Frank Xavier Lynch, S.J., “Ang mga Aswang: A Bicol Belief,” in Philippine Society and the Individual: Selected Essays of Frank Lynch, edited by Aram A. Yengoyan and Perla Q. Makil, 184–206. Quezon City: Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University, (1949) 2004.

Authors

Miguel Angelo F. Galvez, Ateneo de Manila UniversityFollow

Abstract

Excerpt: Fr. Frank Xavier Lynch, S.J. was an anthropologist and a pioneering figure in Philippine social sciences during the twentieth century, emphasizing the centrality of Philippine values in understanding local social structures (Sicat 1978; Advincula-Lopez 2023, 109; Philippine Social Science Council 1978). This is reflected in Lynch’s seminal 1749 work “Ang mga Aswang: A Bicol Belief,” the first analytical work on the aswang belief, a native supernatural belief in the Philippines (Ramos 1971, x). His work documents beliefs and practices related to the aswang, establishing it as a generic term for a profane being possessing supernatural powers emanating from pacts with evil spirits. They typically possess an appetite for phlegm and mucus of the sick, or the skin and blood of the deceased (Lynch [1979] 2004, 185). They are also a boogeyman-like figure inversely representative of sacred social values and norms enduring through the Bicol respondents during the data gathering period (1946 to 1948). Since its publication, his typology of the aswang and documentation of practices and beliefs have served as a foundation for subsequent scholarship on the aswang belief (Ramos 1971; Pertierra 1983).

Recommended Citation

Galvez, Miguel Angelo F. (2024) "Frank Xavier Lynch, S.J., “Ang mga Aswang: A Bicol Belief,” in Philippine Society and the Individual: Selected Essays of Frank Lynch, edited by Aram A. Yengoyan and Perla Q. Makil, 184–206. Quezon City: Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University, (1949) 2004.," Social Transformations Journal of the Global South: Vol. 12: Iss. 1, Article 5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13185/2799-015X.1209
Available at: https://archium.ateneo.edu/socialtransformations/vol12/iss1/5