Stephen Bercasio Acabado

The UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies, he University of the Philippines Baguio (UPB), and the Ifugao State University (IfSU) propose to initiate a project that focuses on Global Indigeneity. Through this activity, we hope to bring together Indigenous studies scholars and members of Indigenous communities. The project aims to expand and strengthen Indigenous community networks in the Western Pacific, highlighting our current collaboration with the Ifugao, Tayal-Sqoyaw (Taiwan), and Agta. This collaboration seeks to enhance the documentation, recovery, preservation, and dissemination of Indigenous knowledge (IK) through community-led initiatives. We also emphasize the connections between Indigenous landscape management, climate change, and disaster risk reduction. Participants of the Global Indigeneity conference include members from Indigenous communities from the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Australia, and Malaysia; and, faculty colleagues from the USA, Malaysia, Taiwan, Australia, and the Philippines. The Global Indigeneity conference will be punctuated by the official turnover of the Ifugao ethnographic items by donor, Ms. Therese Finnegan. The IfSU and convenors will develop a catalog of the collection for publication and will launch an exhibit that links Ifugao landscape and traditional knowledge.