Paper short abstract:

This paper uses walking as a method and metaphor for exploring the interconnected landscapes and lives in Philippine rice terraces. Through walk-based multisensory mapping, it traces how physical pathways become vital lifelines of resilience, ecological care, and adaptation amid forces of change.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents a reflexive cartography of the pathways and places in Maligcong Rice Terraces, Bontoc, Philippines, focusing on the intricate intersections and divergences shaped by the continuous movements of its indigenous people. Employing the Bicol-Rinconada concept of pag-agi (walking), the author’s positionality as a Bicol-Rinconada researcher is at a junction with the Bontoc notion of inpasyar (walking). This dual lens hinges on the dialogic nature of ethnography where the outsider’s perspective is brought into conversation with the indigenous worldview towards a nuanced understanding of the support networks that sustain and embody Maligcong’s negotiations with change.

By mapping the physical pathways linking rice terraces, settlements, mountains, and culturally significant spaces, pathways are revealed not merely as routes of travel but as vital lifelines that articulate how the people of Maligcong move, interact, and manifest their values, challenges, and aspirations. The pathways, while bearing markers of external influences such as globalization and tourism, also reveal an itinerary of ecological symbiosis and restriction, illustrating the delicate balance between human activity and the environment.

Grounded in local narratives and enriched by walk-based multisensory mapping, this study prioritizes reflexivity by engaging the researcher physically and experientially with the landscape and interrogating how walking, in its social and symbolic dimensions, shapes perceptions of place, memory, and belonging. This research contributes to the discourse on movement and sensory engagement by reflecting the methodological potential of walking in generating new insights into the dynamic relationship between people, pathways, and the forces that shape them.