Philippine Colonial Photography of the Cordilleras 1860-1930 offers a fascinating visual journey into the rich cultural heritage of the people of the Cordilleras from the mid-nineteenth century to the turn of the twentieth century: their daily lives, the rituals they performed, the customs and traditions they practiced, the kinds of clothes and accessories they wore, and the beliefs and principles they observed.

This detailed ethnographic exercise would not have been possible without the prolific use of photography as a medium of documentation and excursion into the exotic and heretofore distant reaches of Spanish and American colonial territories in the Philippines. American and European photographers traversed the remote regions of the Cordilleras in their various roles as anthropologist, missionaries, teachers, researchers, scientists, soldiers, and government bureaucrats. Though they always retained the imperial gaze of colonialists as they surveyed their domain, the photographs featured in this book also highlight their sensitivity to the historical importance and proud cultural distinctiveness of the communities that they assiduously documented.

2023/112pp
bookpaper/paperback