PhD, Sociocultural Anthropology
David Gowey completed his PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology at Arizona State University in 2025. His dissertation entitled "'Where We Left Off, There We Begin': Sugidanon Epic Performance in Calinog, Philippines" examined cultural education and change in Indigenous Panay Bukidnon communities. Previously, he received his Masters in Sociocultural Anthropology from ASU in 2019 and his Bachelors in Anthropology with a minor in History from Northern Arizona University in 2015. He graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2015 with a Bachelors in Anthropology and a minor in History. His research focuses on indigenous ethnohistory and oral literature of the Western Visayas, specifically the Panay Bukidnon sugidanon tradition, and exploring connections with other Philippine ethnic groups and broader Southeast Asia.
Doctor of Philosophy, Sociocultural Anthropology, December 2025
Arizona State University
Master of Arts, Sociocultural Anthropology, August 2019
Arizona State University
Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, May 2015
Northern Arizona University
Associate in Arts, May 2012
Mesa Community College
Associate in General Studies, May 2012
Mesa Community College
Ethnic performance and identity; ethnopedagogy; ethnohistory; Philippine studies; folklore; Austronesian languages; anthropology of colonialism; early modern Southeast Asian history
Peer-reviewed journal articles
5. 2025. Gowey, D. “‘Let the Story Go Round and Round’: Poetic Devices and Orality in Sugidanon Epics of Panay Island, Philippines.” The Journal of Asian Studies 84(2):360-381. DOI: 10.1215/00219118-11591169
4. 2025. Gowey, D. “Feminine Ideals in Indigenous and Spanish Colonial Literatures of Panay Island, Philippines.” Ethnohistory 72(1):125-158. DOI: 10.1215/00141801-11579530
3. 2024. Gowey, D. “‘The Pacific Turn’: A Rejoinder.” Colonial Latin American Review 33(3):320-346. DOI: 0.1080/10609164.2024.2403834
2. 2019. Gowey, D. “(Re)theorizing the Nation: Jocano’s Structural-Functionalism in the Neo-Colonial Order.” Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia 55(1-2):146-149.
1. 2019. Gowey, D. “Setting the Stage: A Thematic Analysis of the Tikum Kadlum Epic.” Philippine Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 22(1-2):65-75.
Book reviews
3. 2026. Gowey, D. “Smith, Will. Mountains of Blame: Climate and Culpability in the Philippine Uplands.” Journal of Ecological Anthropology 26(1):1-3. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/jea/vol26/iss1/3
2. 2025. Gowey, D. “Nono, Grace. Babaylan Sing Back: Philippine Shamans and Voice, Gender, and Place.” Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 20(2):312-316. https://doi.org/10.1353/mrw.2025.a978511
1. 2016. Gowey, D. “Muyco, Maria Christine. Síbod: Ideology and Expressivity in Binanog Dance, Music, and Folkways of the Panay Bukidnon.” Musika Jornal 12:91-95.
Peer-reviewed journal articles under review
1. Gowey, D. “‘No Costume, No Token’: Ethnic Performance and Dress in Upland Calinog, Philippines.”
Book chapters submitted
3. Gowey, D., Ho, C., McElderry, W., Perricone, O., Poole, P., and Yandall, S. “Open-Sourcing Ethnography: Digital Repatriation of the H. Otley Beyer Student Ethnography Collection.”
2. Gowey, D. “‘Mother of the Highest Chief’: A 17th Century Hispano-Visayan Mary.”
1. Gowey, D. “Oral Tradition, Authorship, and Repatriation: The Case of Panay Bukidnon Sugidanon Epics.”
Articles in progress
3. Gowey, D. “Loaves and Fishes: The 1624 Miracle of San Nicolás de Tolentino in Panay.”
2. Gowey, D. “‘Do Not Separate from the Land’: Indigenous Livelihoods and Identities in Upland Calinog, Philippines.”
1. Gowey, D. “Toy Made from a Krag Cartridge, Moro.”
2026 Fellow, LLILAS Benson Digital Scholarship Fellowship Program. Project Title: “Digital Mapping of the 1639-1640 Sangley Revolt.” Funding: University of Texas at Austin
2025-present Research affiliate, Cross-Cultural Dance Resources Collections.
2023-present Lead researcher, Romulo “Amang Baoy” Caballero Sugidanon Epic Documentation. Co-PIs: Romulo Caballero, Elsie Caballero Padernal.
2023-2024 Principal investigator, Sulod/Binukidnon/Archaic Kinaray-a data for Numeralbank, Lexibank (GLB0025). Co-PIs: Romulo Caballero, Elsie Caballero Padernal. Funding: Endangered Language Documentation Programme
2023-2024 Fulbright student, Open Study/Research Award, Philippines. Project title: “Sugidanon Chanting and Community-Based Ethnic Identity Expression in Calinog, Philippines.” Funding: Philippine-American Education Foundation, US Department of State
2022-present Principal investigator, H. Otley Beyer Student Ethnology Archive Digitization.
2019 Co-principal investigator, “Preliminary Interviews for Community Attitudes on Sugidanon (Epic) Chanting at the GAMABA Training Center in Garangan, Philippines.” PI: Pauline Wiessner. Funding: Graduate Research Committee Seed Grant. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University.
Courses
2025 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| ASB 499 | Individualized Instruction |
| ASB 499 | Individualized Instruction |
2025 “Oral Tradition, Authorship, and Repatriation: The Case of Panay Bukidnon Sugidanon Epics.” Balikan: Shared Stewardship & Ethical Returns for Philippine Collections Symposium. Ann Arbor, Michigan. October 24th-25th.
2025 “Open-Sourcing Ethnography: Digital Repatriation of the H. Otley Beyer Student Ethnography Collection.” Philippine Studies Conference 2025: Repatriating Philippine Heritage. London, United Kingdom. September 19th-21st.
2025 “‘Mother of the Highest Chief’: A 17th Century Hispano-Visayan Mary.” 5th Annual UCLA MEMSA Conference. Los Angeles, California. April 26th.
2025 “Feminine Ideals in Indigenous and Spanish Colonial Literatures of Panay Island, Philippines.” Graduate Studies Colloquium Series. University of the Philippines Diliman, College of Music. Quezon City, Philippines.
2024 “Chika as Method: Anthropology 101 and Beyond.” West Visayas State University. Iloilo City, Philippines.
2024 “Anthropology and Place-making.” Iloilo Science and Technology University. Iloilo City, Philippines.
2024 “‘Let the Story Go Round and Round’: Poetic Speech in Panay Bukidnon Sugidanon Epics.” First Conference on Global Indigenous Studies from Multiple Perspectives (CGIS). Bloomington, Indiana. November 15th-17th.
2024 “‘Do Not Separate from the Land’: Indigenous Livelihoods and Identities in Upland Calinog, Philippines.” Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies. Ogden, Utah. October 11th-12th.
2023 “Attribution and Indigenization in Late 19th/Early 20th Century Southern Philippine Metal Weapons.” Smithsonian Summer Institute for Museum Anthropology Symposium. Washington DC. July 14th.
2022 “‘Let the Story Go Round and Round’: Poetic Devices and Orality in Sugidanon Epics of Panay Island, Philippines.” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference. Honolulu, Hawai’i. March 24th-27th.
2022 (poster presentation) “Sugidanon Chanting and Community-Based Ethnic Identity Expression in Calinog, Philippines.” Arizona State University. Institute for Social Science Research Poster Contest. Tempe, Arizona.
2020 “Preliminary Findings from the School of Living Tradition, Garangan, Philippines.” Southwest Oral History Association Annual Conference, University of Nevada. Las Vegas, Nevada.
2020 “Pagkaing Pinoy, Panlasang Pandaigdig: The Globalization of Filipino Foodways from the Manila Galleon Trade to Jollibee.” The Philippines, Spain, and Globalization, Sixteenth Century to the Present: An International Conference, Ateneo de Manila University. Quezon City, Philippines. July 23rd-24th.
2019 “Colonial Inheritances: Religious Dialogues in the Philippine-American War.” New Perspectives on Religion in the Philippines Seminar, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting. San Diego, California. November 22nd-26th.
2019 “Preliminary Interviews for Community Attitudes on Sugidanon (Epic) Chanting at the GAMABA Training Center in Garangan, Philippines.” Summer Research and Fieldwork Symposium, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University. Tempe, Arizona.
2019 “‘This Is How It Began In The Past’: Foregrounding the Sugidanon of Panay as an Example of Invented Tradition.” School of Human Evolution and Social Change Undergraduate and Master’s Research Symposium, Arizona State University. Tempe, Arizona.
2019 “‘Change Me to a Chieftain’: Resistance and Persistence in Upland Panay Island, Philippines.” American Academy of Religion Western Region Annual Meeting. Tempe, Arizona. March 1st-3rd.
2018 “Beyond Humabon’s Moor: An Exploration of Islamic Presence in the Visayas.” New Perspectives on Religion in the Philippines Seminar, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting. Denver, Colorado. November 17th-20th.
2018 “Foregrounding the Sugidanon of Panay as a Representation of Ethnic Heritage.” International Conference on Intangible Cultural Heritage, University of the Philippines-Visayas. Iloilo City, Philippines. October 25th-26th.
2018 “‘Mormo-Materialism’ and the Rational Supernatural in Mormon Thought.” Summer Seminar on Mormon Culture, Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University. Provo, Utah.
2018 “Headhunting, Slave-raiding, and Shape-shifting: Modes of Prowess in an Early Modern Visayan Society.” Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference. Washington DC. March 23rd-25th.
2017 “Depictions of Panayanon Culture Heroes in Indigenous and Spanish Sources.” International Conference Marking the Centennial of Philippine Anthropology, University of the Philippines-Diliman. Quezon City, Philippines. December 1st-2nd.
2017 “The Problem of the Visayas in Southeast Asian History and Historiography.” New Perspectives on Religion in the Philippines Seminar, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting. Boston, Massachusetts.
2017 “Tikum Kadlum: Setting the Stage.” Pagtib-ong: International Conference on Intangible Heritage, University of the Philippines-Visayas. Iloilo City, Philippines. May 18th-20th.
2016 “Cultural Threat Assessment of the Jalaur Mega Dam II Project.” National Forum on Dams in Indigenous Peoples’ Ancestral Domains. Iloilo City, Philippines.
2015 “Woman as Moral Arbiter in Three Panay Bukidnon Epics: A Feminist/Functionalist Approach.” University of New Mexico AGSU Conference. Albuquerque, NM.
2014 “Contextualizing the Sugidanon: Providing a Framework for Inquiry.” National Conference on the Suguidanon (Epics) of Panay, University of the Philippines-Visayas. Iloilo City, Philippines. December 4th-5th.
2014 (poster presentation) “Modeling Panay Bukidnon Settlement Patterns.” Northern Arizona University, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Fall 2014 Poster Symposium. Flagstaff, Arizona. November 15th.
2014 (poster presentation) “Sanskrit Influence on Philippine Lexicons.” Northern Arizona University, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Fall 2014 Poster Symposium. Flagstaff, Arizona. November 15th.
2013 “Modern Technological Media as an Agent of Cultural Self-Determination.” PagBayaw Conference, University of the Philippines-Visayas. Iloilo City, Philippines. November 14th-16th.