Paper short abstract:

Gatbuca is a small pottery community in the town of Calumpit, Bulacan, Central Luzon Island, Philippines. Using ethnoarchaeology as a research strategy, this study will show that gender is an integral component of the chaine operatoire of pottery making in Gatbuca.

Paper long abstract:

Gatbuca is a small pottery community in the town of Calumpit, Bulacan, Central Luzon Island, Philippines. There are 67 full time and active potters in the village where they make utilitarian ceramic vessels such as cooking pots, pots for melting gold, pot covers, and flower pots. Using ethnoarchaeology as a research strategy, this study will show that gender is an integral component of the chaine operatoire of pottery making in Gatbuca and that pottery making is a complex process that entails the participation of both genders. From the acquisition, procurement and preparation of raw materials (clay, river sand temper, clay slip and fuel) and to forming and firing the vessels, the gender of the doer dictates who will perform the operation sequence. This study will also demonstrate that the vessel form or type, the size of the pottery and the forming technique (such as paddle and anvil, potter's wheel, slab building technique) used in making the pottery is associated with the gender of the potter. Moreover, the study will ascertain that the gender of the teacher and the apprentice is also a factor in learning how to make pots in Gatbuca. It will show that girls formally and informally learn primarily from their mothers while boys acquire their pottery making skills primarily from their fathers.