The Discourse that Silences: Beneficiaries' Ambivalence Towards Redistributive Land Reform in the Philippines

This article argues that the persistence of non-capitalist dimensions within land relations in the Philippines is basic to rural livelihood strategies, and has been a major but widely-neglected factor in the failure of land reform programmes. Addressing the issue of non-capitalist relationships brings into focus the indigenous or ‘customary’ land tenure relationships that exist in lowland land tenure arrangements, with the result that the conventional dichotomy between lowland and upland ‘cultural minority’ land relations becomes spurious. The article offers some suggestions as to why, for the major part of this century, the indigenous norms of lowlanders have been overlooked, with a discussion which links up to issues of national identity and nation building.     

Book reviews

T. B. Millar, The Commonwealth and The United Nations, Sydney University Press, Sydney 1967, pp. 237 + xv, $5.50.

A. C. Palfreeman, The Administration of the White Australia Policy. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne 1967, pp. 184 + ix, $6.00.

Robert Shaplen, The Lost Revolution: Vietnam, Andre Deutsch, London 1966, pp. 404 + xii, $5.45.

Elias Duek‐Cohen, ed., Utzon and the Sydney Opera House, Morgan, Sydney 1967, pp. 128, paperback, $1.20.

G. C. Bolton, Dick Boyer, An Australian Humanist, A.N.U. Press. Canberra 1967, pp. 295 + viii, $5.40.

Richard Rose, Influencing Voters: A Study of Campaign Rationality, Faber & Faber, London 1967, pp. 288, $7.35.

Ian Turner, Sydney's Burning, Heinemann, London 1967, pp. 245 + xv, $6.75.