Gerard Rixhon, M.A.

Gerard Rixhon is a Belgian-born Filipino citizen who has obtained his MA degree in Anthropology from Ateneo de Manila University in 1971. Previous to that he has had some 20 years of experience in education, medical work, and research in Tawi-Tawi and Sulu. A few months after the February 1974 battle of Jolo, Gerry found it difficult to do research under “military protection” and left for Manila and later  Indonesia. There, he did some collection of data in linguistic anthropology among the Orang Badjo (who belong to the same Sama ethnolinguistic group as the Tawi-Tawi Bajau) of Central Celebes  (Sulawesi Tenggah). However, having come from the secession-torn Sulu did not help him and soon police restrictions similar to those earlier in Jolo, Sulu brought him back to Manila. Eleven years were  then spent in scholarship management from Bangkok followed by four more years from Manila which brought him to a large number of Asian universities throughout South, Southeast and East Asia where he engaged Asian social scientists on various training and development issues. Retiring in Manila, in 1992, Mr. Rixhon rejoins this department as a part-time lecturer. He has also helped the Consuelo Foundation in  conceptualizing and assisting their “Leadership Training Program for Indigenous Youth in the Philippines. As indicated in the following partial Bibliography, he continues to write on Muslim life in Southeast Asia and on the oral traditions of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.