The Bontoc Igorot

Jenks, Albert Ernest, 1869-1953Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 605K words
Chapters: 61

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Bontoc Igorot by Albert Ernest JenksAuthor: Jenks, Albert Ernest, 1869-1953,Language: English, Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia, Release Date: Mar 18, 2005

Editor's review

This book is a solid case study in early ethnographic writing, taking the Bontoc Igorot of northern Luzon in the Philippines as its subject and documenting village life, customs, material culture, and social organization. As a public-domain e-book, its value lies not in elegant prose but in careful observation and clear structure, letting readers see how early twentieth-century anthropologists entered the field and classified and described "other" cultures. Reading it yields concrete ethnographic material while also prompting reflection on the limitations of perspective and conventions of representation in early anthropology. It suits readers interested in early anthropological texts, Southeast Asian upland societies, or colonial-era knowledge production, and is better suited to research reading than light entertainment.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Anthropology and ethnology students in need of early ethnographic case material
Readers studying Southeast Asian upland societies and colonial-era knowledge production
Readers interested in public-domain e-books and early fieldwork texts

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting a light travel essay or a guide to contemporary Philippine life
Readers seeking the latest ethnographic findings and theoretical updates

Reading tips

Begin with the table of contents and introduction to grasp the author's framing and research questions, then move into the individual chapters.
Mark judgments that carry the biases of the era as you read, and consider them against today's anthropological ethics.
Read alongside maps and a glossary to reduce unfamiliarity with place names and ethnic labels.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for anthropology beginners?

It can serve as supplementary material, but not as a sole introductory text. It offers a concrete specimen of early ethnography and helps illuminate the history of the discipline; however, it was written long ago, and its terminology and perspective require guidance. Beginners should first acquire basic anthropological concepts, then read it with a critical eye.

Does the content reflect the latest situation of the Bontoc Igorot?

No. This book is a survey text from the early twentieth century, reflecting what the author saw and heard at the time and the framework of that era; it cannot be equated with the group's present-day social reality. Readers should treat it as historical ethnographic material, not a guide to contemporary life.

What should readers keep in mind when reading the e-book edition?

Public-domain e-books may have plain formatting, missing illustrations, or scanning and OCR errors. A version with a table of contents is preferable; where names of people or places are inconsistent, rely on the original spellings and, when necessary, check other editions or scholarly literature.

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About the author

Jenks, Albert Ernest, 1869-1953 Author · American · 1869–1953

Albert Ernest Jenks (1869–1953) was an American anthropologist and a professor at the University of Minnesota. His research spanned both sides of the Pacific, covering the indigenous societies of the Philippines as well as Native American cultures. His representative work, The Bontoc Igorot, is an ethnography of the Bontoc Igorot, a mountain people of Luzon in the Philippines, documenting their social life, customs, and material culture. It stands as one of the early systematic field studies of a Philippine indigenous community. Grounded in direct observation, Jenks's writing attends closely to the details of everyday community life, leaving firsthand material of value for later Southeast Asian ethnography and comparative cultural studies. Public information about him remains limited, and only one of his works is held in this collection; scholarly discussion of his overall career is modest, yet The Bontoc Igorot remains an important text for understanding early twentieth-century mountain societies in the Philippines.