On the Potential of Cultural Heritage in Understanding Earthquakes Beyond Hazard and Disaster

This presentation will explore Kapampangan seismology, that is, how people consider ayun (earthquake) and their impact across the Kapampangan region of the Philippines. It will challenge the dominant contemporary interpretation that ayun are the extra-ordinary causes of disasters because they alter the ability of people to flourish in life. We will consider that this perspective is a Western legacy that does not reflect the reality of people’s understanding of the world as expressed in the local (intangible) cultural heritage. We will rather suggest that contemporary interpretation of ayun in the Kapampangan region reflects a hybrid perspective, where precolonial beliefs co-exist alongside the colonial legacy and contemporary globalised discourses. In doing so we will particularly focus on the role of the dapu (crocodile) and how’s its perception in relation to ayun and nganib (hazard) has changed over time but has remained prevalent in local (intangible) cultural heritage. We will ultimately argue that the contemporary hybrid interpretation of ayun reveals a form of resistance to the colonial project.