| Abstract: | The author hypothesizes a set of processes of importance for understanding particular examples of peasant-pioneering resettlement. Where competition exists between groups, which are for all purposes equal, that population which is the least committed will have the greater social advantage in situations involving change. Being in the initial stage of making its adaptation, the uncommitted group does not operate under the social constraints and obligations of established groups. The new group does not have to restructure established social relationships to take advantage of new circumstances. As a limited test of this hypothesis, an attempt is made to explain two similar historical events in northeast Luzon: the displacement of Ibanags and Gaddangs in the Cagayan Valley by Ilocanos during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the post World War II displacement of the Ilocanos by other Ilocanos. The success of the newcomers was due to hard work and freedom from kinship ties or similar commitments to the existing social organization. This same pattern of successful secondary pioneering, with socially alienated families intruding on peasant communities, is apparent elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The author suggests that his hypothesis be applied and tested in other parts of the Philippines and Southeast Asia. |
