Arranged Marriage

Abstract

This poem, drawn from oral history interviews with my mother, a Kankana-ey woman from Bakun, Benguet, depicts her confrontation with tomok, an arranged marriage practice imposed on girls at a young age. Written in her voice, the poem captures her fears, silence, and act of resistance as she chooses to leave her 'ili' (community) and pursue her education. It illustrates the tension between cultural obligation and women’s aspirations within indigenous contexts. By portraying how women navigate gendered expectations and educational pursuits, the poem reveals that tradition does not uniformly silence women but can be negotiated through agency. This work contributes to gender and education discourse by foregrounding indigenous women's lived experiences and the transformative role of education in resisting normative structures.