An Intimate Journey: Finding Myself Amongst the Sama-Bajau

This work offers a comprehensive description of the lives of the Sama-Bajau people based on ongoing ethnographic research conducted by the author in Davao City, the Philippines, for over two decades. The Sama-Bajau have suffered stigmatization in Philippine society, even though the true picture of their lives, both as a community and as individuals, has been largely unknown to the outside world. This book objectively portrays various aspects of the lives of six Sama-Bajau families, including economics, politics, and religion, and at the same time reveals their inner worlds to the reader through the abundant inclusion of first-person narratives. Each chapter takes the form of a letter addressed to "absent others"--the dead and the unborn in the study field--as a story retold by the author to be passed down to future generations. The author hopes that this book will be read by not only those interested in Southeast Asia or the Sama-Bajau, but also those concerned with the question of the relationship between economics and ethics or care, as well as the question of the future direction of humanity and society.

Author: Waka Aoyama
Publisher: Trans Pacific Press
Published: 11/01/2020
Pages: 428
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.30lbs
Size: 8.70h x 6.10w x 1.30d
ISBN13: 9781920901448
ISBN10: 1920901442
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | Asian Studies
- History | Asia | Southeast Asia

About the Author
Aoyama Waka is Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, and Visiting Researcher at the Joint Ateneo Institute for Mindanao Economics, Ateneo de Davao University. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Tokyo. As an ethnographer specializing in Southeast Asian studies focusing on the Southern Philippines, her research interests include human wellbeing, care, and resilience in the context of the ever changing, globalized world.