Assimilation: The Slow and Deadly Poison

Monica Mendoza-Castrejon

7-7-14

Study Abroad in the PI

Andresen & Panganiban

Objective Knowledge and the consequences of Benevolent Assimilation were the main focuses for this week’s experiences. Through the visit to Intramuros, the courses taught by Oscar Campomanes and artist exhibition, I was able to more objectively look into the transfer of knowledge and the slow, deadly poison which is the process of making a group of people believe that being assimilated is good for them. In this post, I will discuss how American Occupation has led to the perception of Benevolent Assimilation in the Philippines through different forms of colonization such as physical occupations of spaces, and how the Filipino people and diaspora have been able to combat this through self-defense in its many forms, whether it be art, sport, or education.

Starting the week off with the visit to Intramuros was a very good choice to discuss assimilation. The visit to Intramuros was in a sense introducing the group to when the process of Benevolent Assimilation began, and can be connected to the Ileto reading on “The Philippine-American War, Friendship and Forgetting”. This reading gave me further insight on connecting the history of the Philippines and the ‘walled city’ and what it could mean to “bury the past” (Ileto, pg 17). Going through the once walled city that was the center of Spanish and Chinese occupation ending with a reflection on Jose Rizal, made me question my own past and influences as a Chicana in the US, from Martin Luther King Jr to Cesar Chavez and even Karl Marx.

 To many others, these would be considered national heroes, well known throughout the world. But “no one” ever talks about Malcolm X, Batouhin, Andres Bonafacio, Lapu Lapu, and Emiliano Zapata, whom are more militant but often debated to be the true heroes in the struggle. Leaving the site to then attend the class taught by Oscar Campomanes on Filipino American identity then made me question how my own identity as a Chicana/Mexican American female is perceived in Mexico, and think about how education is one of the ways in which Filipinos and Filipino Americans in particular have been able to resist ‘Benevolent Assimiliation’. The term Benevolent Assimilation was found in all three readings for this week, and introduced in last week’s readings.

The Twain and Zinn readings further describe Benevolent Assimilation and what it could entail, which I found easier to grasp in the comic. In the comic, we got an overview of the history of ‘how’ Filipinos were assimilated with commentary from Mark Twain and Howard Zinn, which relates to the reading on “The Person Sitting in Darkness” by Mark Twain. Although the reading from Mark Twain might have appeared to be supportive of the Filipino experience going through colonization of Spain and the US, I found it to be a typical privileged, White American response to try to sympathize with People of Color. An example is when Twain mentioned “that the People who Sit in Darkness have noticed it - they have noticed it, and have begun to show alarm… The Blessings of Civilization are all right” (Twain, pg 61). This then brings me to another point on self-defense through sport which we all experienced through the Arnis classes. Being in the Arnis classes gave me insight into the sport which the Filipinos used to defend themselves and eventually take over, Magellan. Furthermore, Benevolent Assimilation means that Europeans were in a sense, slowly yet surely implementing their ideologies on the Filipino people. Of course, not just with Filipino people but other groups around the world. Through Arnis, the Filipino people were able to prove that one not need guns to defeat an enemy, and not just to ‘prove’, but also for everyone to acknowledge an ancient art form used in self-defense and activities.

To continue, art is another form of resistance, as I have previously mentioned last week, and is relevant to the topic of resisting Benevolent Assimilation, and can be shown in the comic by Howard Zinn and also the artwork we had the privilege of seeing at PWU for the PINTABS group’s Artists Showcase. 

While I did not have the opportunity to create an artwork this week for the blog, I did reflect on songs which relate to the Filipino American experience and the combating of Benevolent Assimilation. I immediately thought of this song titled “Mr. Sagittarius… A Proletarian Path to Enlightenment” by Filipino American Hip Hop artist Power Struggle.

Discussion Question: How do you know when you are at the point of being fully assimilated or in the process of being assimilated? Do you think it would ever be fully possible to completely resist colonization and assimilation/acculturation?

Works Cited

Ileto, R.C. (1998). The Philippine-American War, Friendship and Forgetting. In Shaw, A.V. & Francia, L.H. Vestiges of war. (pp. 3-21). New York: New York Press.

Twain, M. (2002). To the person sitting in darkness. In Shaw, A.V. & Francia, L.H. Vestiges of war. (pp. 57-68). New York: New York Press.

Zinn, H. (2008). Invasion of the Philippines. In A people’s history of American empire. (pp.53- 72) NY: Metropolitan Books.