rosella+speech

=Commencement Address=

//Speech delivered by Rosella Camte-Bahni during the Cultural Production mini-commencement ceremony held at Sherman Hall, Brandeis University on May 18, 2008.//

First of all, I want to acknowledge everyone who made it possible for me to be here today: my sponsors, the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; my roommates from the Philippines and cohorts from the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program; and my adviser, Dr. Mark Auslander, and second reader of my masters paper, Dr. Ellen Schattsneider. Thank you for the inputs and for prodding me to read the book, Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon. It was worth the search at two libraries in Maryland because this powerful book published in 1963 articulated the issues of post-colonialism which still applies until today.

I am an Ibaloi. We are the indigenous people in Baguio City which was designated as the summer capital of the Philippines and is now the center of education, industry, and business in the northern part of the Philippines. I come from Loakan which is one of the remaining Ibaloi barangays or communities of Baguio City.

Upon returning home, I shall meet with members of my community to plan the establishment of a Center for Ibaloi Heritage and Loakan history. The center shall collect data through oral history interviews and provide educational activities. Adopting the features of a community museum, the Center shall integrate a social development thrust to respond to community issues and thus, enabling the center as a catalyst for change.

Next year, our city is celebrating its centennial anniversary but the Ibalois in Loakan would be marking their presence in Baguio City for twice that period. The Center shall therefore be a fitting tribute to the Ibalois in Loakan whose tenacity amidst the expropriations of their ancestral land, challenges to their indigenous practices, and onslaught of urbanization and globalization had transformed and adapted themselves so that their indigenous roots are sustained.

The idea to establish a heritage center in our community was inspired by the exhibition in our community which I curated under my Directed Research course with Dr. Mark Auslander. The exhibition entitled “Chiva ni Duakan” featured the Ibaloi heritage and history of our community. Chiva is an Ibaloi term that means tracing one’s roots through communal story telling sessions.

The exhibition and the subsequent Masters Paper which are the culminating activities of my program had been characteristic of the courses in the Cultural Production Program. By combining theory and practice, the program had developed both skills and conceptual analysis in cultural production.

I never thought that my three interests: advocacy for indigenous concerns, social development, and memory could all be addressed. Weaving skills training on photograph and material interpretation, multi-media production and exhibition development with social and post-colonial theories of cultural production, the MA Program in Cultural Production enabled me to access the power of representation. We, the Ibalois of Loakan, were able to access this power for our self-representation which resulted to a deeply moving experience of, borrowing Stephen Greenblat's terms, an experience of “wonder and resonance.” Through resonance, we realized how rich our heritage had actually been. By eliciting awe, we discovered what Fanon Franz said the “dignity, glory, and solemnity” about our ancestors and our past that had been obscured by colonial images and negative stereotypes.

I return to the Philippines confident that we can establish a functional center which shall facilitate the continuing experience of wonder and resonance; of self-representation, of empowerment and development. Let me read one comment written by a non-Ibaloi pupil who saw the exhibition: “The exhibit is nice and beautiful. I learned many things about the past…And I saw their clothes and what they do. I know now that they love their culture. And I love my culture, too, even if it is different.

When we were able to generate appreciation of one’s culture while recognizing the value of others’ cultures, I know that we will succeed in building understanding, respect and tolerance between cultures and one another; ingredients we need to foster human creativity, diversity and cooperation. We need these same elements for social justice.

I agree with Fanon's call for nationalist writers to “use the past with the intention of opening the future, as an invitation to action and a basis for hope" (Fanon 1963: 232).

I shall forever owe it to my Brandeis education, with its social justice mission, very dedicated and supportive faculty members and administrative personnel, and a very socially relevant program that I will able to help facilitate the use of the past not only as a basis for hope but also for social activism and development. Thank you very much.

//Ms. Camte-Bahni is the recipient of the Cultural Production's program's 2008 Civic Engagement award, presented at the 2008 mini-commencement ceremony.//