The Ibalois of Benguet as Active Agents in Health Negotiations

Abstract

Background: The Ibalois in La Trinidad, Benguet are witnesses to health negotiations that had been subjected to historical and material change.

Objective: To present indicators of resistance – the struggles, the apparent ambivalence, and the aspirations of the Ibaloi people in relation to health negotiations, as indicative of their being active agents in confronting change. Its ultimate objective is to show how the Ibalois have managed to not allow themselves be subjected to the biological reductionism of “medical gaze” as they assert the value of a number of traditional health and cultural practices amidst historical and material change.

Methodology: A case study research design with Key Informants Interview (KII) as data collection technique is used as design for the study. To collect data, fifteen key informants were interviewed, eight from the folk medical sector and seven from the professional medical sector. Emic viewpoint was used in the presentation of data to analyze cultural phenomena from the perspective of one who participates in the culture being studied. Data from the folk medical sector were triangulated with data coming from local and international studies and with reports coming from the professional health sector: records from barangay and provincial health clinics managed by nurses and midwives as well as data coming from a local tertiary hospital and a national media news coverage.

Results: The struggles of the Ibalois are acts of resistance as they confront both traditional health practice or change. Their ambivalent emotions manifest creative responses to the diurnal or apparently humdrum occurrences that they encounter. Their aspirations indicate their hope and constant desire for a better future, and particular to this study, better health conditions. Indeed, health negotiations in Barangay Bahong, La Trinidad, Benguet and the continued relevance given to the mambonong are not indicative of a petrified indigenous.

Conclusion: Amidst the various historic turns and power shifts in the Cordillera region, the Ibalois have portrayed themselves as human agents – not just as one objective force in society - who define their culture (i.e. health practices) themselves in as much as this gives meaning and relevance to their lives.