar

equivalent of it, one has to communicate what the culture is not and use such culture as

an anchor in products of another culture (in this case media) which is different in
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properties as the mother culture. Finally, if one intends to create a different culture

altogether or dissolve a culture by eventually making it unacceptable, then the mother

properties of a culture need to be communicated in such a way that only selected

properties of it that are either norm or taboo are communicated. These perspectives

can be illustrated in the following paradigm based loosely on the aswang paradigm.

CULTURE
COMMUNICATED

ACCURATELY SELECTIVELY INACCURATELY

(As it is) (With preference for (As what it is not)
certain properties)

RETENTION OF EMERGENCE OF A NEW

ALL THE CULTURE WHICH IS
MOTHER TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM
PROPERTIES OF DISSOLUTION OF A THE MOTHER CULTURE OR
A CULTURE MOTHER CULTURE HAVING ONLY A FEW OF
ITS MOTHER PROPERTIES

Figure 2 A paradigm of the communication of culture by popular print media based on the
Aswang paradigm.

Surely, however, none of these are new to us as we already know these things.

What we don’t know is that print media, on its own can actually achieve such results

when communicating culture. The knowledge that print media can either dissolve,

fragment, or create a culture on its own over time is power of the greatest degree and

as such must be treated with as much caution as possible. This brings me to what the

aswang paradigm tells us about the culture of print media communication. As earlier

mentioned, the concept of culture evolves and surely the concept of print media
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communication culture is not immune from this evolution. So if we look at the culture of

print media communication as it is generally perceived to be, it is widely accepted that

print media is enduring because it has a permanence that other media do not enjoy and

it is authoritative due largely to the notion that it is a permanent record of events and

circumstances and so those who communicate through print take extra precaution when

doing so. If these two concepts of print media are considered, the culture of print media

is therefore hinged on two things, persistence and personality. It is very important,

however, to qualify that personality does not always equate with accuracy and the

perceived authority of print media does not automatically make it accurate; but it is this

authority or personality that enables print media to usually pass off something

inaccurate as accurate, something that is fiction as fact. This culture of print media has

been around for decades, possibly even centuries – it has the power to blur the margins

between fact and fiction, and it is this unique quality that reveals what has been added

unto the concept of print media culture. This quality of print media strategically positions

it in the field of communication so that it is able to shape other disciplines, in this case,

culture. Its position in culture makes it a very important anthropological concept when

understanding how culture is communicated among peoples. Hence, the new culture of

print media communication shows that it is no longer just persistent and possessing

personality, but also possessing a power that is well-poised to change and affect even

the most primal of human creations. The moment print media shares its persistent

quality and its personality with absolutely anything, the entity that these qualities are

shared with acquire these qualities as well, hence the case with aswang. This unique
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property of print media is what makes it strategically poised to direct culture in any way

it wishes.

The realizations from this study pushes to the fore even more questions, some of

which are, “What can print media communication do to prevent cultural corruption?”,

“When should print media do it, or at least when must a communicator develop a

sensitivity when communicating culture?”, “Should other forms of communication

include some sense of cultural sensitivity as well, judging by what print media

communication has already achieved?”, or “Is cultural sensitivity in the communication

of culture really necessary, considering that print media communication will inevitably

latch its own culture to whatever is communicated using such a medium anyway?”. The

answer to these questions lie entirely in how we value our culture and how important it

is for us to retain as much of our traditions for future generations. We will inevitably

loose some of the properties of our culture because as earlier discussed, it must evolve,

but which properties must we loose and which must we retain? Again, knowing the

capacity of print media communication to accurately pinpoint and decide on which

properties to retain and loose, it is entirely up to us to decide which properties we value

the most. Often, it is our personal choice that decides the fate of culture and this should

not be the case, when communicating culture, the most important concept to remember

is that we are merely conduits for culture and we are responsible for whether such a

culture contributes to the greater benefit of humanity in the future. The key to the

communication of culture is in our appreciation for it and the benefits that future

generations can enjoy from what is retained given the highly volatile nature of this

phenomenon we all refer to as culture.

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CONCLUSIONS:

The aswang paradigm only illustrates a singular phenomenon to validate the role

print media plays in the greater scheme of things. There is very little doubt as to how

media is able to affect societies and even lesser doubt in the capacity of print media to

transcend time and space. Nobody will challenge the position that what is written in print

media inevitably becomes part of the culture, history, and identity of a particular people

and if it is just for this reason, print media practitioners should become more sensitive

and knowledgeable when communicating culture. This study, on the outset, does not

only show that print media becomes part of culture, history, and the identity of a people

but it can even shape these features of a people. Looking at the study at face value,

one sees that print media does this by influencing perspectives with its portrayal of

things. The aswang paradigm clearly demonstrates this reality, and from said paradigm,

the power of print media to materially affect culture is also clearly illustrated.

For what it is worth, this study is a call to action for print media practitioners to

start handling their writing with caution knowing how what they write can literally change

culture, and in time, the world. Print media communicators must spiral back to the time

honored culture of print media communication to ensure that the evolutionary

addendum to its culture is used for the benefit of all and never for the selfish interests of

a singular writer or communicator. Often, communicators get intoxicated with the

sensationalism and chaos that their writing can cause and this is a fringe benefit of the

media but it has to be imperative that these fringe benefits do not come at the expense

of the fragmentation, dissolution, or corruption of a culture, or on a larger scale, society.

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Another direction illustrated by this study which was not fully explored is the

capacity of print communication to enrich a culture or to preserve it by preserving

certain properties of it because the constructive elements of the communication of

culture paradigm stops at the retention of all the properties of a mother culture or the

creation of a new culture with some of the properties of the mother culture. These two

succeeding elements coming after what has been illustrated in the paradigm form part

of future studies that could be drawn from this particular study. With the core concepts

allowing ample room for further research, the direction of this study in the future could

go towards identifying ways by which culture can be enriched, or in the case of

endangered cultures, ways by which some properties of the endangered culture can be

retained in the emergence of a new and sturdier, yet generally faithful version of the

mother culture.

The challenge for any communicator wishing to communicate culture at this point

is avoiding the temptation of using the devices and approaches presented in this study

to achieve personally or negatively motivated cultural evolution. Communicators thrive

on culture and it is this reality that is the source of the consolation that in as much as

communicators would want to influence culture towards vested ends, the good of the

many will always prevail.

The communication of culture as illustrated in this study is not a closed subject

matter just yet. This study should serve as the floodgate for more inquiries into this

particular capability of communication and if anthropology should view communication

as merely one of the methods by which culture is transferred, the field of communication
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should know better and acquire a deeper appreciation for the role of communication in

the evolution of culture.

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References

Alcina, (1668). Historia delas Islas Filipinas. Philippiniana Sacra, XLVI (136), 239-260.

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