The Old Kiyyangan Story: Oral Histories and Archaeological Findings from the Old Kiyyangan Village, Ifugao, Philippines
Director and Filmmaker: Armando Burgos
Script writers: Stephen Acabado and Marlon Martin
This 15-minute video animation is a product of collaboration between archaeologists and Ifugao descendant communities. It blends oral history with archaeological research to highlight Philippine indigenous history (absent from Philippine historical narratives) and document how the Ifugao resisted and accommodated Spanish colonial aims. Old Kiyyangan Village (OKV) plays a prominent role in Ifugao-Tuwali mythology as the first village to be inhabited by Ifugaos, and was the site of archaeological research since 2012 by the Ifugao Archaeological Project. The OKV story also narrates how the shift to wet-rice cultivation in the 1600s allowed the Ifugao to consolidate economic and political resources that allowed them to resist the marauding Spanish soldiers less than 400 years ago. It cemented the social order, unified the Ifugao against invasion, and sealed a social organization that maintained the terraces and preserved these mountain settlements. By insisting on the 2000-year narrative, this important era of colonial resistance and sustained war for independence in Ifugao and the Cordilleras is relegated as minor events in the history of the country.
Funding from the National Geographic Society and the Whiting Foundation supported the production of this video.