reflective self-analysis essay

2

Kalagan Community

I was amazed when I knew about ‘Kalagan’s community in the Philippines. Last year, I had a family tour to the Philippines where I got an opportunity to know about the existence of the unique community ‘Kalagan’in Philippines. Most of the population of this community belongs to the Tagakaolo Kalgan branch. This community is unique because it shares a unique culture and tradition than that of a western culture where I grew up. By exploring and learning such a unique community, I have broadened and widened my mind in such a way that I have changed the way I think about an issue. Through this writing, I am going to discuss the difference between Kalagan’s culture and western culture.

 

According to my observation, I found out that the community is unique where it has a minority group that has designed itself to be unique in the terms of cultural aspects of the evidence recorded observations. People adapt and live their life-shaping and structuring themselves based on their environment. My mentality to the culture has changed after I learned more about the community group, their way of life, or the activities that they would carry on a day after day services. The community has changed my mentality to how I used to see any of the cultures in a normal way without thinking too much about the culture, for example, I used to view any culture just in the essence to which they are in without thinking too much about them. But right now, I have changed my ways with the reason that I can understand some of the impacts which can be brought through any of the stays in giving things while the environment can also do so. Morals and values are always obtained from our daily interactions. As the environment is most favorable for agriculture and farming, it cannot only attract people from all around the world but also make the belief that people can manage livelihood with the mindset of farming and depending on their agriculture products in carrying out their lives. The presence of a religious group; in this case, there are churches and mosques, which play a great role in shaping and structuring people’s mind. Through perspective, people are more morally upright by the fact that the two religions are a unifying factor.

My knowledge has also been grown because of how environmental concept about this learning has helped in the recurring of our minds, the circumstances have been forced because we do not have any choice. Because we have different religions that believe in different ideologies, it becomes hard to rely on our effort to make judgmental about different scenarios. Hence, they believe that it should focus on being dynamic and readjust as the environment dedicates, this is evident in how the communication is made with the community members through the Kalgan language in instances such as verbal exchange, which occur on a routine basis. People are excited to welcome visitors into their homes, with greetings, inquiry of one’s status, and show positive gestures. This has made me think like we have lost our feelings/ integrity towards each other.

 

Kalagan community has its kind of language - Kalagan language for verbal exchange and writings. “Assalamo Alaykum ,” is the common greeting phrase among the people with the reply being “Alaykum Assalam.” As people mostly depend upon agriculture and farming as their livelihood, labor, fishing, and art is also activities that people follow. While men work on the field like plowing the field, growing rice, produce maize, and fishing, women work for house chores, taking care of child and old ones, selling locally produced items on the market as well as making baskets, weaving and crafting ornaments. The community members are also involved in making baskets, weaving, and crafting ornaments, which some members do daily. Some other work as labor in other fields and get paid. This fact made me believe that everyday work has been divided between men and women. Unlike our society, the clear distinction of work reminds me of traditional beliefs and practices that are still alive in the Kalgan community.

The western culture has broadened my understanding whereby I know the cultural activities that are usually held such as rites of passage among the Kalagans, some of which change a member's sense of identity, social roles, or status. The uniqueness of Kalgan marriages is the selective allowance to marry more than one wife with the condition being wealthy or from a high rank. After marriage, the participant's status change in that the couples are required to live together in the husband's community. This indicates that the community is dominated by a plutocracy and patriarchy society. Another tradition among this community is circumcision, either done by the Muslim religion or according to the traditions. I could not believe how painful this process could be for newborn babies.

Understanding the definition of value about the western culture has helped me gain a lot because I have the ability in defining the believes or the values through understanding the western culture for example the one of the Kalgan community hence knowing that Many of the Kalgan community members are animist in that they believe that non-human objects have spirits about the belief system. This attributes to their practices of showing the utmost respect for some non-living objects and tales to promote these beliefs across generations. The value system is also evident among the Kalagans, where members of the society are taught important values such as respect, commitment, and responsibility as crucial determine of a responsible Kalgan adult

 

To sum up, the ‘Kalagan’ community is a community that shares a unique culture with the rest of the world. I am surprised to know about their lifestyles and traditions. I will never get tired of understanding such unique and underrated cultures as they definitely help me to widened and broaden my mind and knowledge.

REFERENCES

Buendia, R., Mendoza, L., Guiam, R., & Sambeli, L. (2006). Mapping and analysis of Indigenous governance practices in the Philippines and proposal for establishing an indicative framework for Indigenous people’s governance: Towards a broader and inclusive process of governance in the Philippines.

Özerdem, A., Podder, S., & Quitoriano, E. L. (2010). Identity, ideology, and child soldiering: Community and youth participation in civil conflict–A study on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Mindanao, Philippines. Civil Wars, 12(3), 304-325.

Watanabe, A. (2007). The formation of migrant Muslim communities in Metro Manila. Kasarinlan: Philippine Journal of Third World Studies, 22(2), 68-96.