Discursive Representations of Indigenous Peoples in Philippine Basic Education Curriculum Textbooks
Abstract
Indigenous Peoples (IPs) are often subjected to linguistic representations across various discourses, including in educational materials used in academic institutions, with studies identifying culturally insensitive depictions of these communities. This study analysed how IPs are represented in nine educational textbooks used in the Basic Education curriculum. This utilised Halliday and Matthiessen’s Transitivity Analysis (2013) and Van Leeuwen’s Social Actor Theory (1996) in identifying the roles and experiences of IPs in narratives. The findings revealed that Indigenous People are ascribed to relational, material, mental, and existential processes with little to no representation in the verbal and behavioural processes. Furthermore, the social actor analysis revealed that Indigenous Peoples are often portrayed as cultural icons, traditional artists, inhabitants of ancestral lands, vulnerable to persuasion, and impacted by economic modernisation through passivation, collectivisation, categorisation, genericization, specification, nomination, role allocation, appraisement, and overdetermination. This suggests that the linguistic representation ascribed to IPs is primarily constructed through the states of being, concrete action, emotional engagement, and state of existence, and simultaneously employs inclusion strategies in the statements. Thus, this study contributes to the educational discourse to uphold cultural sensitivity and inclusivity within our educational institutions.
Keywords: Indigenous Peoples; discursive representations; transitivity analysis; social actor analysis; Philippines
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