Authentic, Though not Exotic http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/ Authentic, Though not Exotic en-us Nucleus CMS v3.22 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita//nucleus/nucleus2.gif Authentic, Though not Exotic http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/ Identity Does Matter/ Sí, importa la identidad http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/index.php?itemid=10

Can cultural identity create jobs? The case of the Filipino design group called "Movement 8" proves that it does. Kenneth Cobonpue is a member of this group. Like others, he opted not to follow designs prevalent in highly industrialized societies. These often use plenty of plastic and steel. Lacking efficient industries in those fields, we cannot compete in them. Instead he decided to highlight traditional Filipino skills in weaving with rattan. At the same time, he innovated by mixing rattan with metal frames. Or by drawing inspiration from found objects such as a crushed Coca-Cola can. The resulting strong identity has won fame for him and for his group. According to Time Magazine, July 24, 2006, from which this photo was taken, Brad Pitt bought this splendid bed from him.

¿Créa empleo la identidad cultural? El caso del grupo filipino de diseño llamado "Movement 8" demuestra que sí. Kenneth Cobonpue es un miembro de este grupo. Como los demás, optó por no seguir diseños en boga en países industrializados que usan mucho plástico y acero. Porque no tenemos industrias en esos products que son eficazes, no podríamos competir. Al contrario hizo resaltar la habilidad tradicional filipina en tejer con bejuco (o con la caña de Manila). Al mismo tiempo innovó, mezclando el bejuco con entramados de metál. O se inspiró en objetos echados y encontrados como una lata machacada de Coca-Cola. Una identidad fuerte ha resultado. Esta ha ganado fama para él y su grupo. Según el Time Magazin, 24 de julio, 2006, de lo cual se sacó esta foto, Brad Pitt compró este lecho esplendido de él.]]> General http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/index.php?itemid=10 Sun, 24 Sep 2006 08:30:37 -0500 As yet an Asian Flavor does not Exist (An Excerpt from the Book) http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/index.php?itemid=4 The Philippines constitutes the only true end-point of the world.
—Pierre Chaunu 1960, Les Philippines et le Pacifique des Ibériques

JAVANESE DIP DEEP-FRIED and roasted foods either in sambal—a paste made from red chili peppers, garlic, salt, and sugar—or in terasi, a fermented shrimp/fish paste that may be studded with chopped red chilies. Tagalogs prefer dipping sauces with a sour base: palm vinegar with a lone crushed chili pepper pod; vinegar with slivers of onion with mashed garlic and pepper; chopped green camias and tomatoes; or small raw pickled mangoes mixed with tomatoes and coriander. Though the Javanese use some tamarind juice in their dishes, they complain that the Tagalog’s sour dishes, especially those cooked in vinegar, upset their system. On the other hand while the Tagalogs use some chili pepper, many of them claim that sambal burns their stomach. Which taste is more authentically “Asian”: the Javanese or the Tagalog?

Many assume that an identifiable pan Asian sensibility exists in all domains, from philosophy to literature to music to cooking; and that while Javanese culture is authentic, because it conforms to this ideal norm, Tagalog culture is inauthentic because submission to Spanish colonization has alienated it from this norm. Thus, the writer Mariles Vitug (interview 1997) asked the culinary expert Doreen Fernandez, “The Philippines has been colonized twice. Did this confuse the country’s cuisine?” Note the loaded word “confuse.” In an interview for the Philippine Star, Lorrie Reynoso, a chef instructor at the prestigious New York Restaurant School, says that the consensus of Filipinos and American food editors and critics is that when Westerners think of Asian cuisine, “whether it is Thai, Burmese, Indonesian,” they always associate it with indigenous spices “which Philippine cuisine does not have” (Martel 1997).

Download Excerpt]]> Excerpts http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/index.php?itemid=4 Wed, 2 Aug 2006 22:10:02 -0500 Toward a Community Broader than the Kin (An Excerpt from the Book) http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/index.php?itemid=3 Kung ang pagibig ay wala ang mga Bayan ay dili magtatagal.

If love is absent, countries will not last.

—Emilio Jacinto, ca. 1895–1896


SOME TEACHER-FRIENDS in the Ilocos confide that when they visit an unfamiliar hamlet, even within the same municipality where they reside, they carry small bottles of consecrated coconut oil1 as protection against sorcery. One supposed sign of hexing is stomach disorder. When I would mention wanting to visit, say, another hamlet a few kilometers down the road, friends would warn me that it harbored sorcerers [mannamay]. However, in that hamlet down-the¬-road, friends there would be concerned that I had been staying in that hamlet up the road. They feared it for its sorcerers! This suspiciousness toward outsiders, even of the same ethnicity and language, has characterized non Ilocanos as well at certain times in their history. Maximo Ramos (1971, 48), the folklorist, relates a 1930s tale from the Tagalog speaking town of Lucban, Quezon. Teachers came from all over the province for a seminar. The townspeople claimed that during that week, black winged creatures with human heads and torso but no lower bodies flew at night. After the seminar ended, peace returned. Bicolanos have also had a similar tendency to accuse the stranger of witchcraft (Lynch 1963, 151). So do rural dwellers in Samar according to my sociologist colleague Leslie Lopez (2002) who hails from that province.

Download Excerpt]]> Excerpts http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/index.php?itemid=3 Wed, 2 Aug 2006 22:07:41 -0500 An Identity under Question (An Excerpt from the Book) http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/index.php?itemid=2
In the realm of taste, as in other realms, such respect is closer now than before, but still remote. Part of the problem is presentation. Ordinary Filipino restaurants, both here and abroad, do not make their offerings visually attractive. As even Filipinos complain, “Everything looks brown!” And, because our restaurateurs skimp, they will not serve the sawsawan [dipping sauce] in a saucer but instead stock it in a bottle on the table. But as serious, as this lack of concern for the customer, is the question of self-respect. While Filipinos love their cuisine, when asked about its characteristics, some answer, “There really is no Filipino cooking. It’s Spanish, it’s Chinese.” Or worse, according to a Filipina who runs a Thai restaurant, “Kare-kare1 like the rest is bastardized cooking.”

Download Excerpt]]> Excerpts http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/index.php?itemid=2 Wed, 2 Aug 2006 21:55:37 -0500 WELCOME TO THIS WEBSITE http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/index.php?itemid=1
During my first trip to Europe as a young man in the 1960s, my father and I met two poor, non-Spanish speaking Filipino migrant workers. They introduced us to a group of Spanish and Spanish American migrant workers at a parish in Hamburg who had formed an association for mutual help. Although the language used was, of course, Spanish, the two Filipinos had been invited to join. The idea was that, being Filipino, they too shared a common Hispanic heritage and should thus be helped.

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In the 1970s, I took my Masters and Doctorate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Hawaii thanks to a scholarship from the East-West Center. I felt at home among native Hawaiians because of words shared in common: ‘lani’ for ‘langit’ (meaning ‘sky’) or ‘ima’ for ‘lima’ (meaning five). I liked ‘laulau’ which was a fistful of pork, fish, and chunks of gabi (taro) that had been wrapped with gabi leaves before baking. It recalled our own ‘laing’ except that ours has chili peppers. The ancestors of South Pacific Islanders had migrated from eastern Philippines and Indonesia eastwards over the great ocean, over 3000 years ago, and had carried with them many practices, including this dish.

One final experience: A Filipino easily picks up Indonesian/ Malay because of the linguistic similarities. This opens friendships. But there are other intersections. In a mountain village in West Java, my student and I were chatting with a farmer when the siren blew at 6 pm. I asked why. Our host explained that 6 pm marked a division between day and night. Spirits were roaming about, children should go home. I suddenly remembered how back in Luzon, when the Angelus peals at 6 pm, children are sent home for the exact same reason. When I told him about this, he beamed.

The majority culture in the Philippines is what anthropologists call ‘Lowland Christian Filipino culture’ to differentiate it from the cultures of the Uplands in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao which were neither hispanized nor islamized, and from the Islamized cultures of Sulu and Western Mindanao. Unfortunately, many Filipinos today seem not to think that their Lowland Christian culture is an asset. I hear educated fellow Filipinos characterize their culture as ‘mongrel,’ ‘bastardized,’ ‘derivative’, ‘imitative.’

Internationally, Philippine culture in general does not seem to garner much respect in English-speaking countries and in the rest of Asia. A friend exports antique-inspired furniture made in Vigan to Japan. But her Japanese distributor cautions her that she should pass them off as ‘made in Spain’ rather than ‘made in the Philippines. Together with Paulo Alcazaren and Elizabeth Reyes, I was asked by a publishing house in Singapore, Periplus, to work on a book on outstanding examples of contemporary Philippine residential architecture. The original title was supposed to have been ‘Filipino modern.’ But the marketing department suggested that it be changed to ‘Tropical living: dream houses from the Philippines.’ If the title had been ‘Thai modern’ or ‘Balinese modern’ there would have been no objection.

Why is this the case? Why are Filipinos uneasy about their culture? And why is it that in many countries, our culture does not seem to be respected?

Welcome to this website on my book Authentic though not exotic: Essays on Filipino identity. In the book, I explore reasons for the unease many Filipinos have about their identity. I have identified four suppositions.

Supposition 1: Many things Filipino, being Spanish-influenced, must be tainted since all the problems of the Philippines began only with Magellan.

Supposition 2: Filipinos merely copied from Europeans. Being oppressed, they could not have been original.

Supposition 3: Filipino culture must be bastardized since both interracial and intercultural mixtures are everywhere scorned as ‘illegitimate.’

Supposition 4: Filipino culture is unnatural. Though located in Asia and Southeast Asia, it is heavily influenced by both Spain and the U.S.

These four suppositions make it difficult for Filipinos to be proud of their culture and to project it in the global village. They also make it difficult for outsiders to appreciate our achievements as a people.

There is a central narrative that underlies my response to these suppositions. However, like many narratives, this one began as a personal one. I wanted to make sense of my being Filipino. When I discovered that there is much in being Filipino that made me feel good, I decided to share my discoveries with others by writing these essays, during my free time, over the past two decades. I hope you can benefit from them. I welcome your own comments and ideas. Thank you.]]> General http://dsa-ateneo.net/fzialcita/index.php?itemid=1 Tue, 6 Jun 2006 09:24:57 -0500