WOMEN EDUCATORS IN PARACELIS, MT. PROVINCE AS MANAGERS OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE ON CARE FOR CREATION

Abstract

The role of Indigenous women in the preservation and transmission of local and traditional knowledge was the theme of the 2022 International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August 2022). This paper celebrates some women secondary school teachers in Paracelis, Mt. Province, as keepers or managers of Indigenous knowledge, particularly care for creation. In this context, Knowledge Management (KM), in this context, is the documentation/storage, dissemination/sharing, and development/scaling up of local knowledge. They were participants in a school-based workshop on qualitative research in December 2017. This is a synthesis of their outputs, which were accepted for oral presentation at a conference in March 2018. More specifically, this paper (1) argues that care for creation does not only refer to repairing the damaged natural or physical environment but being reconciled, reconnected, and restored into the spiritual or supernatural environment/realm that interacts with the former. Being Indigenous, such perspectives or principles are embedded in their practices. The paper lists a few of these: (a) apugid, (b) loyong, (c) manekat, (d) cammaral, (e) pinuqo, (f) fangar, (g) ubfia, and (h) idao. Lastly, this paper (3) proposes an ecology of caring for creation. Local concepts or grounded theories like this must necessitate environmental conservation or preservation projects, for instance, those that have been initiated by Youth for Environment in Schools-Organization (YES-O) in Indigenous cultural communities. Ultimately, these are largely spiritual engagements and not only practical or manual activities.