The Philippine Muslim Studies

The purpose of this paper is to selectively review the existing studies of Mus ims in the Philippines Most of these studies were Inotivated by a concem to understand this religious minority group which had been left out of the mainstream of Philippine history and culture and to integrate them intQ the Philippine nation In the l950s and l960s studies based on the modernization theory were prevalent whereas sirlce the l970s a number of studies have been published which attempt to analyze and explain the Muslim secessionist movement led by the MNLF Here I shall focus on two approaches adopted in studies of this subject one which explains the MindanaQ conflict mainly by socioeconomic factors and the other which emphasizes the role of Islam informing the Moro identity as opposed to the Filipino national identity Discussing some of the major works representing both approaches together with their contributions and shortcomings I conclude that we need to investigate the socio -ecQnomic conditions Qf Mindanao to examine how Mindanao people perceive these conditions and to consider how and to what extent Islam influences the formation of such perceptions