{"id":28481,"date":"2021-04-28T12:18:56","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T10:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/?p=28481"},"modified":"2021-04-28T12:18:56","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T10:18:56","slug":"bayanihan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/bayanihan\/","title":{"rendered":"Bayanihan"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"project":[353,795],"project_type":[743],"class_list":["post-28481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","project-online-publications","project-untranslatable","project_type-themes"],"acf":{"bgcolor":"","bgcolor_custom":"","custom_color_css_variable":"","content_type":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content_img","acfe_flexible_layout_title":"Bild(er)","bgcolor":"","bgcolor_custom":"","layout_col_size":6,"img_gallery":false,"img":[28485],"img_gallery_format":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_txt","acfe_flexible_layout_title":"Text","bgcolor":"","bgcolor_custom":"","layout_col_size":8,"txt_cols":"is-1-txtcol","txt":"A Visayan creation myth documented in the Boxer Codex (ca. 1590) tells of an ancient quarrel between the sea and the sky, incited by a cunning bird of prey. The sea lashed waves against the sky, and the sky threw rocks and islands at the sea. Finally, the bird, tired of flying, found some earth to rest upon. However, the bird\u2019s peace was short-lived, disturbed by a length of bamboo that washed back and forth upon the island. Annoyed, the bird pecked furiously on the bamboo stalk until it split, revealing a curious sight. A sturdy brown creature slept in the stalk\u2019s first node, while from the second node a supple creature with long, black hair stepped out. And so the first man and woman appeared on earth.1<\/sup>\r\n\r\nIn the hills surrounding the Akiyoshidai International Art Village, bamboo trees grow to seven meters tall and twenty centimeters wide. To cut one down you need a chainsaw and an experienced person to operate it; three more people would carry each forty-kilogrampole down a muddy slope and over a narrow canal. You would do this sixty times. The seven-meter poles are inspected, cut into threemeter lengths with a table saw, transported to the concert hall through the piano lift, and carried piece by piece onto a flat staging area before the courtyard. With thick wara rope, the bamboo pieces are tied together into five large, heavy rafts. Finally, eight able-bodied men carry each raft into place, stumbling on the smooth rocks of a dried up fountain. Someone asks, \u00bbAre we building a house?\u00ab\r\n\r\nBayanihan<\/em> is the Tagalog word for cooperative action, first defined in 1754 as obra c\u00f3mun<\/em> (common work) or ser juntado para la obra<\/em> (to be gathered for the work).2<\/sup> Its root words bayani<\/em> (one who acts selflessly) and bayan<\/em> (a place and its people) can be traced back to the Austronesian word bahay<\/em> (house) and its collective bahayan<\/em> (community of houses). Irrigation-based agriculture and\r\n\r\nstable trade resulted in the establishment of permanent bahayan and led to the development of the bayan ethnic state. In the bayan, bayani was a specialized sociopolitical class tasked with the physical defense of the community.3<\/sup>\r\n\r\nCentral to these pre-Hispanic communities was an animist native religion, anito<\/em>. In the world of anito, the living exist on the same plane as unseen spirits of the dead, who may help those who are sick, lost, or in danger. The ritual worship of anito was a communal responsibility, and any individual\u2019s wrongdoing could bring about punishment upon the entire community. In these egalitarian societies, bayanihan was understood as cooperation without expectation of reward.4<\/sup>\r\n\r\nLater on, bayanihan was expressed as unpaid farmwork carried out among relatives and neighbors, who collectively shared in the labor and gains of planting and harvesting. This interdependency enabled each member of the community to meet their needs and survive without money.5<\/sup>\r\n\r\nWithin the Filipino value system, the basis of all relations and social interactions are the concept of kapwa<\/em> (shared self ) and the core value of pakikipagkapwa<\/em> (human concern and interaction as one with others). Kapwa is an awareness of shared identity or being \u00bbtogether with a person,\u00ab of having the same nature and being of equal status, while pakikipagkapwa is the conviction and moral standard of relating to one another as fellow human beings. It is within this unique value system that bayanihan is embedded.6<\/sup>\r\n\r\nCarlos V. Francisco\u2019s iconic mural Bayanihan, commissioned by drug manufacturer Unilab in 1962, shows a pastoral scene of rural folk carrying a bamboo hut on their shoulders as they help a neighbor relocate.7<\/sup> Former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos evoked the same imagery in his ideology for a New Society \u00bbrooted in the bayanihan spirit exemplified by neighbors and friends who help out in transplanting a house.\u00ab8<\/sup> Ferdinand and Imelda would be Father and Mother to this New Society, and in further acts of myth-making had even commissioned painters to depict them as Malakas (the Strong One) and Maganda (the Beautiful One) \u2013 the first man and woman of the archipelago, sprung out of a split bamboo stalk.9<\/sup>\r\n\r\n\u00bbAre we building a house?\u00ab\r\n\r\nFive large bamboo rafts lay stranded in the Akiyoshidai International Art Village courtyard, waiting for the tide to come back in. The karst plateau was once a vast underwater coral reef, much like the Palawan microarchipelago in southwestern Luzon. In a thousand years, when the sea returns to Akiyoshidai, such rafts built through bayanihan might serve as temporary houses to transplant and relocate similar bodies that carried them into place.\r\n\r\nIn the Philippines, the ancient quarrel between the sea and the sky rages on, and the myth-making behind bayanihan continues into the twenty-first century. Bayanihan is evoked whenever collective action is needed. Disaster studies scholar Greg Bankoff cites bayanihan as a culturally specific coping practice that \u00bbguarantees support for members, especially during times of personal travail or common hardship.\u00ab10<\/sup> However, studies undertaken on bayanihan in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 reveal that post-disaster resilience and bayanihan were myths: while bayanihan activities were observed immediately after the disaster, lack of transparency and unequal distribution of aid eroded trust and bayanihan within the affected communities.11<\/sup>\r\n\r\nIn such times, a good question to ask would be,\r\n\r\n\u00bbWhose house are we carrying?\u00ab\r\n\r\nTo which the only acceptable answer would be,\r\n\r\n\u00bbDoes it matter?\u00ab\r\n\r\nThe bamboo rafts in Akiyoshidai have since been dismantled without mythicization or romance. Neither man nor woman sprung out of the stalks, which were simply returned to the hills where they were sourced. Young bamboo shoots growing from stumps of cut stalks would serve as food in the spring; decaying stalks would provide organic matter for sprouting mushrooms when the rains come. Within the safe walls and egalitarian self-organization of the international artist residency, all would share in the gains of the harvest in the same way that they shared in the labor of building.\r\n\r\n \r\n

Mica Cabildo<\/strong> is an artist and designer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. She studied advertising, worked in visual communications, and trained in printmaking. She was a Solitude fellow for design in 2014\u201315 and has since undertaken residencies at Sapporo Tenjinyama Art Studio (Sapporo\/JP), Schleswig-Holsteinisches Ku\u0308nstlerhaus (Eckernf\u00f6rde\/DE), Akiyoshidai International Art Village (Yamaguchi\/JP), and Gasworks (London\/UK). Mica makes prints, installations, and community art activities about climate, landscape, and ecology.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_footnotes","acfe_flexible_layout_title":"Fu\u00dfnoten","bgcolor":"","footnotes_list_hide_numbers":false,"footnotes":[{"footnote":"Jordan C: \u00bbExamining the \u203aFirst Man&Woman from Bamboo\u2039 Philippine Myths,\u00ab Aswang Project, June 15, 2020, https:\/\/www.aswangproject.com\/malakas-maganda-myth\/<\/a>."},{"footnote":"Juan Jos\u00e9 de Noceda and Pedro de Saluncar: Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala<\/em>, eds. Virgilio S. Almario, Elvin R. Ebreo and Anna Maria M. Yglopaz. Manila 2013, p. 72."},{"footnote":"Ma. Corazon J. Veneracion: \u00bbBago dumating ang social work: Ang katutubong konsepto ng pagtutulong sa Filipinas,\u00ab Daluyan<\/em> 12, no. 1 (2004), p. 104."},{"footnote":"Ibid., p. 109."},{"footnote":"Amaryllis T. Torres: \u00bbKinship and Social Relations in Filipino Culture,\u00ab in: Sikolohiyang Pilipino: isyu, pananaw at kaalaman<\/em>, eds. Allen Aganon & Ma. Assumpta David. Manila 1985, pp. 488\u201395."},{"footnote":"Landa Jocano: FilipinoValue System: A Cultural Definition<\/em>. Metro Manila 1997; Virgilio G. Enriquez: \u00bbKapwa: A Core Concept in Filipino Social Psychology,\u00ab in: Philippine World-view<\/em>, ed. Virgilio G. Enriquez. Singapore 1986, pp.6\u201311; Jeremiah Reyes: \u00bbLo\u00f3b and Kapwa: An Introduction to a Filipino Virtue Ethics,\u00ab in: Asian Philosophy<\/em> 25, no. 2, 2015: p. 156, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/09552367.2015.1043173 (accessed November 25, 2020)."},{"footnote":"Unilab: \u00bbThe Bayanihan Mural,\u00ab March 07, 2012, Facebook, https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Unilab\/posts\/10150576023930829<\/a> (accessed November 25, 2020)."},{"footnote":"Ferdinand E. Marcos: \u00bbThe True Filipino Ideology,\u00ab in: Speeches by <\/em>President Ferdinand E. Marcos<\/em>. Manila 1982, https:\/\/www.officialgazette. gov.ph\/1982\/05\/12\/essay-by-president-marcos-entitled-the-true-filipinoideology\/<\/a> (accessed November 25, 2020)."},{"footnote":"Marco Sumayao: \u00bbPainting the Marcos Myth with Ferdinand as Malakas, Imelda as Maganda,\u00ab in: Esquire Philippines<\/em>, September 24, 2018, https:\/\/www.esquiremag.ph\/culture\/lifestyle\/marcos-malakas-magandaa2239-20180924-lfrm<\/a> (accessed November 25, 2020)."},{"footnote":"Greg Bankoff: Cultures of Disaster: Society and Natural Hazard in <\/em>the Philippines<\/em>. New York 2003, pp. 168\u201380."},{"footnote":"Yvonne Su and Maria Tanyag: \u00bbGlobalising myths of survival: postdisaster households after Typhoon Haiyan,\u00ab in: Gender, Place & Culture: <\/em>A Journal of Feminist Geography<\/em> 27, no. 11, 2019: 18, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/0966369X.2019.1635997<\/a>; \u00bbBayanihan After Typhoon Haiyan: are we romanticising an indigenous coping strategy?\u00ab in: Humanitarian Practice <\/em>Network<\/em>, August 10, 2016, https:\/\/odihpn.org\/blog\/bayanihan-aftertyphoon-haiyan-are-we-romanticising-an-indigenous-coping-strategy\/<\/a> (both accessed November 25, 2020)."}]}],"intro_preview_headline":"Mica Cabildo","intro_preview_txt":"","intro_preview_img":28483,"post_id_old":"","post_author":null,"post_subtitle":"Mica Cabildo","post_preview_img_hide_on_single":true,"post_txt_old":"","post_pdf":null,"post_copyright":"ccl_default","translated_post":false,"translations":null,"post_copyright_individual":"","post_related_posts":[28435,28445,28907],"related_posts_post":[9389]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28481\/revisions"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person\/9389"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28907"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28445"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project?post=28481"},{"taxonomy":"project_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.akademie-solitude.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_type?post=28481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}