by Danyal Qalb
Foreword by Tom Steffen
ISBN: 978-621-96888-5-7
This book explores how the Maguindanao perceive their reliance on orality and how this shapes their worldview and identity. Using ethnographic grounded theory, Danyal gathered stories, dialogues, and reflections through interviews and narrative-based focus groups. The findings reveal a tension between secular education, the striving for economic progress, and religious life, where oral traditions remain strong. Out of this dynamic emerges the Orality Education Grid (OEG), a framework for understanding orality reliance across both secular and religious education. The study highlights how high-orality-reliant ways of learning continue to shape thought, belief, and community life, offering insights for educators, spiritual leaders, and cross-cultural communicators.
Danyal is a German who grew up in Brazil and has worked among unreached people in the Philippines since 2007. He is the first to earn a PhD in Orality Studies and currently serves as Research Director with Orality Collaborators (https://orality.co). In this role, Danyal oversees the development of the Global Orality Mapping Project (GOMAP, https://gomap.pro), teaches orality principles and methods around the world, and is the co-founder and editor of the OralityTalks Journal (https://journal.oralitytalks.net).
