I am interested in ethnicity and cultural transformation especially concerning indigenous peoples vis a vis the nation-state. I examine the experiences of the Bagobo and neighboring peoples in Mindanao, the Philippines, by combining contemporary multi-site ethnography with a systematic use of late 19th-early 20th c museum data. Through the lens of their famed ikat textiles, cloth and dress is understood not only as a form of artistic expression or as material evidence of broader cultural meanings but also as a means for Bagobo men and women to engage their many social worlds. I also look at both island Southeast Asian and Western Pacific textile practices in consideration of cultural, protohistorical and technological implications of an unspun fiber (abaca, Musa textilis) in a region of longstanding and remarkable textile diversity.