The human-centered design of “free, prior and informed consent” in photographing and filming an ICH element

When conducting research on a culture or a specific group of people, gaining their trust can be one of the most daunting challenges you face. Whenever we are provided with the chance to enter inside and within their space where the culture is taking place, there is always a sense that we are intruding. 

The culture that belongs solely to them, which means that whenever there is an intention to participate in order to better understand this culture, their “consent” is at the core of the concerns that must be taken into account.

This is very true, in particular for people who belong to the indigenous community or ethnic groups, both of which are typically considered to be members of the marginalized sector of society. The usual practice is that the researcher, along with the photographer or videographer, has a long-standing convention of “hero syndrome” or “saving the day” notion that treats the subjects as artifacts or specimens in a large laboratory, which is their habitat. This creates a diagonal dynamics in the relationship between the subject and the outsider, who is the researcher in this scenario.

In one instance, while I was conducting an interview with the Aeta communities in Nabuclod, one of the members of the group named Roy Bacani shared his standpoint on his experience with an improper specimen-like treatment: “ “We cannot do anything about it as we have became slaves to this perception.”

The colonialist strategy of “guarding them down” has become the standard operating procedure when outsiders or intruders arrive at a location, usually armed with audio and video recording equipment and other instruments designed to pacify the area. Defenseless, the subjects, who are the culture bearers, just let this happen, where inhibitions that are supposed to be boundaries are turned into sand walls that the outsiders subtly erode.

Bacani added, “”People have disrespected us in terms of making us re-enact our supposed sacred rituals and chant during festivals…telling us that we are part of an event and making us wear our traditional ‘pinang. ” It is not uncommon for ethnic groups to be presented in this manner, where they are exoticized and portrayed as though they belong to a bygone era, where they are unclothed and uncivilized, creating a social divide by ignoring the fact that they have actually adapted to contemporary ways of life just like regular people.

While the efforts to conduct a study are a double-edged sword, and in many cases, it intends to benefit the subjects or culture bearers as part of the goals of a research project, the lines between how data is collected and how data is used in the final result remain blurred. In most cases, they only learn about the project’s outcome after it has been published, with the conclusion of the study written by the researcher who is now the author. It is extremely rare that the culture-bearer or owner of the data from which these are extracted is a participant in the meta-analysis of the data, and even worse, is not even shown a copy of the final output of the data.

There is always a big difference between how data is gathered with the permission of the subject or culture bearer and how data is analyzed when the subject is no longer present to make decisions. This is common in photo and video documentary output when final photographs and video file copies are printed or published online or on broadcast media, over which the subject has often lost control.

In an ideal world, “free, prior, and informed consent” would not only occur during the introductory stages of immersion, data gathering, and documentation when learning about a culture or the intangible cultural heritage of a specific group of people. While the researcher and subject may reach a consensus and make some decisions at this stage, the subject should retain some control over the information gleaned from the research. In order to strike a balance away from the exploitative diagonal dynamics, it is important that the subject be briefed on and made familiar with the results of the documentation of any immersion or interaction session, while also reaping the benefits of consulting on the analysis of the data collected. 

The continuous dialogues between the subject or culture bearer and the researcher even up to the final conclusion of the study empower them to know the condition and status of their culture firsthand, thus letting them decide on what to do to preserve it.

The power generated by the information supplemented for them follows the humanistic approach of design thinking.

Pamagduman as a case study

In the early stages of immersion with the community that bears the intangible cultural heritage known as pamagduman, the project’s lead researcher, Dr. Laya Boquiren-Gonzales, prepared “consent forms” that were written in Kapampangan and were ready to be filled out by any member of the pamagduman community, allowing them to say only what made them comfortable. There is already a provision in place for them to cancel the information if they change their minds.

Prior to our arrival, I paid two visits to the palbibewan site, which is essentially the area where the duman is produced. The area, which was in disarray when I arrived, serves as a garage and a place to sell seasonal bibingka or rice cake, demonstrating the Dizon-Galang family’s hustle and bustle in operating their source of livelihood. I sensed their discomfort and asked why I was doing this when several media outlets had done the same. They even said I could go back to the actual night of production, which was two weeks later.

During my visits, I elaborated on the study’s purpose, which can aid in the discovery of new ways to promote the product. My colleague Dr. Boquiren-Gonzales and I had no idea about the magduman’s problems at the time, and we only assumed based on lingering community stories that some of the crops that had been planted had been damaged by the recent succeeding heavy rains in the last quarter of 2022. 

However, a member of the magduman family, Lotlot Galang Dizon, who owns the palbibewan, and her relative, Merlita Galang Bucud, shared their thoughts on the difficulties they face in producing duman. Aside from that, Jayvie Libut, the person in charge of the magduman team and a member of the Galang clan, stated that several crops can no longer be harvested because the previous downpour caused the kernels to rot. These magduman shared the following key issues that they believe are concerning:

• Financial difficulties associated with loaning money to operate the duman production, which, due to high interest rates, can only be paid back after the product is sold in the market.
• Recent duman yields are less aromatic and harder in texture than earlier yields, which were soft and strongly aromatic.
• Only a few duman experts with ethno-ecological knowledge of how to cultivate the duman are still around, and no new generations are inheriting the knowledge.

We began benchmarking from these central issues and focusing on examining these ideas in order to develop the pamagduman’s story.

The diachronic system of observation as a complement of western science

Under the 2003 UNESCO Convention for Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, pamagduman can be categorized under the 4th domain of the intangible cultural heritage which is the “indigenous knowledge about nature and the universe.”, if possible inscription will be lodged in the future. 

Pamagduman is a special skill that is believed to be an inherited ethno-ecological knowledge about nature passed on generations by generations. While it can be planted in any month of the year, the expected sprouting of the ideal kernel will only occur when the monsoon wind touched the duman plant during the monsoon season. The intervention and when this intervention to gather them should be done is a special skill Renell Bucud is knowledgeable with that worked effectively since the time he started to become a magduman. Renell Bucud is one of the handful magduman expert who is knowledgeable in determining the perfect state of the kernel on when to cut it from its panicle. 

During the conversation, Renell Bucud assumes that the old way of sorting the best seeds one by one is the ideal method that is no longer applied these days, since he no longer have a control over the new generations of farmer keeping these seeds. He believes that this is one of the factors that impacted the bad quality of the recent yields. 

While Bucud claims authority on duman cultivation, I asked him about the possibility of collaborating with government institutions that can explain this using science. He agreed with the idea.

During our visit to PhilRice, a government institution that deals with the cultivation of various rice varieties in the Philippines, a scientific explanation of how the northeast monsoon affects the sprouting of duman kernels was provided. According to Philrice, the humidity of the cold wind, which is drawn to and penetrates the grain and serves as a source of water for the germination embryo, is what most influences the ripeness of the kernel, not the cold breeze itself.

The embryo requires water to germinate and avoid dormancy, and a cold breeze provides it with the oxygen it requires. When the green duman is collected during the intervention stage, the fluid that causes the green duman to soften is the water content at an optimal level. However, because the intervention stage requires familiarity with the paddy’s biodiversity, the magduman possess this ethno-ecological skill known as diachronic system—a system based on personal observation of nature and an iterative process.

The duman typically don’t sprout simultaneously or in synch after germination. It all depends on where the cold wind blows first. The duman plant stands out as being taller than the typical inbred variety of rice. The struggle to draw moisture from the northeast monsoon is to account for this.

Based on the samples and data provided, the assessment of PhilRice is that it is just another traditional rice variety that is not unique. However, it could simply be a practice of the magduman’s special skills in producing the product, particularly the intervention during the monsoon season to achieve the soft and malleable texture with aroma.

In my most recent correspondence with Renell Bucud, I communicated the institution’s willingness to collaborate in conducting a study of the seed itself, which can help identify the accurate cause of the problem, based on Bucud’s understanding of the process as the foremost expert.

Women as co-equal to men in preserving the ICH

While most media outfit that came out in the internet and national television about pamagduman as a practice usually being conducted by men, in the lifeworld of the ICH, women are treated as co-equal to men. The society of Kapampangan as a whole is not patriarchal, and women are typically treated as co-equal contributors to the social framework rather than as subordinates. The power relationship to the ostensibly gendered task may seem to be based on biological capabilities, but that does not necessarily indicate it is at the bottom of the hierarchy. 

In duman making , based on the current practice, women are typically given the laborious work of sorting duman because they are thought to be better able to carefully choose the soft granules over the hard ones over the course of many hours. This indicates that the men heavily rely on their skills to produce the ideal outcome for their respective situations. Renell Galang, who explained how they entrust women with producing the final product, corroborated this. Women are also in charge of marketing and selling. Women also make up the manangu (reseller) class. There are no men that are manangu.

It is beneficial to discuss the role of women, which is sometimes overlooked in these cultural heritage activities, particularly given that farming is thought to be a male-dominated activity due to women’s biological constraints. The assigned role of women in duman making, however, is extremely important in preserving the ICH because the skills they possess, which are observed and later practiced by young girls who become their replacements, are a great demonstration of the dynamic social structure ng duman making as a form of cohesion.

As the assigned role is specific, gender equality is an observable relationship between the male and female magduman. That duman production, which preserves tradition, is heavily reliant on both genders. This simply means that the ICH would not exist without the participation of women, who bring a unique talent to the process, because the work women do is something that men would never attempt due to the level of granular effort required.

Source:
BANAL, B. R., & G. (2016, November 11). Aetas in Pampanga: “We are not artifacts.” GMA News Online. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/content/588321/aetas-in-pampanga-we-are-not-artifacts/story/

BANAL, R., & G. (2020, December 4). With the pandemic, the Duman Festival of Sta. Rita, Pampanga continues online. GMA News Online. https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/artandculture/766836/with-the-pandemic-the-duman-festival-of-sta-rita-pampanga-continues-online/story/