Positioning Analysis of Land Laws Affecting the Moro Lands
I
n positioning theory, statements given unilaterally (e.g., laws, policies, speeches, etc.) or in exchanges (e.g., conversations, discourses, etc.) are analyzed by: a) describing their underlying storyline, b) highlighting the positions of people in the storyline (i.e., what the speakers believe to be their own rights and duties vis-à-vis those of other people), and c) surfacing the apparent social meaning or intentions of the statements. Together, these three interrelated elements of statements (i.e., storyline, position, and meaning) are called “Positioning Triangle” (Harre & van Langenhove, 1999).
This section presents a positioning analysis of land laws affecting Moros’ access to their ancestral lands. This analysis points to three episodes.
The First Episode: The Moro Positioning in Adat or Customary Land Laws The first episode happened for centuries until before the 20thth century when customary land laws or adat determined the land rights of the Moro, as well as the land ownership and disposition processes in Mindanao. These customary land laws had two underpinning storylines. The first storyline was that lands were owned by the sultans and their chiefs of tribes. In this storyline, the sultans and chiefs of tribes were positioned as having the right to lease or grant ownership of lands, and their constituents and all other people as obliged to seek their permission or their generosity to occupy or acquire lands within the sultan’s or tribe’s area of control. The social meaning was the portrayal of the authority and preeminence of the sultans and the chiefs of tribes.
This “Positioning Triangle” is dynamic in that it transforms if its elements change, such as when the people depicted in the storyline reject the way they are being positioned and push for their repositioning. Each phase of the transformation of the positioning triangle is called an episode. A new episode ushers in when storylines change, repositioning of people happens, and new meanings and intentions emerge. 66
Land Tenure Book 1001.indd 66
10/1/09 11:19 AM