The Bontoc Igorot

"The Bontoc Igorot" by Albert Ernest Jenks is a scientific publication written in the early 20th century, specifically in the context of American colonialism in the Philippines. This ethnological study focuses on the Bontoc Igorot people, a group from northern Luzon, and examines their culture, social organization, and physical characteristics. The work provides detailed insights into their way of life, agricultural practices, religious beliefs, and social structures. The opening of the book sets the stage for Jenks’ ethnographic exploration, beginning with a letter of transmittal to the Department of the Interior and a preface that outlines his expedition and residence among the Igorot during 1903. Jenks describes the Indigenous community as industrious and clean-limbed, with traits typical of primitive mountain agriculturists. He highlights the Igorot's adherence to animism and a unique social structure devoid of slavery, mentioning their notable practice of head-hunting as a form of recreation. The introduction provides a geographical backdrop for the Igorot population, framing their cultural context within the broader Philippine Archipelago. Overall, the opening establishes both a personal connection and a scholarly intent to document a way of life that exists at the intersection of tradition and the encroachment of modernity. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Albert Ernest Jenks (1869–1953) was an American anthropologist and a professor at the University of Minnesota. He was known for his work in historical anthropological studies on rice cultivation, the development of hominids, and his identification of the skeletal remains of Minnesota Woman, 8,000-year old human remains found near Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. He joined the United States Bureau of Ethnology in 1901 and served in the U.S. colonial government of the Philippines from 1902 to 1905. In this capacity, he was involved in the exhibition of Bontoc Igorot people at the 1904 Louisiana Universal Exposition in St. Louis. The collection of Bontoc objects that he assembled for the Exposition was purchased by the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota in 1906 as a member of the Department of Sociology. He was promoted to full professor in 1907 and served as chair of the sociology department from 1915 until 1918. In 1918, he was a founder of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota and he served as the chair of that department until his retirement in 1936.