Resilience and Resistance: Examining the Exclusion of the Sama Badjao Indigenous Community in Post-Disaster Context

Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly destructive and unpredictable. Their impacts affect groups of people differently due to pre-existing discrimination and inequalities. In this presentation, I use a decolonial intersectional approach to examine the exclusion of the Sama Badjao, a former seafaring Indigenous community, focusing on their post-disaster experiences following Super Typhoon Rai in 2021. These experiences are situated within a historical context of exclusion and growing inequality shaped by gender, ethnicity, religion, and other intersecting factors. Drawing on data from my 10-month fieldwork (2021-2022) in the coastal area of Bato, Leyte, Central Philippines, I present how exclusion manifests as two ethnicities (In-group/outgroup) interact together during and after the typhoon with the scarcity of resources. The findings address the pervasive othering of the Indigenous community in the form of stigmas and stereotypes, highlighting how they resist dominant narratives, counteract their imposed identities, and challenge the representation of 'Badjao' on the periphery. Finally, it offers insights for developing inclusive disaster recovery and rehabilitation programs and addressing other long-term
community concerns.