Batog kag Aya-ay: The politics of ecological consciousness of the presidents of Barangay Pantalan President Roxas, Capiz

Abstract

This study examines the folk consciousness on the environment of the residents of Barangay Pantalan, President Roxas, Capiz. A combination of the etic and emic approaches in social sciences was used to make sense out of the informations gathered from the field. This study also identifies Man as Master of Nature, Man and Nature in Antagonism, Man in Harmony with Nature, and Nature as Sacred as the different relationships between human being and Nature. These different relationships between human being and Nature are contained- in the two broad opposing rationalities, namely, Speciesism and Environmentalism. An ethnocartography of Barangay Pantalan is constituted in this study using the folk sense of direction and orientation. In addition, the study examines the folk beliefs and practices built around man-made structure, sea, and the flora and the fauna. This study concludes with a discussion of the politics of environmentalism. Human being does not dominate Nature nor Nature dominates human being in this politics of environmentalism. The same politics embodies ethical dimensions which check the drift toward the destruction of the environment.