Badaseng: Reclaiming the Indigenous Maritory of the Sangir Diasporic Community in the Southern Philippines

The Sangir community in the southern Philippines has culturally specific ways of recognizing their territory, which differs from how it appears on a generic political map. This study argues that the Sangir people’s understanding of their indigenous "maritory," or marine territory, is fluid and extends beyond the demarcations of national territories, whether those of Indonesia or the Philippines. The study, which took place in four barangays in the southern Philippines and some areas in North Sulawesi between 2020 and 2022, found evidence of the Sangir’s indigenous maritory in the history of relationships among people in the area, the place-names, folklore on the relationships among people in the region, and their badaseng practice.