UP Baguio offering PhD in indigenous studies

May 15, 2021 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY – Researchers and people who want to have specialization in the indigenous peoples and issues can now have a school to go to as the University of the Philippines Baguio (UPB) will be offering a doctorate degree.
Junley Lazaga of the UPB Public Affairs Office on Friday said the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Indigenous Studies (IS) program will allow graduates to be grounded in theories and frameworks that will enable them to teach, conduct, and publish research or implement programs on indigenous issues.
“Preparations for the rollout of the PhD-IS program are underway,” he said. Lazaga said the UP Board of Regents has already approved the program. He said the program is responsive to local and international developments in relation to initiatives for Indigenous Peoples (IP) rights and cultures.
“The PhD-IS program of UPB is projected to contribute to the efforts in IP education,” he added.
Enrollees have the option for a three-year of full-time and four years of part-time study plans. Lazaga also said the program is designed to employ interdisciplinary perspectives in engaging with historical and contemporary issues confronting the indigenous peoples in the Philippines and elsewhere.
Core and major courses include Indigenous Studies, Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Research Methodologies, Directed Readings in World Ethnographies, Historical Construction of Being and Becoming Indigenous, Perspectives on Indigenous Languages, and Indigenous Management of Resources, among others.
On top of the courses are electives in the areas of Material Culture, Gender and Sexuality Systems, Culture and Psychology, Indigenous Religions, Heritage, Indigenous Communication, and Representation in Media and Literature.
Also among the electives are courses in Ethnobotany, Ethnomathematics, Literature in the Oral Tradition, and Ethical, Legal and Social Issues on the Environment.
The officer said “it is a first of its kind”. It is also UP Baguio’s second doctorate degree program, after Doctorate Degree in Mathematics.
(PNA)