Culture and History by Nick Joaquin Payad, Azanith Ann B. 2LM1 PHIST March 11, 2013
Preliminaries: The book, Culture and History, is a collection of essays written by the late Nick Joaquin. It was copyrighted on 2004 but it was first published on 1988, originally. Nick Joaquin, as said by Jose Garcia Villa, is ―the only Filipino writer with a real imagination—the imagination of power and depth and great metaphysical seeing—and which knows how to express itself in great language, who writes poetry, and who reveals behind his writings a genuine first rate mind.‖ More than just a history book, Culture and History gives us a different perspective on just as the title implies: culture and history. Although it’s been written down more than a decade ago, Joaquin tackles several modern issues, perhaps a tribute to his foresight and flexibility. This book is not just an essay citing various texts. Culture and History has a history of sorts, although it’s not prevalent one we Filipinos learned during our high school and grade school years. There are accounts of the Santo Niño, accounts of a strong female religious movement during the Spanish era, and accounts of events in Asia and in the West in general. While perhaps not as ―historical‖ as your text books, Culture and History also has some relevant historical markers in addition to showcasing Joaquin’s views on Filipino history. What’s courageous about Joaquin in this publication is that he plays devil’s advocate and challenges a lot of Filipino complaints when it comes to history. Because of that, there’s perhaps a pro-Spanish slant, but Joaquin justifies all of it with his explanations and discussions. Perhaps what’s even braver is that Joaquin is not afraid to point out several weaknesses of our culture, hindrances which we have overlooked all for the sake of ―national pride‖. There are a lot of ideas that is discussed in the book, and the author paints us a more holistic picture of history. Summary: Culture as History. We are being shaped by the tools we shape; and culture is the way of life being impressed on a community by its technics (Chapter 1, page 3). We are displaced from an ear culture, or otherwise known as the oral tradition, to an eye culture, or what we know as the written records or the worship of literacy. From this, results have been seen such as the different beliefs of the people, in which are studies as history with no reference to their original cause. Others have a total culture involving all senses, while ours is a
culture concentrated in the literate eye. Today, there has been a shift to the era of electronics. There have been issues being thrown that the Filipino culture has been modified by the Westerns. When in fact, the Westerns did not alter our culture, but it gave us effects. These effects cluster from generations to generations, thus giving an immediate illusion that our culture was altered and diminished by the colonizers from its originality. Certain things revolutionized our culture and brought two new factors: the sense of history and the sense of national community. Cultures are distinguished and vary according to the certain place. They are unique in every way. It is what mostly defines the community with nationalism at heart as the core value of the said culture. Even laws and contracts are part of the culture since they were used during pre-history and it served as proof that even during the pre-historical period, people were already abiding to certain rules and process, some are written and some are not. It also showed that from the way people speak in different languages; their mother tongue was part of the pre-historical analytical tool, which is namely linguistics. Their language helped them to communicate with each other. Another striking factor about the culture of the people were the traditions and religious practices. They had their different beliefs and myths. The elders were always the one who feel the need to impose and regulate those practices in accordance to their tradition and tribal ways. Even without the existence of laws and other provisions, they can be considered civilized already with the way of their living according to their religion. The defiance of culture may be simply compared to a human being. By the moment of conception, after the mother has given birth to its baby, the baby would turn into a boy eventually, and then form a boy, will become a man. The man may change in appearance and personality due to the contributing existential factors that hover him, yet he is still the same man. He was still the man who was present within the sub containing walls of his body. He won’t become another one’s identity or person itself. Same goes with the culture; our culture has its own soul. We have our original culture that is affected by the colonizers that overtook our country from a mean number of time or period. We may adapt some of their culture like their languages, clothing, and cuisine but the Filipino culture would always remain as it is before. It is not true that the Americans westernized the Asian Filipino culture.
History as Culture. Studying history is efficient in our culture because it gives a corrective profile on the superstitions that were followed by the elderly people. It is because the study of history provides certain facts and strong proofs behind the reason of every occurrence that happen within the community. Knowing history is essential to us because we can acquire things from our past and will be able to learn and grow form them. Knowing our history keeps us from making the same mistakes. We can also find out our families past and see where we come from by looking up our roots. We can look into history and try to predict the outcome of what we might do in the future. We can also build from the knowledge of past achievements. The mistakes we do in the past can help us from making the same mistakes in the future. Looking into history helps us in various ways. The government uses history to help make decisions for their country. If a course of events occurred 50 years ago and turned out to be bad for the country, now it seems those course of events seem to be appearing again the government might take an alternative action than from the first time it happened which may have better results. But there are other uses for history like your roots. Our roots can show us our family tree. It tells us where we have descended. You might even find out your family is from a completely different country, or you might be different nationalities. If you look into the Filipino nationality they vary in colors. Some are very pale white and others are very dark. This may because the Spaniards once ruled the Philippines are married Filipinos making them light or they could be the cause of people from mainland of Asia. History says a lot to what the present day is. History seen as study of the past is an integral part of many education systems across the world. Many countries spend huge amounts of money and resources to uncover their past. Every year new and new historical sites are uncovered, excavations on those sites are conducted and the result are studied by archaeologists throughout the world. We want a Philippine culture identified in no way with colonialism – and the principalia were, as we fume now, tools of the tyrants and agents of the alines, as colonial as corn and roses (Chapter 8, page 217). Few can deny the importance of Islamic culture throughout the history of the world. Their far-reaching expansion even reached as far as the Philippine Islands of South East Asia. Muslims have had an important impact in Filipino culture and continue to influence the islands even to this day. Islam’s entrance into the Philippines was from Philippine participation in the international trade, which extended from
Morocco to China, a trade practically controlled by Muslim merchants of diverse nationalities but mainly Arabs. The coming of Islam brought about important and dramatic transformations among the groups in the Philippines that adopted it. Islamization introduced new laws, novel ethical standards, and a new outlook in the meaning and direction of life. The Arabic script was adopted for writing local languages, and the Arabic language itself was used for ritual and theological matters. The Philippine Muslims cherished the glories of Islam in Asia and Africa, and they felt affected by the variation and agony of Islam in other parts of the world. It was this sense of participation that progressively made the Muslims of the Philippines develop a sense of history and promoted their self-image as an historic people. Culture and History. Potatoes are roots in a deeper sense than the botanical one. Potatoes are culture and history (Chapter 15, page 391). A person’s ethnic origins, heritage and culture are part of what make mankind distinct from the animal world. Mankind has been given the ability to develop complex and intelligent works of art; intellectual and scientific discoveries as well as spiritual achievements. However, each nation – meaning ethnic group – has gone about this in their own ways, ways that have grown out of geographical positioning, necessity and inspiration. Identity is the history that has gone into bone and blood and reshaped the flesh. Identity is not what we were but what we have become what we are at this moment. History and culture makes up the Filipino nationalism. Nationalism has had a long history in our country. In our struggle for freedom, there have been periods when strong nationalist feelings fired our people to action and other periods when nationalism seemed to be forgotten. Not only did nationalism as a sentiment have its peaks and valleys, nationalism as a political concept has been espoused at one time or another by different sectors of society which projected particular nationalist goals as their own interests and historical circumstances demanded. As a national ideology, nationalism must permeate every aspect of Philippine life. We have been witnessing in past years heightened interest in ethnic culture as well as local music and art. These are manifestations of cultural nationalism. However, if this new sense of cultural identity is not integrated with economic and political nationalism and instead is used to divert our attention from growing foreign control of our economy, then this cultural development is a disservice
to our people. Nationalism does not advocate economic, political, scientific or cultural isolation. It is not anti-development; it does not long to return to an idealized past. Nationalism believes that our people deserve all the ease and comfort, good health, and access to the best products of man’s intellect and artistic spirit that the highest achievements of modern science and art can provide. For this reason, nationalism believes in economic, political, scientific and cultural exchanges with other countries but it will be careful and selective, always placing priority on the needs and welfare of the Filipino people. Filipinos are contradicting each other wherein some say we should promote and replenish our national culture and history, but there are some who says that we should all start to move on and leave all the past behind. And as Nick Joaquin mentioned, our history was formed with these twelve significant and greatest events: 1. The introduction og the wheel 2. The introduction of the plow 3. The introduction of the road and bridge 4. The introduction of the new crops like corn, tobacco, camote, coffee, tea, cocoa, beans, achuete, onion, potato, guava, papaya, pineapple, avocado, squash, lettuce, cucumber, cabbage, sincamas, sigadillas, mani, etc., etc. 5. The introduction of new livestock like the horse, the cow, the sheep, the turkey, the goose, etc., and of the carabao as draft animal 6. The introduction of the fabrica, or the factory 7. The introduction of paper and printing 8. The introduction of the roman alphabet 9. The introduction of calendar and clock 10. The introduction of the map and the charting of the Philippine shape 11. The introduction of the arts of painting and architecture 12. The introduction of the guisado
One may notice that these events are all introduction of the country to mostly agricultural inventions. These twelve events opened our country to new innovations and it has been affecting our lives ever since.
History speaks for itself, we as people of history understand how our country became what it became today through economic, political, historical, and social changes in life. Culture defines us as who we are in the society we are from.
Bibliography: Joaquin, Nick (2004). Culture and History. Published by Anvil Publishing Inc.
