Fowler Talk featuring Marlon Martin (Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement)
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Lenart Auditorium
Fowler Museum at UCLA
This panel discussion re-examines Philippine history through the lens of Ifugao autonomy and resilience. UCLA Professor Stephen Acabado and community leader Marlon Martin trace how the rice terraces flourished not in isolation but as acts of resistance to colonial intrusion. They are joined by Karminn Daytec Yañgot (University of the Philippines Baguio) and Yi-Chin Wu (National Taiwan University). The conversation situates Ifugao agriculture, ritual exchange, and environmental design as dynamic systems of adaptation that continue to inform climate discourse today.
Moderator:
Stephen Acabado (UCLA)
Stephen B. Acabado is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
Panelists:
Marlon Martin (Save the Ifugao Rice Terraces Movement)
Marlon Martin, the chief operating officer of the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement (SITMo), is a dedicated advocate for the preservation of cultural heritage and sustainable development in the Philippines. SITMO is a community-based heritage conservation organization. In 2012, Martin founded the Kiyyangan Weavers Association, aimed at conserving the weaving heritage of Ifugao while improving the economic livelihoods of local farmer-weavers. The organization now goes by the brand Ifugao Nation, a social enterprise with a heritage conservation advocacy. His commitment to cultural preservation extends further through the establishment of the Ifugao Indigenous Peoples Education Center and Community Heritage Galleries in Kiangan, Ifugao Province, fostering community initiatives for local heritage education. The galleries feature a weaving center, an ethnographic gallery and a small library on Ifugao culture. Martin collaborates with academia and government agencies, focusing on researching and documenting the endangered traditions of his people and promoting social enterprise development.
Karminn Daytec Yañgot (University of the Philippines Baguio)
Karminn C.D. Daytec Yañgot is a Kankana-ey anthropologist and development practitioner whose work asks how Indigenous peoples in the Philippines today represent themselves, make claims, and navigate systems that define who they are. She approaches these questions from her standpoint as an Igorot woman and holds a Ph.D. in Indigenous Studies. She co-convenes the Indigenous Studies Circle, a collective rethinking dominant narratives of Indigeneity and pushing for Indigenous-led, community-grounded knowledge production. Moving between anthropology and development studies, she is drawn to broader issues of human rights and transitional justice, collective flourishing, and storytelling as a mode of inquiry. On the side, Karminn is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of the Philippines–Baguio.
Yi-Chin Wu (National Taiwan University)
Yi-Chin Wu is an Assistant Professor in the Program of Asia-Pacific Regional Studies at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan. She has worked with Indigenous peoples in Taiwan and the Philippines for over two decades. With an interdisciplinary background in forestry and development studies, her research focuses on Indigenous rights, the politics of knowledge, and the intersections of development, environment, and Indigenous governance.
Sponsor(s): Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA Division of Social Sciences, the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, and the Office of Senator Loren Legarda (Senate of the Philippines)