Introduction to

Ifugao Indigenous Knowledge,

Systems and Practices
 IKSP
• Complex knowledge systems
that have been developed
over time by a particular area
and that have been
transmitted from generation
to generation (Battiste, 2005)
• Ifugao Rice Terraces
(Rice Terraces of the
Cordilleras)
• Inscribed by UNESCO as
a World Heritage Site in
1995
• A living example of
harmony between
humankind and the
natural environment

• IKSPs ushered sustainable

development through direct
connection of resources on
resource management and
conservation.
 Challenges in IKSP
• Rapid Population Growth
• International Markets
• Educational Systems
• Environmental Degradation
• Development Processes
• Pressures related to Rapid
Modernization
• Cultural Homogenization
 • Primitive?
• Simple?
• Static?
• “Not
Knowledge” but
pure folklore

Why youngsters don’t

appreciate IKSP?
Who are the
“Indigenous”?
• Indigenous could be described
as native-born, growing or
produced locally in a country
or region; not exotic, as corn
and cotton are indigenous to
North America.
• It is innate, inherent or inborn.
• “Original, native, aboriginal”
-Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary
Who are the “Indigenous”?
• Indigenous Populations display the
following characteristics:
• Descendants of groups who were in the
territory at the time when other groups of
different cultures or ethnic origin arrived.
• Possessed preserved intact customs and
traditions of their ancestors which are
similar to those characterized as
indigenous.
• Formally, placed under a state structure
which incorporates national, social, and
cultural characteristics alien to their own.
• Accepted by the group or the community
as one of its members was to be
regarded as an indigenous person.
-United Nations
Who are the “Indigenous”?
• Indigenous Peoples can be
described with the following:
• Close attachment to ancestral
territories and to the natural
resources in the areas.
• Self-identification and
identification by others as
members of a distinct cultural
group.
• Indigenous language often
different from the national
language
• Primarily subsistence-oriented
production.
-World Bank
Who are the “Indigenous”?
• Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples — refer
to 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, non-indigenous religions and cultures, became
historically differentiated from the majority of Filipinos.
Who are the “Indigenous”?
• 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 of 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;
-Republic Act No. 8371, Chapter II, Section 3
What is Indigenous
Knowledge?
• Refers to the unique,
traditional, local knowledge
existing within and
developed around the
specific conditions of
women and men
indigenous to a particular
geographic area. (Grenier,
1998)
What is Indigenous
Knowledge?
• The development
of IK systems
covers all aspects
of life including
management of
the natural
environment
which is crucial to
the survival of the
people who
generated these
systems.
What is Indigenous
Knowledge?
• These knowledge
systems are
cumulative,
representing
generations of
experiences,
careful
observations and
trial and error
experiments.
 What is Indigenous Knowledge?
• Knowledge that a local community accumulates over
generations of living in a particular environment.
• It encompasses all forms of knowledge- technologies, know-
how skills, practices and beliefs- that enable a community to
achieve stable livelihoods in their environment.
-United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
What is Indigenous Knowledge?
• Other terms refer to the concept of IK such as traditional
knowledge, indigenous technical knowledge and indigenous
knowledge systems.
What is Indigenous Knowledge?
• IK is unique in every
culture and society.
• IK represents all the
skills and
innovation of a
people and
embodies the
collective wisdom
and resourcefulness
of a community.
How did the Ifugaos practice Indigenous Knowledge?
• Agriculture, Soil and Water Management
How did the Ifugaos practice Indigenous Knowledge?
• Natural Resources Management
How did the Ifugaos practice Indigenous Knowledge?
• Customary Laws
How did the Ifugaos practice Indigenous Knowledge?
• Belief System and the Performing Arts
How did the Ifugaos practice Indigenous Knowledge?
• Cultural Values
Ifugao and the World
Legal Bases of Integrating Indigenous
Knowledge in the Education Curriculum
• Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997- RA 8371
• An act that recognizes, protects and promotes the rights of indigenous
cultural communities/indigenous peoples (ICC/IP).
• Creates a national commission of Indigenous People (NCIP),
establishing implementing mechanisms and appropriating funds
thereof.
Legal Bases of Integrating Indigenous
Knowledge in the Education Curriculum
• DepEd Order No. 62, s. 2011 (Adopting the National Indigenous
Peoples Education (IPEd) Policy Framework)
• DepEd Order No. 43, s. 2013 (Implementing Rules and
Regulations of RA 10533)
• RA 10533 (Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013)- urged the
adoption of an Indigenous Peoples Education Framework.
Legal Bases of Integrating Indigenous
Knowledge in the Education Curriculum
• Resulted to the inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge, Systems
and Practices (IKSPs) and Indigenous Learning Systems (ILS) in
the Basic Education Curriculum as well as the use of Mother
Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-BME) for Grades 1-
3.
Legal Bases of Integrating Indigenous
Knowledge in the Education Curriculum
• CHED Memorandum Order No. 2, s. 2019
• Enjoined all public and private higher educational institutions (HEIs) to
offer IP Studies/Education in their respective curricula.
Legal Bases of Integrating Indigenous
Knowledge in the Education Curriculum
• Ifugao State University
• Inclusion of IKSP as an elective subject in almost all its curricular
programs as approved by the University’s Board of Regents.
• An off-shoot of the Nurturing Indigenous Knowledge Expert (NIKE)
project from 2007-2012
 Introduction to
Ifugao Indigenous Knowledge,
Systems and Practices