Abstract
Philippine migration studies have tended to emphasize the drawing power of the global labor market and the Philippine response to these labor demands. While these studies have obvious value to systematic investigations of global processes, there is a definite merit to explore migration within the context of an “earlier globalization ” which occured roughly in the late thirteenth century until the arrival of the Spanish colonial powers toward the latter half of the sixteenth century. What emerges is a movement of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula toward many parts of Southeast Asia including the Philippines, establishing settlements and laying the foundation for institutions that have been entrenched and sustained even during the colonial period. Drawing from secondary sources as well as archival research, this paper seeks to investigate more deeply the waves of Arab (and other Middle Eastern) migrations to pre-colonial Philippines . A historical approach to the study of migration is an effort to offer a counter-narrative to the more dominant Spanish-Christian-American account of Philippine history . It also attempts to reveal the forces that have shaped a pluralistic Philippine culture despite the insistence of Christian hegemony . Finally, the paper promotes a historical perspective to migration studies that foreground transnational connections through local and regional connections, which, in the Philippine case, illustrates the enduring transnational connections between the Hadramawt region in Yemen and the southern sultanates in the Philippine archipelago .
Nothing reveals the true character of a nation, its capabilities,
tendencies and resources, better than its history.
Najeeb Saleeby, The History of Sulu 1908.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The IOTE is defined as “embracing not only the littoral regions of the Indian Ocean ranging from east Africa through the Bay of Bengal but also the archipelago regions of Southeast Asia and the further littoral regions of China, Korea and Japan. It is my premise that these all functioned as one great integrated trade network that was rooted in the Indian Ocean”. See Clark (2006, p. 38).
- 2.
An elaborate discussion on the different diasporas and their typology can be found in Slama and Heiss (2013, pp. 234–237).
- 3.
Among the well-known attempts are Teodoro Agoncillo’s Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan (1956); Renato Constantino and Letizia Constantino’s A Past Revisited (1975) and The Philippines: The Continuing Past. See full reference details below.
References
Abella, M. (2006). Policies and best practices for management of temporary migration. International symposium on international migration and development. Population division, economic and social affairs. United Nations Secretariat. Turin, Italy. https://www.un.org/esa/population/migration/turin/Symposium_Turin_files/P03_SYMP_Abella.pdf. Accessed March 15, 2014).
Abinales, P. M. (2000). Making Mindanao: Cotabato and Davao in the formation of the Philippine Nation-State. Quezon City, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Press.
Abu-Lughod, J. (1989). Before European hegemony: The world system A.D. 1250–1350. New York: Oxford University Press.
Abu-Lughod, J. (1992). The world system in the thirteenth century: Dead-end or precursor? In M. Adas (Ed.), Islamic and European expansion. The forging of a global order. Philadelphia: Templeton University Press.
Abushouk, A. I., & Ibrahim, H. A. (2009). The Hadrami diaspora in Southeast Asia: Identity maintenance or assimilation? The Netherlands: Brill Publishers.
Agoncillo, T. M. (1956). The revolt of the masses: The story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.
Baraguir, D. A. (2004). From ascent and descent to the revival: An introduction to the history and genealogy of the Maguindanao Sultanate. Paper read at conference on the history and genealogy of the Sultanates of Maguindanao, Sulu and Borneo. Zamboanga City, Philippines: Western Mindanao State University.
Ceniza-Choy, R. (2003). Empire of care: Nursing and migration in Filipino American history. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.
Clark, H. R. (2006). Maritime Diasporas in Asia before Da Gama: An introductory commentary. Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient, 49(4), 385–394.
Clarence-Smith, W. G. (2004). Middle Eastern migrants in the Philippines: Entrepreneurs and cultural brokers. Asian Journal of Social Science, 32(3), 425–457.
Clarence-Smith, W.G. (1997). Hadrami Entrepreneurs in the Malay World c. 1750 to 1940: In U. Freitag and W.G. Clarence-Smith (Eds.), Hadrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean 1750s – 1960s. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill Publishers
Constantino, R., & Constantino, L. R. (1979). The Phiippines: The continuing past. Manila, Philipipne: Foundation for Nationalist Studies.
Constantino, R., & Constantino, L. R. (1975). The Philippines: A past revisited. Manila, Philippines: Foundation for Nationalist Studies.
Del Rosario, T. C. (2014). Protecting the migrant: The case of Sri Lanka. In her The State and the Advocate: Case Studies on Development Policy in Asia. UK: Routledge.
Erlandson, J. M. (2010). Ancient Immigrants: Archaeology and Maritime Migrations. In J. Lucassen, L. Lucassen, & P. Manning (Eds.), Migration history in world history: Multidisciplinary approaches. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers.
Hayase, S. (2007). Mindanao ethnohistory beyond nations. Maguindanao, Sangir, and Bagobo societies in East Maritime Southeast Asia. Quezon City, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Press.
Ho, E. S. (2006). The graves of Tarim: Genealogy and mobility across the Indian Ocean. California, U.S.A: University of California Press.
Hoerder, D. (2002). Cultures in contact: World migration in the second millenium. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.
Hudawi, Z. & Abdul Jaleel, P. K. M. (2011). Hadrami diaspora in Indian Ocean territories, with special reference to Malabar. Paper presented at Shihab Tangal International Seminar. Calicut, India. http://twocircles.net/2011jul12/hadrami_diaspora_indian_ocean_territories_special_reference_malabar.html%23.VCfrXPmSz-k. Accessed September, 27 2014
Line of Succession of the Sultans of Sulu in the Modern Era. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Sulusultanategenaolgy.jpg. Accessed October, 1 2014).
Lucassen, Jon, Lucassen, Leo, & Manning, Patrick (Eds.). (2010). “Migration history: Multidisciplinary approaches” in their migration history in world history: Multidisciplinary approaches. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers.
Majul, C. A. (2010). An Analysis of Genealogy of Sulu. Paper presented at workshop-conference on Filipino Muslim History and Culture. Department of History, University of the East, Philippines (October, 20 1977). Reprinted in Asian Studies, 46(1–2), 17–33.
Majul, C. A. (1973). Muslims in the Philippines. Diliman, Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.
Majul, C. A. (1965). Political and Historical Notes on the old Sulu Sultanate. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 38(1): 23–42
Majul, C. A. (1966). Islamic and Arab Influences in the South of the Philippines. Journal of Southeast Asian History, 7(2), 61–73.
Majul, C. A. (1999). Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City, Philippines: University of the Philippines
Manger, L. (2010). Hadrami diaspora. Community building on the Indian Ocean. Oxford: Berghan Books.
Mastura, M. O. (1977). The rulers of Magindanao in modern history, 1515–1903: Continuity and change in a traditional realm in the Southern Philippines. Research Project No. 5. Manila, Philippines: Philippine Social Science Council, Modern Philippine History Program.
McConvell, P. (2010). The Archaeo-Linguistics of Migration. In Jon Lucassen, Leo Lucassen, & Patrick Manning (Eds.), Migration history in world history: Multidisciplinary approaches. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers.
Mojares, R. B. (1997). Revisiting local histories, Special issue: Local histories. Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 25(3/4), 225–231.
Rasul, J. D, Sr. (1999). Still chasing the rainbow: Selected writings of Jamial D. Rasul, Sr. on Filipino Muslims’ politics, history and law (Shari’ah). Quezon City, Philippines: FedPhil Publishing.
Salazar-Parrenas, R. (2001). Servants of globalization. Women, migration and domestic work. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Saleeby, N. (1905). Studies in Moro History, Law and Religion. Manila, Philippines: Bureau of Public Printing.
Saleeby, N. (1908). The History of Sulu. Manila, Philippines: Bureau of Public Printing.
Schiller, N. G. (2007). Beyond the nation-state and its units of analysis: Towards a new research agenda for migration studies. In. K. Schittenhelm (Ed.), Concepts and methods in migration research: Conference reader. www.cultural-capital.net. Accessed March 25, 2014.
Sheriff, A. (1988). Dhow cultures of the Indian Ocean: Cosmopolitanism, commerce and Islam. London: Hurst and Company.
Short History of the Sulu Sultanate (2014). http://sovereignsulu.webs.com/Short%20History-Sulu%20Sultanate.pdf. Accessed October, 1 2014; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sultans_of_Sulu. Accessed Ocrtober, 2 2014.
Slama, M., & Heiss, J. (2013). Comparing Arab Diasporas: Post-9/11 and historical perspectives on Hadhrami and Syro-Lebanese Communities in Southeast Asia and the Americas. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 3(2), 231–250.
Sultanate of Maguindanao. (2014). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultanate_of_Maguindanao. Accessed October 1, 2014.
Tregonning, H. G. (1970). The Philippine claim to Sabah. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 43(1), 161–170.
Walker, I. (2011). The Hadramis of the Indian Ocean: A Diaspora and its networks. The Compas Blog. http://compasoxfordblog.co.uk/2011/09/the-hadramis-of-the-indian-ocean-a-diaspora-and-its-networks/. Accessed March 10, 2014.
Warren, J. (1977). Balambangan and the Rise of the Sulu Sultanate, 1772–1775. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 50(1), 73–93.
Webster, P. J. (1920). Mindanao and Sulu Archipelago: Their natural resources and opportunities for development. Bureau of Agriculture Bulletin, 38, 41.
Yegar, M. (2002). Between integration and secession: The Muslim communities of the Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand, and Western Burma/Myanmar. Oxford, UK: Lexington Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cruz-del Rosario, T. (2016). Interrupted Histories: Arab Migrations to Pre-colonial Philippines. In: Lian, K., Rahman, M., Alas, Y. (eds) International Migration in Southeast Asia. Asia in Transition, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-712-3_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-712-3_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-287-711-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-287-712-3
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)