Our Fading Culture
”Organized political system, units of government, distinguished societies, own system of writing, art, literature, music and dance, economic activities, trading system, a stable civilization and a distinct community ” (Ongsotto, 2002). The Philippines had all of those even before any colonizing countries came and ruled over our dear country. The Philippines was already a stable civilization with their own unique culture even before the Spaniards came. We already established all of these before they imposed their own culture on our country.
The Philippines was already civilized even before the Spaniards came into the scene. We already had our own society and social classes depending on the place or island the people are
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Influenced by neighbouring countries, we obtained our original form of art, music and dance which are usually used for religious purposes. We knew how to play end-blown flutes, nose flutes, gongs, drums and many other instruments before the Spaniards “introduced” it to us. We also had our own art which are in the form of anitos or gods and goddesses(Britannica, 2015). From here, we can see that it was not the Spaniards who introduced art, music and dances to us, it was our ancestors who cultivated their own.
Beside these, the Filipino also have the concept of gender equality even before the Americans pushed it to the world. The Filipino women before had equal rights with men. They can divorce with their husband if they wanted to, candidate on political positions and even assume a high position in religion. They are also respected by their husbands as partners not slaves. The men had to give dowry for he to marry the women. The men do not even dare to agree with any contracts without their wives. This is how women are respected and given equal rights before (Titgemeyer,
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A certain barangay have datus who rule and govern the people. He exercises the legislative, executive and judiciary role of a community. He also secures the safety and well-being of the people under him. In return, the people would pay him in kind called tributes and would offer military services to him (Funtecha, 2006).
Today, our political system is known for its graft and corruption. It was not our system before and was only introduced to us by the Westerners. Our political system before can be compared to a dictatorship way wherein a person holds multiple political powers in a place. However, the people can still demote him if ever they find them unworthy for the position. It is somewhat a mixed of dictatorship and democratic. If this is the case, we were surely civilized back then and live in civilization with a complex political system.
It is just when the colonizing countries “raped” our identity that we lost our dignity as a country. Our country was stripped off of its natural resources and left us with new ways of thinking and cultures that we have adopted from them. We were exposed in both good and dire parts of their culture and were forced to adopt both the good and not-so-good parts of their culture. These are just some of the things that the colonizing countries did to our native
they cannot deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” The Filipinos weren't treated as equals, but rather were governed over, which ultimately deprived the life styles of many. Also, the Filipinos were far from the pursuit of happiness, thousands of natives died trying to win independence, causing resentment and anger, the opposite of life, liberty, and safety. Understandably, the United States, a very successful nation in many ways, thought that their “charity case” to the Philippines was beneficial. Allowing the uncivilized to be part of a powerful, profitable, civilized culture seemed like the proper outreach to a country that had just been ruled over for 300 years.
The scene is set; America is the great power in the western hemisphere. Post Spanish-American War, America is faced with a dilemma of annexing the Philippines. In the winter of 1899 following the annexation of the Philippines, America had a problem. Filipinos had been fighting for independence from Spain and did not want to be seceded (83). Despite the Filipino objection, the United States displayed their assertion on the land. In conflict, both the Filipinos and American had many meetings with death. There were consequences and repercussions from invoking the American power on this foreign land. The American victory in the Spanish-American War helped propel the nation. Thesis: Although met with conflict from the natives, the
When the European and Spanish Empire came to America to seek land, they brought more than just diseases, people, and conflicts. Their hunger for wealth and power forced them to set sail in search of new land that they can call their own. Although they believed to have discovered a ‘New World’, they discovered a land that was already dominated by the Native Americans. Colonialism brought great trauma which heavily impacted the foundation of the culture and events that took place during this time.
In 1897, Theodore Roosevelt and President McKinley discussed taking over the Pacific colony in the event of a war with Spain. When Congress declared war on Spain 5,000 American troops were sent to the Philippines. After the War, McKinley refused to sign the armistice unless Spain gave the United States all of the Pacific islands. Once Spain agreed, he drew up plans for colonial administration. He pleaded to educate the Filipinos and convert them to Christianity. At first, the Filipinos welcomed the American troops but eventually turned on their former alliance and attacked their base. American soldiers described them as gugus and repeatedly insulted and physically abused them. They beat civilians, raped the women and tortured them. They treated them so poorly because they were a group of darker skin than
Through all stages, a conflict existed between the Indigenous peoples and the United States. Under the illusion of forging a new democracy, free of hierarchies and European monarchies, the United States used the plantation labor of enslaved Africans and dispossessed massive numbers of Native peoples from their lands and cultures to conquer this land.15 Many Americans continue to experience the social, political, cultural and economic inequalities that remain in our Nation
...th empires. The Indian overlords made no attempts to assimilate the other cultures to their own and thus provided the basis for a full scale revolt against them. With diligent work by missionaries, the Spaniards tried to bring together the people of present-day Mexico and the southwestern United States by converting them to Christianity. The resulting extension of the Spanish empire, New Spain, was the most strongly united of the American empires for years to come.
The system of government we have today was starting to developed centuries ago by the Athenians and Romans. Both governments were established with the intent to give power to the people, even though it did not always play out that way in society. The Athenian democracy and the Roman republic were two very different governments in practice, but also maintained similar characteristics in both systems of government.
There were many aspects of Spanish Colonization that impacted the tradition and culture of that time period. Some of the most important of these aspects were the
Kuss (2004) explores the idea, “in some measure to the eradication of essentialisms and to critical reassessments of the infinite ways in which cultural representation still relies on criteria and conceptual frameworks developed within the Eurocentric sphere of influence, including some models of cultural criticism stemming from vastly different historical experiences.” Firstly, one of the most popular Latin American genre is mestizo music’s. “One prevalent feature found in this genre of music is the emphasis on chordophones, such as guitar, harp, and mandolin (Thomas, 2011). This genre of music is more rhythmically based, fast-paced, with a strong instrumental performance and a strong vocal presence. Some general features of this genre is the prominent use of costume. Moving into the twentieth-century brass bands and various types of accordions became more popular (Thomas, 2011). “During the colonial period, missionaries used music and costumed dances to attract indigenous peoples to Christianity” (Turino). This genre can be seen throughout Latin-America, and specifically in Mexico and Chile sine the influence of the Catholic church has grown. This genre involves a combination of
There are two main types of political systems, one being a presidential system and the other being a parliamentary system. Both of them have their own benefits as well as their own disadvantages. No political system can be perfect or can always have stability, but shown in history there are successful countries that use either one. Also there are countries that have failed with one of the two systems.
There were several policies in place at the time, some which were put into place before the war, some during the war, and some after. The ratification of the annexation process was long and difficult. There were debates as to how to treat the Filipino people. One suggestion was to treat the Filipinos as dependents, and not citizens, like the Native Americans came to be treated. Many of the imperialists believed that the Filipinos were savages and harsh policies would give America control. The anti-imperialists were not exactly sure whether to treat them as peers or to set them free. I would treat them as equals, as normal people, as they are like everyone else. At the time they might not have been as technologically advanced as we were, and their government may have seemed primitive to ours. I think we should have worked with them to help create a government, rather than occupy and just take over.
Generally, textbooks, articles, and essays talk about America’s “occupation,” “supervision” or “intervention” in the Philippines. They seem to be afraid to use the word “colonization.” According to Webster’s Dictionary the definition of colonization is, “The colonial system of political government or extension of territory, by which one nation exerts political control over another nation, territory, or people, maintaining the colony in a state of dependence, its inhabitants not having the same full rights as those of the colonial power. The controlling power is typically extended thus by military force or the threat of force” (6). In his book analyzing Japanese Assimilation Policies in Colonial Korea, Mark Caprio makes a distinction between two different “levels” of colonialism: external and internal. He states that external colonization is what Hannah Arendt calls “overseas imperialism…where their indirect policy exerted minimal effort to forge political, social, or cultural bonds with the peoples under their jurisdiction” (2). Although this is the way the French colonized, the United States seem to adopt the British way of colonizing, which is Caprio’s second level of colonization or internal colonization. This is what Benedict Anderson describes as “inventing nations” (Caprio 2). It requires that the colonial power send ambassadors to impress its culture upon the colony through controlling things such as dialect, media, education, and military (Caprio 2). Caprio also mentions, “The decision to colonize, as well as the administration to administer the colonized, was based primarily on the needs and interests of the colonizer’s subject; those of the colonized object received minimal consideration” (2). Therefore, a colony serves...
We did not think it mattered! Who needed the "right" car, family lineage, the "right" education, domestic helpers--basically the "right" everything? We perceived all of the above as parts of the pretension of the Philippine society, yet it was so easy for us to ignore and dissociate ourselves from it because we were the products of this "right" term. We could deny the class system and insult it because we were luckily born into the advantageous class, and we had these "right elements" accessible to us. If we became tired of the society we could complain about it or excommunicate ourselves, but since we were considered the "privileged class" we could always return and the level of respect would still be there. We were in a no lose situation in this respect.
The Philippines were first discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. It then became a colony of Spain from the late 1500's until the end of the19th century when the United States came intervened. The colonial rule of the Spanish ended in December 1898 after the United States intervened due to a popular rebellion that had broken out two years earlier. Under the United States colonial rule, democratic institutions were introduced, and the Filipinos took over all the political and bureaucratic positions. In 1934 the Philippines became an internally self governing commonwealth, with full independence from the United States scheduled for July 4, 1946. The independent republic mainta...
The Philippine islands are located in Southeastern Asia, between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam. The country is made up of about 7000 islands, only 2000 of those islands are inhabited. The population of the country includes about 84,619,974 people. The people of this country are all very close to their families. They work together to make the income that their family needs to survive. Sometimes th...