Crafting Community, Reconstructing Identities, and Performing Traditions: Ethnoarchaeology of Burnay Pottery Tradition and Community Integration in Vigan Ilocos, Sur, Philippines

Abstract

This ethnoarchaoeological research project examines how pottery is used in the construction, maintenance and reconstruction of the contemporary Vigan community in the province of Ilocos Sur, northern Philippines. During the past decade, the city of Vigan has been reconstructing its community identity as part of its transformation as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Site. Within this context, Vigan has been packaging a set of key symbols that help construct and convey a distinct sense of community identity. Significantly, local craft objects and crafting practices have been used to convey images and meanings of what it considers to be a part of community heritage. This study specifically investigates how the framing of burnay pottery production as a local craft tradition led to the privileging of burnay jars in representing the Vigan community. However, because the technology of burnay pottery production was introduced by Chinese immigrants in the late nineteenth century, its framing as a local tradition seems contradictory. By analyzing the technological attributes and production practices of the burnay pottery tradition, this study examines the contradictions and coherence in claims of heritage in crafting practices. Furthermore, in examining the transformation of an adopted technological practice into a local tradition, this study explores the construction of value surrounding the burnay pottery tradition and burnay jars within the Vigan community. It highlights the practice and performance of the burnay pottery tradition in attributing value to burnay jars as an important symbol for contemporary Vigan community identity.