Aetas no more? a case study of four Aeta migrant families in Escalantera, San Joaquin, Iloilo

• Main Authors: Cortina, Amy, Sardon, Rosalyn
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1994
• Subjects: Aeta (Philippine people); Residential mobility; Migration, Internal; Families; Adaptability (Psychology)
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/16210
• Institution: De La Salle University

Owing to scarcity of food in the mountains of Iloilo, several Aeta families intentionally migrated to the lowlands to search for better sources of food. Upon migrating, these families are left with no choice but to volunteer their services to the lowlanders so as to acquire money to buy food. In the course of contact and interaction made by these migrant families with the lowlanders, several adjustments and changes were made in order for them to adapt to lowland living.In line with this, an exploratory-descriptive research was used by the researchers to determine the socio-cultural changes made and the effects of these changes and culture contact on the Aeta migrant families residing and interacting with the lowlanders in Escalantera, San Joaquin, Iloilo.Two approaches were used to gather data on the four selected Aeta migrant families, these were observation and focus group discussion (FGD). Selection of these migrant families was done thru a non-probability or purposive sampling. The four selected families were divided into two groups: the old migrant group and the new migrant group.The results showed that both the old and new migrant families underwent changes in the following socio-cultural aspects: family relations, livelihood, religious beliefs and practices, clothing, shelter and location, recreation, language and music, diet, social interaction and others. In terms of perception, however, the old and new migrat families viewed these changes differently with the former assessing them more positively.