This project will document the arimit or the elaborate and intricate brass bodily adornments of the Ilongot, also known today as Bugkalot, an ethnic group found in Nueva Vizcaya, Northeastern Luzon, Philippines. The Ilongot, aside from an endangered language, their material culture and evidences of identity are also endangered. This is due to lowland influences, decline of significance, and conversion to Christianity. The Ilongot had been a marginalized ethnic group in early history and literature, and now reclaiming their identity in the contemporary period. Currently, there are remaining Ilongot elders who are repositories of these knowledge systems that reflects the rich context of their social status, culture, religious practices, personhood and ethnic identity. The Ilongot’s possess important bodily adornments made of intricate brass work and craftsmanship: the tangkolok or a warrior’s head dress, the kaget, or the women’s coiled waist bands, the sekmal, coiled armbands and other adornments on men and women used in rituals and to indicate status in traditional Ilongot society. There are a few elders who are the repositories of this technical knowledge, and the last generation to be able to share it to the next generation. The project team will document the various steps in making the various brass adornments and how they are used in ritual contexts for a one-year period. Research methods will involve archival and historical research, photo-elicitation, participant observation, in-depth interviews of individuals and groups, and audio-visual recordings. The results will be shared to local communities involved in the documentation such as in the communities, museums, schools, and universities in Nueva Vizcaya to engender Ilongot identity.

Principal Investigator:
Analyn Salvador-Amores

Collaborators:
Frederick Barcelo, Anabel Flores, and Arnold Amores

Research Assistant:
Alvin Felix

Location of Research: 
Nueva Vizcaya, Northeast Luzon, Philippines

Host Institution:
University of the Philippines Baguio, Philippines

Top Banner Image: In the 1970s, Ilongot women wear coiled waist bands called kaget, made of intricate brass rings. Photo credit: Kaufman Family Collection.