3 - Changes in the Continuities: Baha (Flood) in the Ecology of Inter-Ethnic Relationship

Presentation Abstract
The issue of natural resource use has been the center of debates on ethnic relations/politics in the Philippines. Several studies have shown that resource competition intensifies identity politics and fosters conflict and stereotyping among populations (Eder 2003, Fabinyi 2012). Meanwhile, in such discussions, the impact of short- and long-term changes in the availability of ecological resources on ethnic relations is not sufficiently taken into account. The Philippines is a country that is not only affected by long-term cyclical catastrophes such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes but also damages from short-term cycled disaster like typhoons and floods are repeated every year. Since resource use and social relations based on the ecological environment are forced to fluctuate and respond to the changes associated with disasters, the relationship between ethnic groups on unstable resource use must also be understood in such changes and continuities.
This paper examines this question by focusing on two ethnographic data; the agricultural production practices of rice farmers and the flood(Baha) in folk narratives. It then illustrates how the semantic world of negotiating with the ever-changing "environment" is also drawn into the context of inter-ethnic relations. The result is a local concept of “environment” that is not simply captured by the identity politics of the environment as a resource.