THE BONTOC IGOROT BY ALBERT ERNEST JENKS

SUMMARY
The Bontoc Igorot is a remarkable result of the five months fieldwork of Albert Ernest
Jenks in 1903. It comprised of ten chapters that tackled on their characteristics, geography,
somatology, pathology, social life, economic life, organizational and political life, feuding and
headhunting practices, aesthetic life, religion, burial practices, mental life, folklore, and their
language. The expedition of Jenks paved way for the Bontoc people to secure a place at the St.
Louis Fair in 1904.
The Bontoc Igorot comprises one of the ethnic groups in which the “Igorot” or
mountain people of the Cordillera in Northern Luzon are found. The Bontoc Igorot, as
described, is "a clean-limbed, well-built, dark brown man of medium stature." Their hair is black
with eyes that are brown. Jenks referred to the Bontoc village as pueblo having a total of 17
political divisions known as ato. Their social structure does not recognize the concept of a
“headman” and slavery. The Bontoc Igorots are monogamous, industrious, and have little to no
vices. Their lifestyle demands little from its people. He is practical, fair, and spiritual. Being
animistic people, their beliefs are attributed to supernatural beings and spirits they refer to as
anito. In their belief, all diseases are caused by the anito except for toothaches. They believe in
one god named Lumawig who they believe taught them the concept of head hunting.
Much pages of the Jenks’ study was allotted for their economic life. Their principal
occupation is agriculture. They domesticated animals, caught fishes, had vegetal production
and irrigation systems. Their distribution of labor and wages are equal among sexes for they
believe that women work as much as men do. Headhunting was considered a dangerous sport
and was also a form of revenge. This practice gave them a sense of emotional satisfaction.
Tattoos or fatek are given to those who take a head whether it belongs to a man, woman, or a
child.
The culture of the Bontoc people is reflected in the people and their living conditions in
different aspects. The work is filled with interesting details and photographs that supplement
the mind of one who wishes to understand the lifestyle of the Bontoc Igorots in the early
1900’s.
 ALBERT ERNEST JENKS
AUTHOR

Born in 1869 and died on 1953, Albert Ernest Jenks is an American anthropologist hailing
from Michigan, United States. He was known for his historical anthropological studies on rice
cultivation, the development of hominids, and his identification of the historical remains of
Minnesota Woman- an 8, 000 year old human remains found in Minnesota (Prabook.com, nd.).
Notably, he was the founder of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota
and he served as the chair of that department until his retirement in 1936 (Revolvy.com, n.d).
Afable (2004) noted that he directed different expeditions in the Philippines including that of
the Bontoc expedition. He stated that Albert Jenks’ role in the expeditions was substantial for it
paved way for the Philippine exhibitions at the St. Louis Fair in 1904. Jenks also collected
Cordilleran artifacts used at the fair. His work, The Bontoc Igorot (1905), was the first of the
United States government’s ethnological survey publications.

EMIC VS ETIC PERSPECTIVE

Navigating from emic and etic approach, Jenks’ used each perspective in order to gain
proper and correct information for his study. He used participant observation, interviews and
other studies in order to collect data. In some areas, he made use of another culture’s
perspective to study the Bontoc Igorot culture. In Chapter IV, he stated that he made use of the
various activities a political economist would consider if he would study a modern community.
In his account, under the “Preface” section, he would say that there is little color in the life of
the Igorots and this was again stated in Chapter VII under the title “Aesthetic Life”. I would say
that the statement he said was because he was not accustomed to what the Igorot lifestyle
would be and that he was basing it from how his culture works. He also used the word “simple”
numerous times to describe certain parts of the Bontoc culture. Nonetheless, his immersion
and observation also was a very important part of his writing as it made way for such specific
details to be accounted. How he gave details on events as in the Death and Burial section, and
how he described each part of the death of Som-kad was clearly due to his effort to gain
understanding of the death and burial practices. More importantly, how he used both the emic
and etic perspectives in his work made cross-cultural studies in relation to the Bontoc Igorots
easier to grasp on.

HISTORICAL APPROACH
Jenks used the historical approach in his work to explain how some parts of the Bontoc
culture or society has evolved and developed. Being an agricultural society, Jenks wrote on the
origin of rice terraces in the area. Under the agricultural section, he gave possible explanations
on the existence of rice terraces. In it, it was said that the terraces might have been an
influence from China and Japan that spread southward to different islands, though this and
other explanations on the origin of rice terraces have been rejected and argued upon. In
relation to the pueblo, it is said that its control is aboriginal although it is also accounted that
the Spaniards created a “presidente” and a “vice-presidente” for different pueblos. Finally, the
effect of folklore and religious beliefs in the Bontoc Igorots is greatly reflected in their society.
For instance, their practice of head hunting originated from a legend about the moon and the
sun. Another belief about its origin was that their god, Lumawig, taught them the practice of
war when he lived with them as a man. Their food consumption is also affected by folklore,
which makes them refuse to eat some animals like monkeys. Those stated are only some of the
details presented in Jenks’ work. How Jenks used the approach to explain some of the practices
developed and originated were the key to understanding the Bontoc society during the time it
was being written.

COMPARATIVE APPROACH
Numerous times that Jenks projected different cultures in his work. His footnotes, side
comments, some basis, and other aspects show him using a method of comparing different
societies to that of the Bontoc Igorot society. He cites instances and examples of practices and
data showing how they are similar or different in certain ways. If not in his introductory
writings, these comparisons are found in the footnotes of his work. Often times, he made
comparisons among nearby groups like how he compares cattle raising of the Benguet Igorots
and how the Bontoc Igorots did not have that similar concept. He also made comparisons on
other nearer communities such as Quiangan, Sadanga and Sagada. When it comes to
weaponry, he compared the Negritos and Bontoc people and how the Igorots do not have bows
and arrows as a major weapon while it serves otherwise for the Negritos. Apart from
comparisons within Igorot communities, Jenks also compared the Bontoc Igorots to societies
across the globe. Among the Garo hill tribes in Bengal, India, there exists the bolbang, a young
men’s house, which serves a similar function to the Bontoc’s pabafunan. Furthermore, his
comparisons on the vocabularies of different societies were shown. In his work, about eighty-
five words have been selected and they were translated in 4 languages; Bontoc Igorot; Benguet
Igorot; Malay; and Sulu language. The fact that there are similarities between these societies
reflect that cultures do not stand on their own or are independent, rather, they may share
many cultural elements by virtue of common ancestry and proximity (Mace & Pagel, 1994).

HOLISTIC APPROACH
When describing culture, his discussions of the society involved history, language,
political and economic systems, religious ideologies, etc. The interweaving of all different
perspectives makes the work of Jenks more accurate, interesting, and contributes to a better
understanding as a whole. There exists a balance between the emic and etic perspective in his
work. He worked on the different aspects of the society and showed their relation to each
other in many different ways. The politics of gender as reflected in ato maybe seen as
somewhat sexist in the view of an outsider for it refrains a woman from entering the structure.
If studied from historical and emic perspectives, one would understand that this does not really
portray sexism due to certain reasons. If taken a look at the agricultural and economic system,
gender does not differentiate the kind of work and wage that a man and woman can have in
the Bontoc society. In another example, to understand the head hunting practice of the society,
Jenks studied the history, economy, religion, social relations, gender, and recreation of the
Bontoc Igorots and made ways on how all these aspects are interconnected to it affect and
understand the head hunting tradition. This just shows that it is quite impossible to study and
gain a complete understanding of a certain concept without looking at the all the different
aspects of society that surrounds it.

REFERENCES
Afable, P. O. (2004). Journeys from Bontoc to the Western Fairs, 1904-1915: The
“Nikimalika” and their Interpreters. philippine studies , 52 (4), 445-473.
Mace, R. & Pagel, M. (1994). The Comparative Method in Anthropology. Current Anthropology.
35. 549. 10.1086/204317.
Prabook.com. (n.d.).Albert Ernest Jenks. Retrieved from
https://prabook.com/web/albert_ernest.jenks/1106542
Revolvy.com.(n.d.). Albert Jenks. Retrieved from https://www.revolvy.com/page/Albert-Jenks

BALISONG, Kalingan Joy B. November 12, 2019

Anthro 100 TTH (1030 H -1200 H)