E-TA: How Aetas Represent Themselves on the Internet

ABSTRACT

This study identifies how indigenous peoples represent themselves on the new media specifically internet users who belong to an Aeta ommunity in the Immanuel Bible School in Capas, Tarlac. It tries to examine the factors that could have informed such generation of representations. The generation of identity on the internet is based on how a certain group of Aetas present themselves on Facebook.

While there have been several studies on representations by and of indigenous peoples, this study takes on a different angle by looking into how representations are made, especially with the advent of new media. As an indigenous community, the study probes into individuals in the community and how they represent themselves based on their collective identity. Edward Said’s orientalism, Arjun Appadurai’s ethnoscapes and social identity theory are the main frameworks that govern this study on identity and representations. Although it is highly likely that representations are based on collective identities, other factors and influences will also be taken into account, on how even these collective identities are re-represented.

Keywords: representation, identity, internet, ethnoscapes, Aetas

Terada, T.S. (2013). E-Ta: How Aetas Represent Themselves on the Internet. Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines, College of Mass Communication.

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