Identities, Space and Interactions

Abstract

At present, the town of Naguilian in the province of La Union, Philippines is known as a predominantly Ilocano town, with Igorot inhabitants in its fringes. This set up can be traced from the events that transpired in the town and its surroundings provinces from 1850 to 1915. This research focuses on exploring the consequences of the territorialization of space to the identities and interactions of the Ilocanos and Igorots in Naguilian. Space refers to the locus of the distribution of things and activities, the formation of boundaries and the patterns of movements which are all intimately bound up with the ways in which we live out our lives. The fluidity of space is exemplified in the beginnings of Naguilian when it was still considered as a rancheria. And the integration of Naguilian to the province of La Union in 1850 and its involvement in the development projects engineered to reach Baguio during the American period illustrate the power relations at work between the town and the colonial state as the latter plays an active role in the partitioning, re-organizing, homogenizing and territorialization of space. With the town of Naguilian, we see how “through time, people define space just as space also mediates the identity of people.” And through time, a people‟s knowledge of their past is also shaped, and their identities re/constructed.