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Center for Southeast Asian Studies > Projects > Philippines: Arts & Culture

Philippines: Arts & Culture

Over the years, CSEAS has partnered with the Center for Philippine Studies to support development of Southeast Asian-style performance productions and related educational outreach materials such as Pamana ng Lahi. This page includes overviews and supplemental materials for past and ongoing projects.


Genre: Kulintang

Kulintang is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums.

This performance featured a stellar crew of performers from Hawaiʻi and California. For this presentation, Bernard Ellorin (Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble and Scholar), Caroline Cabading (Kultura Kapwa and Manilatown Advocate), Kim Kalanduyan (Pakaraguian Kulintang Ensemble and grandchild of the late Danongan “Danny” Sibay Kalanduyan- kulintang master), Desiree Quintero (ILI Dances and Scholar), Wayland Quintero (ILI Dances and Multidisciplinary Performing Artist), assembled to share a selection of “original heavy metal music” of the Southern Philippines. All members of this ensemble conducted extensive research in the Philippines and in North Borneo, Malaysia and brought a range of knowledge and performative experiences to this rare presentation of kulintang music with dance in Hawaiʻi.

Pamana ng Lahi: Workshop on Philippine Language and Culture for High School Students

Pamana is the Filipino word for heritagelahi means race or peoplePamana ng lahi speaks of the things that our ancestors bequeath to us—their language, ancient knowledge, and cultural traditions. This is a 3-week workshop that consists of 15 2-hour modules. It aims to underscore the value of traditional knowledge, discuss aspects of Philippine culture and folklore, teach introductory Filipino (Tagalog) and hone critical thinking skills. The workshop includes interactive and creative activities using stories from folklore and bilingual multimedia materials. Students will be given a general introduction to Philippine history, language and culture.

For more information, please visit Pamana ng lahi website.

Ub-Ufok Ad Fiallig: Tales of Enchantment Teaching Module Project (UTEMP)

In 2015, Elena Clariza, a scholar of Philippine Studies, Library and Information Science, Education and Environmental Science, developed teaching modules intended primarily for undergraduate students of Philippine Culture and Folklore. This part of the project embraces the art of digital storytelling, which centers on the fundamental beliefs of critical digital pedagogy. It aims to empower learners by encouraging them to use prior knowledge and orality as a form of literacy. Additionally, digital storytelling produces a rich learning experience by engaging students through reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. Through digital narrative stories, communities at the margins of society provide counter histories as they share their experiential knowledge. These are some of the guiding principles that inform the practice of Ub-Ufok Ad Fiallig: Tales of Enchantment Teaching Module Project (UTEMP). UTEMP’s example illustrates how critical digital pedagogy can be used to address power structures and reimagine the process of communication in an international and collaborative setting. 

Old Kiyyangan Village Teacher’s Archaeology Manual

This webpage is designed for elementary school teachers teaching early Filipino history/Social Studies in Ifugao, Philippines. The purpose is to provide teachers with an overview of the archaeological findings of the Old Kiyyangan Village, and instructional guidelines for teaching early Ifugao history through archaeology. Teachers are provided instructions on how to present three archaeology modules, the background and rationale for each archaeology activity. This also provides classroom materials to explain archaeological concepts, terms, and methodologies as they relate to the prehistory of the Old Kiyyangan Village.

The OKV modules were semi-structured according to Alvenia P. Palu-ay’s 2010 Hekasi Serye 5, Makabayan: Kasaysayang Pilipino, Manwal ng Guro para sa Ikalimang Baitang. The module enumerates the learning objectives (Layuning Tiyak).  The three main categories of objectives follow the AP teacher’s manual, namely comprehension (pangkaalaman), values (pandamdamin), and proficiency (pangkasanayan).