CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2018
| Author | Talamayan, Fernan Lansang |
|---|---|
| Title | Selling the Cordilleran: How Commodification of Culture Creates New Authenticities in Tam-awan Village, Philippines |
| Summary | This thesis will narrate the story of the commodification of the Cordilleran culture in Tam-awan Village, a local space that “outsiders” such as Filipino National Artist Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera and other artists have transformed into a “living museum” that is based on their own perspective of the Cordilleras. Using postcolonial and critical approaches, my research will focus on Tam-awan’s concept of a “living museum” to problematize the correlation between authenticity and the process of preservation, exhibition, commodification and mummification of a culture. I will explain how cultural preservation, when enabled by commodification, results not into the maintenance of the said culture but instead, the birth of a new culture, and hence, the creation of new authenticities based on the icons and memories of the traditional one. To understand this phenomenon, the commodification process and issues on authenticity will be examined from (1) the Cordillerans’ standpoint as regards their active participation, negotiation, and collaboration in the process of commodifying their own way of life and (2) the perspective of the museumgoers or the consumers of the commodified culture. In a sense, this thesis is a criticism of the presumptions on “tradition” and “authenticity” as I will reinterpret the meanings of those two notions in the context of the commodification of a marginalized culture in the postcolonial Philippines. |
| Supervisor | Kowalski ép. Hodges, Alexandra |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2018/talamayan_fernan.pdf |
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