From Wilderness to Nation: The Evolution of 'Bayan' in the Philippines

Spanish documents of the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries point to static political organization in the Philippines that predated the Spanish presence there.  Documents in the indigenous language Tagalog  point in a different direction—to a fluid, evolving reality represented by the word bayan.  The fluidity of  bayan allowed it to define the transformations that took place—from wilderness to nation.  While forces have sought over the past four centuries to concretize political realities, bayan has remained the locus for representation and meaning for Filipinos.

This paper is a part of the project organized by Kamulatan, a Philippine Studies Collective.

Damon L. Woods received his Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history from UCLA.  He has been a lecturer at UCLA, UCI, and CSULB.  His research is tied to Tagalog documents from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries.

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Sponsor(s): Center for Southeast Asian Studies