The Province of Palawan in the southern Philippines is known as the ‘Last Frontier’ of the Philippines for having preserved a significant percentage of its forest cover and for being a biodiversity centre with a relatively unspoiled mountainous core. It is also significant as the home of many indigenous peoples spread out over the island archipelago. Among these are the Bataks, Tagbanuas and Palaw'an, frequent subjects of studies by anthropologists and social scientists.
In the Mantalingahan mountain area live the Palaw'ans, in general a peaceful, happy and non-violent people. Sub groups of Palaw'ans inhabit both the highlands and the coastal areas. One sub group in the southwest lowland area, the Kulbi-Kenipaqan, hold many cultural characteristics in common with the Palaw'an people in general, but also have at least one very distinct characteristic: the group has a particularly high suicide rate.
This book is essentially a study of the etiology of suicides, focusing primarily on the Kulbi-Kenipaqan. The Kulbi material culture, society, social organisation, beliefs etc, are studied in an effort to discover motivations for the large number of suicides. Charles MacDonald sets up a typology of probable causes, and, claiming suicide a common phenomenon in this particular culture, he then examines other studies of suicide in other parts of the world to explain why people kill themselves.
In his effort to put the Kulbi-Kenipaqans in context, MacDonald provides an exhaustive ethnographic study of Palaw'an culture and society, describing institutions like home and domestic life, swidden agriculture, social organisation, spiritual beliefs, moral values, personhood etc, and their possible links to the ‘uncultural behavior’ of the Kulbi people.
The study of suicide opens with the case of Sumling, a young wife and mother, who poisoned herself, and proceeds to narrate the circumstances of the suicide, the subsequent events linking other members of the family, and the litigation process, a series of public hearings (bitsara) conducted by the Chief elder. The bitsara centred on the consequent problems brought about by the suicide, such as how to award the custody of the children, bringing into consideration the interplay of kinship relations, and other institutions governing the relevant socio-legal factors. The case of Sumling contextualised suicide as a ‘custom’ (adat), ‘something that is specifically Palawan and that outsiders cannot comprehend’ (p. 155). Suicide is then ‘conceptualized as both a natural and cultural process’.
Eighty-seven cases of suicide occurring from 1945 to 2002 are examined, listing motivation from old age and sickness, strife between husband and wife, jealousy and desertion of spouses, sorrow and loss, sickness and pain. A table gives the name, sex, age, year, motive, method, place and social environment of each suicide case. Some significant observations are (1) more men than women commit suicide, and young men kill themselves more often than older men; (2) hanging is the preferred method; and (3) a ‘great majority of cases result from tensions originating’ within a closely related circle (p. 209). A profiling of cases through multivariable analysis to determine patterns of suicidal behaviour yielded no general categorisation, since human emotions are always fluid and complex. But this profiling led to the conclusion that pain or stress were important factors in the emotional set up of the victims. However, the variety and large number of suicides among the Kulbi cannot be explained by only one factor, since the group must be differentiated from other Palaw'an groups in which suicide occurs much less frequently. A global explanation is necessary.
The studies of prominent sociologists and anthropologists are analysed for their views on motivation. Major consideration is given to Durkheim and his ‘sociological suicide’ theory; Bohanna and African suicide describing indigenous models and concepts; Devereaux's Mohave Indians and ethnography / ethnopsychiatry; Robinson's ‘pathological mourning’; Hippler's Eskimos and psychoanalysis; and Panoff's Maenge suicide in Oceania. MacDonald then offers an anthropological model for suicide, taking into consideration all the patterns / models examined and explaining at the same time the case of the Kulbis, who compare to other ‘small, endogamous and relatively isolated populations’ which are prone to suicide ‘not dependent on their culture or social structure’ (p. 262).
The specialist will have room to analyse the approaches / perspectives / hypothesis employed in the book. Delving into neurobiology and genetics to study human behaviour and culture makes for a multidisciplinary approach, expanding the field of social science analysis.
As an historian dabbling in the social sciences, this reviewer finds the book difficult to follow when anthropological terms, theories, diagrams are discussed. Nonetheless, the ethnographic study is fascinating and compelling. The book adds to the growing studies on ethnic groups and becomes another source for the writing of a comprehensive history of the Province of Palawan, with an ethno-historical perspective.
