Kwentuhan as the active weaving of kapwa relations: Notes towards a decolonizing practice in Philippine education

Abstract

This paper introduces kwentuhan as a practice for decolonization in Philippine education. Kwentuhan, commonly translated as storytelling or conversation, actively weaves kapwa relations, which are relations of reciprocity at the core of Filipino self-understanding. Decolonization entails challenging the absence of formal recognition of kwentuhan as a mode of discourse for learning and teaching in the classroom. I attribute this lack to colonial logics embedded in the Philippine educational system, modeled after western education during American colonization. Despite this dominance of the western model, kwentuhan remains ubiquitous, albeit marginalized in formal schooling. I describe kwentuhan as an active practice that resists the erasure of kapwa self-understanding. I argue for a formal inclusion of kwentuhan as a mode of discourse for learning and teaching in the classroom. This inclusion opens space for epistemological pluralism through reflexivity and articulation, making it a powerful decolonizing tool in Philippine education.