Blog #1: Claudette

Week One for me was the realization that I lack so much information about the history of my people. After reading the three passages, movie screening, and visiting Batad to La Union, I gained a new perspective in life, and made me acknowledge how the system in America has created a gap between me and my identity as a Filipina and will be working on how to bridge that gap.

Kidlat Tahimik surprised me with Enrique’s story. I would’ve never thought that the first person to go around the world is actually a native Filipino. Growing up in America, I was never engaged in any of my history classes because I didn’t care about the topics since I couldn’t relate to any of the,. Third Andresen wrote about how the educational system in America can be improved in which he suggested that “a curriculum involving Filipino experiences should them help to make them visible and less dependent on cultural psychological captivity or colonial mentality” (Andresen 80). If I learned about the history of Baguio or even know anything about how the independence of the Philippines came to be, I would be more appreciative of my ancestors be more engaged in the fight for our rights not just as Filipinos but also as humans. Learning the history of my people lets me know how I got to be where I am, which plays a big role in my own understanding of my identity.

Mababangong Bangungot is a story about a man who at first was eager to live the life of a foreigner but in the end realizes that he had the power within him to fight against that mentality and accept his own identity. To me, this is an inspiration. Santiago Bose wrote about his experience in St. John Hay base and it relates to how the influence of the American creates this oppressive mentality that white is better. What Bose faced was a shocking truth. He wrote “this incident brought home to us the fact that, to the Americans, we were outsiders, we didn’t count.” (Bose 6).  To this I say that it doesn’t matter if you count or not. Why must we try to be like them when we’re perfectly fine the way we are? The movie created a spark within me to promote justice for my people and truly think about what I want to do with the rest of my life. Do I want to get rich quick or tell stories waiting to be told? I will be firmer with my answer by the end of this program because I know gaining more perspective will definitely help me understand myself better.

“Save the nation through segregation”

Another topic that I thought was interesting was the question: What is progress? After hiking in Batad, I realized how hard the life is for people because of the hard commuting is for them. Someone had suggested making a cable car. To us Americans, that might seem like progress because it’ll make getting from one place to another easier, but in the perspective of the inhabitants, it might be a bother. Making the terraces more accessible to tourists would eventually ruin one of the wonders of the world. Erlyn Alcantara writes about how Baguio became the summer capital in the Philippines. She wrote, “The continuous decline in the area’s distinctive indigenous cultural expression has become irreversible.” (Alcantara 15). This means that one perspective of progress might be another’s perspective of destruction. The city was modeled by Americans and because of everything that was built; the destruction of the culture there became imminent. Globalization is a romanticized theory that might end up creating negative effect on the rest of the world. Thinking that what’s best for us is the best for all is basically pushing our beliefs onto everyone. In history, however, that mentality is the cause of casualties and wars. Because of this experience I am able to have a mindset in which to always think about the other side’s perspective because it might make your way of thinking invalid or unjust.

I hope that the upcoming experiences I’ll be encountering will help guide me into knowing what I can do to become part of the change. I still have yet to understand everything but that doesn’t discourage me. I am on my way to get out of the colonial mentality that the system has implanted in my head as I was growing up and this realization is hard but is needed. I will now make sure to shoot through the bamboo camera. I would like to thank Kidlat Tahimik for being an inspiration and role model, and all of those who made this program happen.

Discussion Question: What do you think progress is? What is your perspective in the topic of globalization?

Works Cited

Alcantra, E.R. (2002) Bagiuo between two wars: The creation and destruction of a summer capital. In Shaw, A.V. & Francia, L.H. Vestiges of war. (pp. 207-223). New York: New York Press.

Andresen, T. (2012). Knowledge construction, transformative academic knowledge, and Filipino American identity and experience, In E. Bonus, E. & D. Maramba, (Eds.) The “other“ students: Filipino Americans, education, and power. Charlotte, NC: IAP.

Bose, S. (2002). Bagiuo Graffiti. In A.V. Shaw & L.H Francia, Vestiges of war. (pp. 260-67). New York: New York Press.

Tahimik, Kidlat (1977) “Perfumed Nightmares” (film)