Decolonizing the past, empowering the future: Community-led heritage conservation in Ifugao, Philippines

ABSTRACT National historical narratives generally leave out local histories of groups on the periphery of society. This is accentuated in colonised settings where colonial powers promote the narratives of dominant cultures, which soon become national meta-narratives. As an example, peoples on the fringes of colonialism in the Philippines were described as remnants of the past and this exoticizes their cultures. These descriptions became the basis of their identity. We argue that vigorous community engagement provides venues for learning and unlearning histories and empowers marginalized peoples. In this paper, we present how recent archaeological data force the rethinking of history and subsequently empowering descendant communities to take control of their history and heritage. We describe the establishment of the Ifugao heritage galleries as an example of museums becoming areas of contestations and emphasize the fact that no one has the monopoly on the creation of knowledge.