KAPWA–2:
International Conference on the Relevance
of Filipino Psychology & Indigenous Knowledge
in the Age of Globalization
One of the most important features of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP) is the tendency to view the world in a systematic way where all things and beings operate interdependently. Harmony with other people and the environment is a much-needed trait today in our shrinking global village. This orientation is called “kapwa”—the "shared self"— in the Filipino traditional Practices (IKSP) value system, as expounded by Sikolohiyang Pilipino.
The Heritage and Arts Academies of the Philippines Inc. (HAPI)— a foundation dedicated to enhance, strengthen and rebuild ancestral Filipino IKSP— is presently initiating an international conference in Iloilo that will bring together indigenous knowledge-holders and the academe under the unifying paradigm of Filipino Indigenous Psychology. This first systematic attempt to formulate an Asian psychology is known in academic circles as Sikolohiyang Pilipino (SP) and is the first psychology that accommodates the harmony-seeking worldview of the indigenous people (kapwa).
The planned event is titled “KAPWA-2— Filipino Psychology and Indigenous Knowledge: The Relevance of Local Frameworks in the Age of Globalization”. It is a follow-up to the successful SP conference “Pagkataong Filipino— The Theory, Practice and Values of Philippine Personhood” (KAPWA-1), which was held in 2004 at UP Diliman. KAPWA-2 will examine the significance of ancestral IKSP and academic endeavors, such as Sikolohiyang Pilipino, in the 21st century.
Calendared on 26-28 June 2008 as part of the UP Centennial, the event will open on June 25 with a photo exhibit at Museo Iloilo. The conference-proper will commence the following day at the auditorium of UPV Iloilo Campus, with an art exhibit and workshops by Schools of Living Traditions (SLT) as sidebar events. A one-day symposium on June 28 will convene SLTs at the library of UPV Iloilo. The conference will extend into a week of film showings (June 30-July 5) at the Museo Iloilo.
Unlike most conferences exclusively designed for the academe, KAPWA-2 will provide a forum for the intangible heritage by programming the traditional representations of knowledge: Oral histories, myths,
dance performances, indigenous arts workshops and ethnic films will augment the theoretical papers. This is a conscious attempt to help re-define Philippine/ Asian social sciences— beyond the pervading scope of Western academic models.
By design, the lumad (keepers of ancestral traditions) will share their special knowledge in its original format— where the conference participants will experience the pre-lingual voice of man in the melodic “lectures” of epic chanting, instead of merely ingesting the analytical discourses about these ancient prayers. During KAPWA-1, for example, one elder entranced her listeners with 20 minutes of spirit invocation while playing her two-stringed kudyapi. Her rendition, placed at par with readings of theoretical papers by PhD holders in anthropology, needed no further explanation.
KAPWA-2, therefore, will convene not only the formal scholars from different Philippine universities and the Living Traditions representatives, but also Filipino artists, cultural workers, media, and professionals, who are actively involved with preserving IKSP in their lifeworks.
This is an attempt in balancing the theoretical with the culture-bearing practices. Research papers/ films and lectures of international discussants— from Japan, Korea, Tibet, New Zealand and USA— who have long pointed out the importance of IKSP to formal education will attest to the significance of the SP paradigm for the Asian social sciences—beyond the scope of mere Philippine Studies.
These studies shall be compared with existing culture-strengthening theories from the fields of anthropology, humanities, art studies, sociology, history and the unifying paradigm of Filipino Indigenous Kapwa Psychology and Asian Personhood. Presenters include: the Assistant Secretary General of UNESCO Korea Seunghwan Lee, the Fil-American scholar Dr. Lily Mendoza and her husband Dr. Jim Perkinson, the director of the Tokyo Mineiken Research Institutes of Films on Folk Culture, Himeda Tadayoshi,, GAMABA awardee and ethnic chanter Federico Caballero from Panay Bukidnon, anthropologist Alice Magos, child rights advocate and psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Marcelino, Filipino UNESCO Commissioner Felipe de Leon, Tala-andig SLT founder Datu Victor Saway, Hablon specialist Dr. Henry Funtecha, filmmakers Kidlat Tahimik and Auraeus Solito, and Ifugao ritualist Jason Domling, among many others.
kapwa2008@gmail.com
