Published November 7, 2025 | Version v1
Report Open

Beyond Policy, Toward Kinship: Rethinking Indigenization in Philippine Higher Education

Authors/Creators

Description

ABSTRACT

Indigenization, when understood through a relational lens, is not an institutional procedure but an ethical commitment to being in good relationship with people, knowledge, and place. This discussion paper explores how higher education institutions (HEIs) in Cebu, Philippines, implement this commitment in non-ancestral settings, where Indigenous Peoples (IPs) reside outside of demarcated territories but within the dynamic geographies of migration, memory, and community. Grounded in a reframed Four-Dimension Framework adapted from King and Schielmann (2004), the study draws from the lived experiences of educators who translate policy into practice. It explores how teaching becomes a ceremony of connection by examining how stories, languages, and self-reflection can revitalize the intent of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (Republic Act No. 8371), the Integrated History Act (Republic Act No. 10908), and CHED Memorandum Order No. 2, s. 2019, beyond their procedural boundaries. Findings indicate that Indigenization in Cebu thrives not through mandates but through relationships built on care, empathy, and reciprocity, allowing national frameworks to take root in everyday teaching. The study concludes that the decolonial promise of education lies not in replication but in relationship, and that in non-ancestral contexts, Indigenization endures as a living covenant of belonging carried forward by educators who teach with humility, gratitude, and purpose.

Files

Beyond-Policy-Toward-Kinship_Rethinking-Indigenization-in-Philippine-Higher-Education.pdf

Files (1.6 MB)

Additional details

Dates

Copyrighted
2025-11-07

References

  • Albia, Joclarisse Espiritu, and Sheng-Ju Chan. 2017. "Understanding Regionalisation in Philippine Higher Education." Higher Education Evaluation and Development 11 (2): 95–110. https://doi.org/10.1108/HEED-07-2017-0003.
  • Anderson, Jane. 2010. Indigenous/Traditional Knowledge & Intellectual Property: Issues Paper. Centre for the Study of the Public Domain, Duke University School of Law. https:// www.law.duke.edu/cspd/pdf/ip_indigenous-traditionalknowledge.pdf.
  • Barnhardt, Ray, and Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley. 2005. "Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing." Anthropology & Education Quarterly 36 (1): 8–23. https://doi.org/10.1525/aeq.2005.36.1.008.
  • Battiste, Marie. 2013. Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit. Saskatoon: Purich Publishing.
  • Brock-Utne, Birgit. 2012. Language and Power: The Implications of Language of Instruction for Education. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota Publishers.
  • Cochrane, Thandeka. 2023. "The Power of Stories: Oral Storytelling, Schooling, and OntoEpistemologies in Rural Malawi." Oxford Review of Education 49 (4): 478–95. https://doi. org/10.1080/03054985.2023.2218609.
  • Centeno, Reginald Paul R., and Karina Therese G. Fernandez. 2020. "Effect of Mindfulness on Empathy and Self-Compassion: An Adapted MBCT Program on Filipino College Students." Behavioral Sciences 10 (3): 61. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs10030061.
  • Commission on Higher Education (CHED). 2019. Memorandum Order No. 2, Series of 2019: Integration of Indigenous Peoples' (IP) Studies/Education into the Relevant Higher Education Curricula. April 2. Quezon City: Commission on Higher Education. https:// ched.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/CMO-No.-02-Integration-of-Indigenous-peoplesstudies-into-the-relevant-Higher-Education-Curricula.pdf.
  • Chilisa, Bagele. 2012. Indigenous Research Methodologies. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
  • Covar, Prospero. 1998. Larangan: Seminal Essays on Philippine Culture. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.
  • Dela Cruz, Lynard, I. A. Aguinaldo, Leizl J. Alzate, C. Camero, K. R. Abiado, and B. Gumpal. 2025. "Fostering Intercultural Competence through Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Practices and Perspectives in Philippine Higher Education Institutions." International Journal on Culture, History, and Religion 7 (SI 2): 36–50. https://doi.org/10.63931/ijchr. v7iSI2.187.
  • De Mesa, José. 2020. "Ethical Responsibility in Education: Revisiting the Filipino Teacher's Vocation." Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints 68 (3): 403–422.
  • Enriquez, Virgilio G. 1992. From Colonial to Liberation Psychology: The Philippine Experience. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.
  • Flores, Kenedy, Aniza Gadaza, Don Galdonez, Joemar Pihnuton, Ronie Soriano, and Alexander Jr. Killip. 2025. "Decolonizing Pedagogy: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge and Philippine Historical Narratives in Higher Education Curricula." International Journal on Culture, History, and Religion 7 (1): 333–56. https://doi.org/10.63931/ijchr. v7i1.130.
  • Grande, Sandy. 2015. Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political Thought. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
  • King, Linda, and Sabine Schielmann. 2004. The Challenge of Indigenous Education: Practice and Perspectives. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/ pf0000134773
  • Kimmerer, Robin Wall. 2013. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions.
  • Eduardo, Jose Paulo, and Althea G. Gabriel. 2021. "Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Education: The Dumagat Experience in the Provinces of Nueva Ecija and Aurora, in the Philippines." SAGE Open 11 (2). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211009491.
  • Nakata, Martin. 2007. Disciplining the Savages, Savaging the Disciplines. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
  • Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. 1986. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature. London: Heinemann.
  • Republic of the Philippines. 1997. Republic Act No. 8371: The Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997. Approved October 29. Manila: Congress of the Republic of the Philippines. https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/2/2562.
  • Republic of the Philippines. 2016. Republic Act No. 10908: An Act Mandating the Integration of Filipino-Muslim and Indigenous Peoples History, Culture, and Identity in the Study of Philippine History in Both Basic and Higher Education. Approved July 21. Manila: Congress of the Republic of the Philippines. https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/ thebookshelf/showdocs/2/70320.
  • Salazar, Zeus A. 1999. Pantayong Pananaw: Ugat at Kabuluhan. Quezon City: Palimbagan ng Lahi.
  • Salva, Roberto S. 2022. "Kapwa Child Participation, Kapwa Childhood, and a Path towards the Indigenisation and Expansion of International Agreements." Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal 7 (1–3): 37–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/23802014.2022.2043772
  • Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake. 2014. Dancing on Our Turtle's Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg ReCreation, Resurgence, and a New Emergence. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing.
  • Wilson, Shawn. 2008. Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods. Black Point, NS: Fernwood Publish
  • Younging, Gregory. 2018. Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing by and about Indigenous Peoples. Toronto: Brush Education, 32–33.