"This study sets out to investigate the social system of a pagan group in central Mindanao which has never attracted attention previously. The intention is to describe the Manuvu' social system as it functions in the ethnographic present and as it has functioned during the recent past (up to and until 1941) in the important aspects of its social (family system and kinship system), economic, ritualistic, legal, and tribal) organizations. These aspects are studied primarily to formulate general statements concerning the nature of Manuvu' society and regularities in its structure and development by following the concept dynamically through time." --from the Introduction