Urgent Anthropological Field Work in Southeast Asia. The North of Cambodia and the South of the Philippines
We present an overview of the fieldwork in Cambodia and the Philippines in 2017-2018, mainly focused on the endangered indigenous cultures. The research concentrated on oral literature, ethnobotany of betel and traditional wine making, shamanism, sorcery and healing. Different backgrounds of the two authors added to the understanding of differences and to defining similarities of the insular and mainland cultures. In Cambodia, we were a part of an expedition organized by linguists, who concentrated on the survey of Bakhnaric languages of Ratanakiri province, initiated in 2015. M. V. Stanyukovich resumed the ethnographic survey of the area, started three years ago, working with the Tampuan, Kroeng, Katyok, and getting collateral materials in the adjacent Kmer and Lao villages. R. V. Fedorov participated in both surveys. In the Philippines, the most fruitful work proved to be on the island of Mindanao, among the Tboli of South Cotabato and the Sama-Bajau of Davao. We managed to record the performance of the Tudbulul epic in Tasiman, Lake Sebu, and a number of kata-kata songs of the Sama of Khana-an, Matina Aplaya. We found interesting parallels between the practices of the mananambal, Catholic sorcerers and the healers of Cebu and Siquijor, and those of the kru - shamans and medicine men of the Tampuan and the Kroeng of Cambodia.