RANCHEZ, Jan Karlo Thomas V.

November 24, 2018

MA LL 1 MLL 210 (9:00-12:00/SAT)

A Post-colonialism analysis on Macario D. Tiu’s I Am One of the Mountain People

‘I Am One of the Mountain People’ tells the story of a man who was force to live in

Santa Barbara, a place far away from his native land and very much different from the land he

used to live in. The man was force to live there because his father wanted him to have ‘Christian

Education’. Applying post-colonialism analysis, this approach seeks to examine the following

from the text: the oppressor, the oppressed, the built culture, the presented traditional culture and

the text’s relevance in today’s time.

First is the oppressor. At the beginning of the text, we can evidently see that the man’s

father or as they call “Ita Magdum’ was the oppressor. He is oppressing his son from the culture

they have in the mountains. In the text it says, “He told me that he was not going to let me

remain idle in the mountains, and consequently become as stupid and ignorant as the rest of his

people. He said that I could learn many things from the Christians and in that way I could help

improve the lot of the whole tribe.” Ita Magdum wanted his son to become ‘educated’ by

learning the Christian culture and not with culture that they have in the mountains. Ita Magdum

had just oppressed at least two things from the given context. First, he made his son oppressed

from their own culture by forcing him to have Christian Education instead of educating him with

their own culture. He feels the pressure of conforming into a culture that is not familiar to him.

Second, he oppressed his own culture because of the statement that the son could learn many

things from the Christians that could help improve a lot of the whole tribe. One may clearly

imply that Ita Magdum tend to look up more into Christian culture and knowledge than the
culture that they have in the mountains. “He tried hard to spare me from the tribal customs of

tattooing and boring the earlobes so I could be presentable to the people of Santa Barbara.”

Towards the story, it revealed that Ita Magdum was not the only oppressor in the text. When the

man finally stepped into Santa Barbara and went to school, people around him are also one of his

oppressors. From the text, it says, “In school, I was the laughingstock because I was not of their

kind. How they laughed when I told them I came from the Green Area, that part of land where

no Christian had ever gone. For that, I was always in trouble.” The people around him in school

could possibly, ‘Christians’ and they tend to oppress the man because he was indeed different

from them. People may seem to think that the man should not be like “that” because the people

in Santa Barbara are not like that. There is the ‘pressure’ again within the man of conforming

into a culture that he has never been used to before. ‘Santa Barbara’ itself could also be an

oppressor to the man because the place could also give an oppressed feeling with the thought that

the man should be experiencing his own culture but instead what he could have now was

“experiences” that Santa Barbara could give to him. “The three-storey building in Santa

Barbara was indeed tall, but the trees at Kapalong were much taller! There was nothing

glamorous with those running houses either. They only frightened me as they whizzed by

carrying logs on their backs and screaming infernally at people to keep out of the road. Food

was plenty, so were the fruits. But money was needed before we could eat them. At kapatagan, I

could get all the fruits I wanted for free. In these man’s statements, comparisons between two

places were evident and it clearly depicts an oppressed feeling because of the thought that

somehow he was deprived experiencing his own culture. When the man went back to the

mountains after years of studying, his own fellows from their tribe also made him feel oppressed.

“Later I learned that my own people now considered me a Christian, therefore an outsider.
Indeed what was there to be happy about the return of an outsider? I found them to be

indifferent to me, even hostile. Ita told me not to mind them. They didn’t understand what was

his design for me, he said, and the whole tribe.” The people as well as the culture itself served as

an oppressor because they make the man feel completely “different” from them just because he

went to study in Santa Barbara. “It was in one of these talks with Bal-og that I realized how

different I was from them, from my own people. I had no tattoos. I had no holes in my earlobes.

Yet I knew deep inside me I was one of them. I was born to be one of them. There was a deep

pain of being unwanted.” There was a tormenting feeling for the man because he wanted himself

to feel ‘belong’ to their culture because it is where he really came from, indeed. That somehow,

it was difficult for the man’s part of him struggling to feel the belongingness to a culture to

where he really came from but felt ‘oppressed’ because he was already exposed to other cultures.

“I felt awkward whenever I was with my old friends whom I befriended again – seeing how

different I was from them. I just loved their tattoos. I had none. And my earlobes were

desperately unattractive. […]”

Second is the oppressed. Evidently, the protagonist was the mainly oppressed in the text

because of the fact that he was forced to have Christian Education and live in Santa Barbara,

oppressed with his feeling that he should have stayed in the mountains and learn more about their

culture and not about Christian Education. During his stay in Santa Barbara, the place itself also

made him feel oppressed because he knows that where he was during that time was not the place

he is supposed to be. Just like the aforementioned situation in the previous paragraph, the man

also felt oppressed the time he went back to their place and people treated him as a different

person already. ““The three-storey building in Santa Barbara was indeed tall, but the trees at

Kapalong were much taller! […] Food was plenty, so were the fruits. But money was needed
before we could eat them. At kapatagan, I could get all the fruits I wanted for free.” However,

the text also shows that the people living in the mountains were also oppressed because they

chose to live in isolation rather than going down the mountains and be acquainted with other

cultures. This could be the result of a ‘structured’ society where there are cultures that everyone

seems to conform. Christians are supposed to live here because their beliefs are like these and

non-Christians are not supposed to live here because they think differently. They are not

supposed to be with the Christians because they have different views and beliefs. “What does

Christian mean?” Bal-og asked from his brother. “[…] Christians do not worship big tress or

the flying wild geese like we do. In fact, they cut big tress and shoot wild geese.” Moreover, here

are more statements that would show the difference between the mountain people and the

Christian people. “I learned while in Santa Barbara, however, that there was only one God. Our

teacher, Mrs. Martinez, taught us that this God was to be loved by all, not feared. The mountain

people feared the Magu, therefore the Magu must be a fake God. So I told Bal-og that the Magu

was just another big tee, and when finally the place would be accessible to the Christians, they

would cut it.” It was evident how the mountain people and Christian people differ from seeing

things according to their belief and culture.

Third is the built culture. To reiterate, the built culture presented in the text is the way

people live in the mountain. The way they see and do things differently in their respective culture

is the built culture of the story. The worshipping of big trees and flying wild geese of the

mountain people versus the cutting of big trees, hunting, and shooting of flying wild geese by the

Christians. “The Magu was the biggest tree in the forest. It was said to be the abode of the

anitos. We gave offerings to the Magu during the full moon to appease the anitos. I learned

while in Santa Barbara, however, that there was only one God. Our teacher, Mrs. Martinez,
taught us that this God was to be loved by all, not feared. The mountain people feared the Magu,

therefore the Magy must be a fake God. […]” The difference between living with tall trees and

living with tall buildings, that for Christians, buildings and running houses are the usual

environment while for the mountain people, tall trees surrounds the environment.

In relation to the culture built was the presented traditional culture found in the text. The

traditional cultures are the following: First is the presence of tattoos and pierced earlobes among

the mountain people. Next is the faith with the abode of anitos and in the divine interventions of

anitos in which in the text, mountain people feared and worshipped the Magu. Third is the

offering of sacrifices such as burning of five chickens, a pig, wild fruits and a sack of rice the

moment the people believed that they have offended their anito. Lastly is the act of chewing

betel nut and putting charcoal dust in the body. All of these contribute to the traditional culture

found in the text that represents the mountain people. These are the traditional customs that the

man really wanted to experience because this is what they own in their culture and this is where

he really belongs. This is where the man really came from and so this is his real identity and not

Christian Education. All of these customs viewed as a ‘status quo’ among the mountain people

but not for the Christian people. Yes, this is the status quo of the mountain people but sadly, this

status quo could be the reason for them to struggle to find belongingness with the other cultures

because sometimes people are so confide with their own culture that they forget to open their

mind to others. However, in the case of Ita Magdum, he may possibly be open to other cultures

but as he looked up to other cultures he makes his own culture an inferior one.

Lastly, the text’s relevance in today’s time talks about cultural identity, dual identities,

and giving people such voice they have not had before. First is cultural identity because one truly

identifies himself or herself based upon the culture where he or she belongs and on what
traditions and customs he or she chose to practice. It is more than just a sense of belongingness

to a certain community or culture but a sense of identity as an individual. If one truly knows who

he or she is, then he or she could really stand for the things that he or she needs to fight for such

as cultural practices and customs. Next is the dual identity because in the text, the man came

from a certain culture but was more exposed to another culture. Hence, even though he knows

what or where culture he belongs, he came to the point that he manifested dual identities already.

It was when the time that he made a dirty mark (a big cross) on the Magu. At some point, he

knew he is a mountain person who believes that the Magu was indeed an abode of anitos but

since he was also exposed to Christian Education, he also tried to do things that could prove the

things he learned from the other culture. Lastly is giving the people such voice they have not had

before. This text serves as a voice not just for culture or certain groups of people who have been

oppressed in the communities nowadays but also for those ordinary individuals who feel

oppressed with the culture where they really belong versus the culture they feel they must have

to conform with.