Colonial Mentality

            Two of the assigned readings for our third week here in the Philippines focus on the intent and execution of education of the Filipinos through US colonial standards. The final reading, an exploratory study, looks at the psychological effects of education and other Americanized institutions by measuring occurrences colonial mentality collective self-esteem. Our experiences from this week illuminate the material we read. I will systematically analyze each experience and speak of its importance and connection to the reading. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that the effects of the United States have on the Philippines is very prevalent today and can be seen in academic settings like the University of Santo Tomas and Ateneo University as well as in events like professional basketball tournaments. We also had the chance to visit the Aguinaldo shrine in Cavite and Marcos’s abandoned home in Tagaytay. I felt that although there is a rich history behind both of these sites, they were created into tourist attractions, which made it easy to forget. I would like to include, however, that we’ve encountered artistic movements that question and even oppose American culture to highlight Filipino identity as well as exhibits at the Ayala museum that attempt to embrace pre-colonial Filipino history.  

            Visiting University of Santo Tomas (UST), the first westernized university established in Asia, was an enlightening experience for me because of its similarities to University of Washington. The architecture of the buildings is reminiscent of many of the old universities and colleges in the United States. These similarities illuminate what was explored and further analyzed in Renato Constantino’s article, The Miseducation of the Filipino. Constantino states, “Colonial education has not provided us with a realistic attitude toward other nations, especially Spain and the United States. The emphasis in our study of history has been on the great gifts that our conquerors have bestowed on us” (Constantino 186). The last part of this quotation resonated with me because of the prestige and reputation that UST has in modern Filipino society, as our tour guides for the day pointed out. Ateneo University is also held in high esteem – we were told that Ateneo is comparable to Harvard because of the socioeconomic status of the people who attend the university. At Ateneo, we had a brief discussion about language and found that English is still strongly favored as the language to use in formal schooling. Constantino finds flaws in this point by stating, “Not only do we imitate Western education, we have patterned our education after that of the most technologically advanced Western nation. The gap between the two societies is very large. In fact, they are two entirely different societies with different goals” (184). Aside from education, other institutions have been established in the Philippines that emulate American culture. We had the chance to attend a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) game, another legacy aside from education of American occupation.

            General Aguinaldo was declared independence from Spain, only to be bamboozled by the United States quickly after. At the shrine, we found declaration of independence to include language that emphasizes the Filipino’s gratitude to the United States for intervening and pushing the Philippines as a nation to true independence. In Anne Paulet’s article To Change the World: The Use of American Indian Education in the Philippines she states, “It [US] sought to change Filipino culture to more closely resemble that of Americans; for by doing so, the United States would be able to practice imperialism without engaging in the blatant exploitation it accuses of” (Paulet 201). We found that although the Filipinos were moving toward independence from Spain, US power was already exerted. At President Marcos’s abandoned and ransacked house, it turned into a tourist attraction in order to gain a better view of the islands surrounding Tagaytay. The prevalence of tourist attractions in the Philippines illustrates the way that US consumerism manifests itself.

            Colonial mentality is defined as a “specific form of internalized oppression following colonialism” (David and Okazaki 241). Although the legacies of colonization are still extremely prevalent in the Philippines, there exist forms of resistance that revisit pre-colonial history and fight colonial mentality. At the Ayala museum, we had the chance to examine how the natives of the archipelago lived before colonization with the focus on gold. Although the museum itself might be a westernized institution, it is a step in the right direction that the Philippines show an interest in revisiting this history. While watching Angel Shaw’s film “Nailed” and examining Kawayan De Guia’s art, it’s clear that artistic movements are still addressing colonial mentality. Shaw’s documentary focused a woman who believed she was possessed by Jesus Christ and felt the need to nail herself to a cross. Shaw was able to point out that religion was used as a form of control over the Philippines through an artistic form. De Guia did the same thing through installations of mixed media art. Both artists decided to use art as a form of communication and ultimate resistance from colonial mentality. De Guia was particularly interesting because of his white or European appearance. He identified as Filipino and argued that he is more Filipino than some of us who identify as Filipino American. Instead of identifying with a colonizing country, he chose to stick to his own roots and used this decision to make art. This form of resistance is called separation and is “low identification with dominant culture and high identification with heritage culture” (242). It is helpful to recognize that although colonial mentality still exists, there are ways to combat it that will further Philippine nationalism.

           

References

Constantino, Renato. “Miseducation of Filipinos.” Vestiges of War. Ed. A. Shaw and L.H. Francia.         New York Press: New York, 1982. 177-192. Print.

David E.J.R. & Okazaki. “The Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS) for Filipino Americans: Scale         construction and psychological implications: A review and recommendation.” Journal of         Counseling Psychology. 2006. 53 (1), pp. 1–16.

Paulet, Ann. “To change the world: The use of American Indian education in the Philippines.”           History of Educational Quarterly, 2007, 47 (2), 173-202.