Igorot Self-Representation in the #proud_to_be_an_igorot_challenge on Facebook

This chapter examines the rhetorical nature of self-representation in the #proud_to_be_an_igorot_challenge. This hashtag went viral on Facebook in response to misrepresentations of the Igorot, a collective term that refers to different Indigenous groups in the Philippines Cordillera region. Through a rhetorical analysis of five publicly available Facebook posts that used the hashtag, as well as interviews with five self-identifying Igorot social media users, I posit that #proud_to_be_an_igorot_challenge is a rhetorical invention, or more precisely, an argument or enthymeme, that responds to exigencies such as controversy, bigotry, prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination. In the #proud_to_be_an_igorot_challenge, self-representation was spurred by offensive material against Igorots in modules and textbooks produced by the Department of Education of the Philippines. While this is not the first time Igorots have been depicted negatively in learning materials, the hashtag was a recent rhetorical invention that optimizes the affordances of social media such as Facebook. Using David Zarefsky’s (2019) framework of argumentation as a perspective and James Martin’s (2014) rhetorical political analysis as a method, this paper asks: How does the #proud_to_be_an_igorot_challenge constitute a rhetorical invention and/or argument for Igorot self-representation? What are the communicative, embodied, and performative elements of the hashtag? Finally, what are the Igorots’ reflections on using the hashtag for Igorot self-representation?