Indigenous myths are closely connected to the lived experiences and ongoing struggle of the Lumad for self-determination

03 Mar 2026

Myths that involve sacred spaces largely make up local knowledge among Indigenous Peoples across continents. Often, these myths are dismissed as “folk beliefs,” which are commonly associated with primitivism and backwardness. They are deemed as the opposite of scientific and historical knowledge of one’s environment and society. This study shows that myths and sacred spaces function as modes of story and history-telling among the Lumad Manobo, which reflect their collective values of self-reliance, sustainability, and aspirations to food security and food sovereignty.

As part of indigenous knowledge, sacred spaces are understood through lived experience and relationships, as seen in the Lumad-Manobo concepts of pamalihi and bunayan. Pamalihi refers to spaces considered forbidden, special, and highly valued. Bunayan refers to the harmful or disastrous consequences that befall those who violate the rules associated with these spaces. In this way, the sacred is experienced as a shared understanding of which places are protected and why, along with the serious consequences of breaking communal rules. Sacred spaces, therefore, embody value, prohibition, and danger at the same time. This shows that indigenous myths are intertwined with the embodied and lived histories of the Lumad struggle for self-determination.

This study shows how the national struggle for sovereignty is inextricably linked to indigenous knowledge and the Indigenous Peoples’ fight for self-determination in two ways.

First, it challenges the dominant discourse of capitalist developmentalism, which reduces indigenous myths and other modalities of indigenous knowledge to being primitive and backward. It does so by demonstrating that indigenous myths are lived experiences and historical accounts of Indigenous Peoples’ quest for a sustainable engagement with their environment, as well as the actual struggles that shape this aspiration.

Second, against the fragmentary logic of localism, this study challenges the false dichotomy between the indigenous struggle for self-determination and the struggle for national liberation by demonstrating how these two instances of peoples’ struggle are interconnected in the Lumad-Manobo way of life, particularly in their indigenous knowledge of myths and sacred spaces.

Author: Sarah Raymundo (Center for International Studies, University of the Philippines Diliman)

Read the full paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/22779760241252304

Indigenous myths are closely connected to the lived experiences and ongoing struggle of the Lumad for self-determination

Myths that involve sacred spaces largely make up local knowledge among Indigenous Peoples across continents. Often, these myths are dismissed as “folk beliefs,” which are commonly associated with primitivism and backwardness. They are deemed as the opposite of scientific and historical knowledge of one’s environment and society. This study shows that myths and sacred spaces function as modes of story and history-telling among the Lumad Manobo, which reflect their collective values of self-reliance, sustainability, and aspirations to food security and food sovereignty.

As part of indigenous knowledge, sacred spaces are understood through lived experience and relationships, as seen in the Lumad-Manobo concepts of pamalihi and bunayan. Pamalihi refers to spaces considered forbidden, special, and highly valued. Bunayan refers to the harmful or disastrous consequences that befall those who violate the rules associated with these spaces. In this way, the sacred is experienced as a shared understanding of which places are protected and why, along with the serious consequences of breaking communal rules. Sacred spaces, therefore, embody value, prohibition, and danger at the same time. This shows that indigenous myths are intertwined with the embodied and lived histories of the Lumad struggle for self-determination.

This study shows how the national struggle for sovereignty is inextricably linked to indigenous knowledge and the Indigenous Peoples’ fight for self-determination in two ways.

First, it challenges the dominant discourse of capitalist developmentalism, which reduces indigenous myths and other modalities of indigenous knowledge to being primitive and backward. It does so by demonstrating that indigenous myths are lived experiences and historical accounts of Indigenous Peoples’ quest for a sustainable engagement with their environment, as well as the actual struggles that shape this aspiration.

Second, against the fragmentary logic of localism, this study challenges the false dichotomy between the indigenous struggle for self-determination and the struggle for national liberation by demonstrating how these two instances of peoples’ struggle are interconnected in the Lumad-Manobo way of life, particularly in their indigenous knowledge of myths and sacred spaces.

Author: Sarah Raymundo (Center for International Studies, University of the Philippines Diliman)

Read the full paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/22779760241252304