DOING ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AMONG INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

By Prof. Nestor T. Castro, Ph.D.

Associate Dean
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy,
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City
ncastro@kssp.upd.edu.ph

Defining Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples is defined in Anthropology as the original inhabitants of particular
territories; often descendants of tribespeople who live on as culturally distinct colonized
peoples, many of whom aspire to autonomy (Kottak 2000:655). However, different countries
and various international agencies have divergent criteria in identifying who indigenous
peoples are.
The World Bank, in its operational Policy 4.10, uses the term indigenous peoples to refer to a
distinct, vulnerable, social and cultural group possessing the following characteristics in varying
degrees:
(a) Self-identification as members of a distinct indigenous cultural group and recognition of
this identity by others;
(b) collective attachment to geographically distinct habitats or ancestral territories;
(c) customary cultural, economic, social, or political institutions that are separate from those
of the dominant society and cultural; and
(d) an indigenous language, often different from the official language of the country or
region.
The International Labor Organization (ILO), on the other hand, defines indigenous peoples as:
People in independent countries who are regarded as indigenous on account of their
descent from the populations which inhabited the country, or a geographical region to

which the country belongs, at the time of conquest or colonisation or the establishment
of present state boundaries and who, irrespective of their legal status, retain some or all
of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions (ILO Convention 169).
In the Philippines, the term indigenous peoples is legally defined by Republic Act No. 8371,
otherwise known as the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997. IPRA defined indigenous
peoples (IPs) or indigenous cultural communities (ICCs) as:
A group of people or homogenous societies identified by self-ascription and ascription
by others, who have continuously lived as organized community on communally
bounded and defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time
immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing common bonds
of language, customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits, or who have,
through resistance to political, social and cultural inroads of colonization, nonindigenous regions and cultures, became historically differentiated from the majority of
Filipinos. ICCs/IPs shall likewise include peoples who are regarded as indigenous on
account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country at the time of
conquest or colonization, or at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and
cultures, or the establishment if present state boundaries, who retain some or all of their
own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have been
displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled outside their
ancestral domains (IPRA, Section 3h).

The aforementioned definitions have accompanying problems. For example, the World Bank
definition may exclude certain ethnic groups, especially the members of the younger
generation, who no longer speak their indigenous language because they have adopted the
language of neighboring dominant groups. Such is the case of most Negrito communities in the
Malay Peninsula and in the Philippines who have borrowed Austronesian languages.

The Philippine legal definition of indigenous peoples excludes the various ethnolinguistic
groups belonging to the Bangsa Moro on the premise that these groups, such as the Tausugs,
Meranaos, and Maguindanaons, have embraced Islam which is non-indigenous to the country.
Thus, the Bangsa Moro peoples demand for the recognition of their ancestral domain is being
denied by the Philippine government because of this legal technicality.
On the other hand, the Indonesian government is not keen on adopting the term indigenous
peoples for its domestic policies allegedly because most Indonesians, including the dominant
Javanese population, are indigenous to the archipelago. Their ancestors were already in
Indonesia long before Dutch colonization.
Ethnographic Research
Ethnographic research refers to a set of research procedures usually involving the intensive
qualitative study of small groups of people through participant observation (Ellen1984). The
output of an ethnographic research is the descriptive account of one particular culture.
Cultural anthropologists have been producing ethnographies since the 19th century. Most of
these ethnographies deal with pre-modern or primitive societies those who can be classified
as indigenous peoples in modern political jargon. Many anthropological classics deal about
the cultures of Southeast Asia. Among these are the works of E.R. Leach about the Karen, Shan,
and Kachin of highland Myanmar; the studies of Roy F. Barton on the Ifugao and Kalinga of the
Philippines; the articles of Clifford Geertz about the Javanese; and Cora Dubois treatise about
the Alorese of Flores Islands. These ethnographic accounts have been valuable not only in
understanding the cultures of the particular societies but most importantly, have contributed to
the development of anthropological theories explaining the phenomenon of culture.
In the recent decades, published and unpublished ethnographies have become increasingly
important not only because of their academic value but more so because of their practical
purposes. In the Philippines, for example, anthropological data are considered by the
government as among the possible proofs of ancestral domain claims by indigenous

communities (IPRA Implementing Rules and Regulations). Many private and public corporations
have also hired anthropologists to undertake ethnographic studies as part of Environmental and
Social Impact Assessments. For example, the National Power Corporation hired the services of
the Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao, Inc. (UGAT, the Anthropological Association of the Philippines)
in the conduct of ethnographic and archaeological studies in purposed sites of hydropower
projects.
Research Methods
As a special segment of society, the study of the cultures of indigenous peoples require special
methods of research. Undertaking fieldwork is central to any ethnographic research. The
ethnographer forays into the particular community that he or she intends to study instead of
merely relying on library research. The observation made by the ethnographer during his or her
stay in the field is documented in ones fieldnotes.
Because of the bias towards fieldwork, an anthropologist is usually identified with his or her field
area. An anthropologist is always ask, Where did you undertake your fieldwork?
Ethnographic research requires a combination of various data gathering techniques, among
which are:
Participant observation;
Interviewing;
Focus group discussions;
Collection of life stories;
Surveys
Checklist and aide-memories;
Plotting social networks; and
Other interactionist methods.
Let us discuss each of these research techniques enumerated above.

Participant Observation
Participant Observation is a research technique of direct observation of family and village live
where the researcher stays in the community being studied for a relatively long period of time.
Whenever possible, it would be better to stay in a given community for at least a year so that
one could observe the changing behaviors of community resident as the seasons change and
the various phases of the agricultural cycle unfold. In the process, the ethnographer is able to
systematically record the cultural patterns in that specific locality. We know for a fact that
framers demonstrate a different behavior during the pre-agricultural season (i.e. when food is
scarce) as compared to the post-harvest season (i.e. when food abounds and it is the season of
feasting and merry-making).
Interviewing
Ethnographers rely on informants for their source of field data. There are two types of
informants: casual informants key informants. The former provides generalized knowledge while
the latter provides specialized knowledge about things that they are experts of. Key informants
among indigenous peoples may include elders, traditional political leaders (e.g. sultans, chiefs,
big men), shamans, healers, and clan leaders, among others.
Interviews can be informal or informal. Interviews can also be undertaken individually or in
groups. Interviewing requires an interview schedule which may be structured or semistructured, depending on purpose of the study and the limitations of the situation.
Focus Group Discussions
The incorporation of focus group discussion (FGDs) into ethnographic research was influenced
by the advancement of participatory research methods in rural sociology. Unlike a group
interview, the duration of the FGD is for a short period of time, e.g. two to three hours, and the
discussion topic is focused on a particular topic. The discussion group is a small homogenous
group e.g. eight to twelve members coming from the same interest group. There is one FGD
facilitator and one process documenter. The former leads in asking questions and probing
responses from the participants while the latter documents the entire discussion process,
including not only what is said by the participants but also what is not said. As a qualitative

research method, the objective of the FGD is not to quantify but to track down all possible
responses.
The strength of the FGD lies in the fact that FGD members can validate each others responses.
Thus, data validation can be accomplished simultaneously with data collection.
Life Stories
Life stories are valuable in providing first-hand information from an emic point of view. The life of
a particular culture bearer is reflective of the overall processes unfolding within the culture area
where the culture bearer belongs. An example of a life story within ethnographic research is
Bratons biographical account of an Ifugao woman named Bugan nak Makhe. In that account,
Barton lets Bugan speak for herself. The author resorted to minimal editing except for translating
Bugans story into English. In the process, the world view of Bugan is revealed to the reader.
Genealogical accounts are usually incorporated within life stories. Through family trees, the
place of an individual story-teller is properly located within his or her kinship group. This
exercise requires technical knowledge about kinship charting. There are many softwares that
are available in the commercial market of this endeavor.
Surveys
Although ethnographic research is qualitative in nature, surveys (which are quantitative in
nature) can surely contribute to the enrichment of the research design. Surveys are meant to
quantify the responses given by informants. Survey respondents are strictly selected through
sampling methods. The survey questionnaires can be administered or self-administered. Among
indigenous peoples, it would be better to undertake administered interviews since there are
many instances where informants are not able to read and write.
The survey questions should, at best, be translated into the local language in the community.
This is meant to minimize errors in the transmittal of information from the native tongue to a
foreign language. Thus, it would also be best if the enumerators speak and understand the local
language.

The processing of survey results may be undertaken through the use of statistical softwares,
such as the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).
Checklists and Aide-memories
Checklists and aide-memories can be utilized in case of cultural inventories. This method,
however, requires prior (although limited) knowledge about what may be available in a
particular community. A review of literature about the community to be studied is contributory to
this effort. For example, an ethnographer may be interested in understanding the political
system of a particular locality. He/she prepares a checklist of all possible component parts of a
political system and simply checks within his/her list if these parts are found in the community
that he/she is studying.
Checklists are commonly resorted to in material culture studies. An inventory is made about the
presence or absence of certain artifacts, such as musical instruments (gongs, guitars, flutes,
etc.), textiles (woven, embroidered, etc.), body ornaments (bead necklaces, shell necklaces,
armbands, leglets, earrings, etc.), and other objects.
Social Networks
Ethnographers also plot social relationships within his or her unit of study. These social
interactions are presented through a sociogram. Lines are dawn to and from the various
individuals portrayed in the sociogram to represent the nature of social relationships (e.g.
kinship, friendship, political alliances, power relations, etc.).
A Venn diagram may also be used in portraying social networks. Individual persons or particular
organizations and agencies may be represented by circles, triangles, and squares and their
distance from one another within a graph is reflective of how close or distant these relationships
may be.
Social network plotting can be undertaken by the community members themselves through the
facilitation of the ethnographer. The results of the social networking exercise must also be
validated by the community and the outcomes of the discussions during the validation meetings
are move valuable than the output itself.

Other Interactionist Methods

There are many other interactionist research mehods than may be incorporated into the
ethnographic research. These may include cultural mapping, social ranking, tree analysis, and
other group exercises. Aside from being more participatory, these exercises are more valued by
community participants because they learn a lot of from the exercise aside from having fun from
the activity.
My won experiences in undertaking interactionist methods include the gathering of Itawes
Bostmen along the Pinacanauan River in northern Philippines and asking them to draw into
large sheets of paper the map of the river. The boatmen plotted specific spots along the river
that they deemed to be relevant while they curse the river. These included the presence of
shallow waters, rapids, river boulders, and abodes of spirits. In another exercise, I assisted the
Kankanaeys of Sagada, also in Northern Luzon, undertaking valuation of their crops. The
participants of the exercise individually assigned sticks of arbitrary lengths to represent the
value that they placed on specific crops. The sticks placed in by all of the participants on a
particular crop are connected with one anther. The crop with the longest connected sticks
presumably represent the crop that is most valued by the community. On the other hand, the
one with the shortest connected sticks is the one that is less valued. The results of the exercise
are validated and revised by the community as they debate about the value they assign to each
crop.
Culturally Appropriate Techniques
The various approaches presented above are only meant to serve as guides in undertaking
ethnographic research. The research technique that will be utilized by the ethnographer should
be adapted to the specific context of the culture being studied. In this regard, cultural sensitivity
and competence is important. One method that has been successful in a particular
ethnolinguistic group may not be necessarily applicable to another ethnic group. Thus, it is
important to pretest instruments, methods, and techniques.

For example, some informants are not at ease when the researcher uses a cassette recorder or
a video camera during the interview. Thus, the researcher may resort to the use of other
approaches, such as the utilization of aide-memories. On the other hand, there are indigenous
communities who are already familiar with video cameras because of tourism and thus, the
researchers use of the camera is not an issue for them.
Other Issues
There are many other issues related to the conduct of ethnographic research. These includes
logistical and financial requirements, time constrains, issues on reliability of information, ethnical
concerns, and others. All of these issues should be planned out and deal with by the researcher
prior to the actual undertaking of the research. These matters should be incorporated within the
overall ethnographic research design.

REFERENCES
Castro, Nestor T.
1994 Using the Ethnographic Method in the Study of Indigenous Knowledge:
The Case of the Hanunoo Farm Maintenance and Seed Storage System,
In Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development in the Philippines.
Silang: International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, 1994.
1996 Ethnography or Espionage: The Problem of Ethnics in Philippine Anthropology,
Aghamtao, VIII (1996), pp. 120-129.
Ellen,R.F.,ed.
1984 Ethnographic research: A Guide to General Conduct. London: Academic Press
limited.