Between Pangayaw and Theater: Revenge Killings among the Agusan Manobo of Mindanao, Southern Philippines

A number of contemporary studies on conflict and violence, especially among indigenous and marginalized groups, focus on understanding the mechanisms through which these practices are maintained and reinvented. This approach calls into question views on violence as pathological, an inherent tendency, or a mere epiphenomenon. It is in this light that this study on pangayaw as revenge killing was conducted. Drawing on direct ethnographic data gathered in a span of three years among the Agusan Manobo of Mindanao in Southern Philippines, the article argues that pangayaw is a mode of communication involving a performance of symbol manipulation to make explicit conditions and norms that would have otherwise remained unexpressed. Pangayaw as a threat, an act, a resolution, or a means to instigate resolution is designed to be meaningful not just to the actors but to the witnessing community. This emphasis on its theatricality also sheds light on the efficacy of traditional resolution mechanisms in these areas. Discourses on violence among marginalized and indigenous groups need to consider how this type of “theater” is maintained and reinvented.