Native(s), Nativo

Working Definition:

Appearing in several collections across the university’s repositories, native(s) is used as a “catch-all”term to describe inhabitants of the Philippines. At times, the use of this term in catalog records and finding aids reflects the usage of the term in the collections themselves, mirroring the ethnographic writings of colonists. Use of this term, however, can be misleading and inaccurate, leading to a conflation with the term Indigenous Peoples. “Nativo” is a Spanish word and translates to “Native” in English and stems from the Spanish colonial period.

Related Terms:

Suggestions for Further Reading:

Oona Paredes, “Preserving ‘Tradition’: The Business of Indigeneity in the Modern Philippine Context,” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 50, No. 1 (February 2019): 86-106.